How Many Carbs is Best?

azure

azure

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Hi,

I've noticed a few pregnant ladies say they restricted their carbs in pregnancy and I'm interested in why and how they did that, and if it had any results, good or bad.

At the moment I'm eating very roughly something like 150-170g of carbs a day maybe. My last HbA1C was 29, so that was good, but I do sometimes have spikes after higher carb meals. I'm worried about controlling my sugars as my pregnancy progresses. So I'm basically asking what you other ladies eat : D

1) How many carbs a day do you eat?
2) If you restrict carbs, do you test for ketones or eat extra fat for calories?
3) If you've already had your baby, how did your diet affect your pregnancy and baby? Eg how much did baby weigh?

Thanks in advance! Any input about diet in pregnancy would be very welcome : )
 
azure

azure

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Thank you, catherinecherub : )

Any tips, any info, any advice, and personal stories would be welcome.
 
Cloe-1992

Cloe-1992

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Haven't got any advice on this , only replying as I'd like to know the same with the lowering of the carbs ,
I'm 28 weeks pregnant tomorrow and I haven't lowered my carbs in anyway at all lol . My bms are in target and I'm happy with hba1c .
So yeah brilliant question will be good to see what people put who have lowered their carb intake


:)
 
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JessP

JessP

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Hi. I am type 1 on a pump and delivered 16 days ago.

I restrict my carbs to help control my BMs as it is the only way I can eliminate post prandial spikes. I started doing this after reading Dr Bernstein's book about a year ago, got my hba1c down to 6.1 pre-pregnancy and then kept it at 5.4 for the duration of my pregnancy. Restricting carbs is something I plan to do life long, not just for the pregnancy.

Below are the answers to your questions:

1) How many carbs a day do you eat? I eat up to 25-30g per day.
2) If you restrict carbs, do you test for ketones or eat extra fat for calories? - no. I did a couple of ketone tests the week I swapped diets but never had any so never tested again.
3) If you've already had your baby, how did your diet affect your pregnancy and baby? Eg how much did baby weigh? - baby weighed 6lb12oz (3080g), she didn't have any problems such as neonatal hypoglycaemia.

I hope that's helpful!
BW, Jess
 
azure

azure

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Thanks, Jess! :)

Yes, that's VERY helpful. I think I remember you saying you limited carbs, but I didn't realise how low carb you are. I've read Bernstein's book a few years ago, so I'll have to revisit it.

My spikes are usually after my evening meal, and I have to have my highest insulin to carb ratio for that. It's frustrating to get highs, especially in the evening as you have less time to sort them out.

Your baby was a perfect size :) Congratulations again - not only on your baby but on managing your diabetes so well during pregnancy. It certainly isn't easy!

I think my diet is quite carby, partly for convenience. I always have carbs for my snacks, and each meal has carbs in too, although I do weigh and limit them a bit. I try to make healthy carb choices, but, having struggled with morning sickness earlier in pregnancy, I got into the habit of extra carbs to settle my stomach eg I became addicted to mashed potato!

Thanks again for your very helpful answer :)

Anyone else eating low carb - or the total opposite and eating loads of carbs?
 
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azure

azure

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jack412 said:
I'm pro bernstein and ketogenic LCHF, Humans aren't mice but...
bernstein ketogenic <50g would be too low IMO. there is data on ketogenic mice embryonic growth which would have min carbs around 100g to stay out of ketosis
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/13/109
Click to expand...

Great reading - thank you, @jack412 :)

I do worry about ketones - hence my question above. In early pregnancy, I did a bit of googling about LCHF diets and read that ketones could be bad for the baby so that made me nervous.

At the moment I eat plenty of carbs to avoid ketones, but if I were to reduce my carbs I'd be anxious about them appearing. I found it hard to find much info about LCHF during pregnancy so I don't feel that confident in making decisions. I can't imagine getting as low as 50g carbs anyway, but I still don't want to inadvertently make ketones.

I suppose it's a balancing act between not going too low with carbs, but making sure your blood sugar is controlled by not overdoing the carbs. Thank you for your 100g figure above. I admit to being pretty ignorant about ketones - for example, how quickly do they form if you don't have enough carbs? Say I ate a very low carb evening meal, would I make ketones overnight even if I had had carbs earlier in the day?
 
jack412

jack412

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@azure ask your Dr, this is JMO but ketone from lack of insulin [normally T1] is very bad and DKA,

even with carbs normal people are going to burn fat and use ketones overnight to nourish the body. it's very normal to have ketones of <0.6

ketogenic diet is different and you can have ketones up to 3-4 and are mostly using fat for fuel.
the odds are evolution has taken care of it for us, because fertility is year round and pregnancy has developed under harsh conditions. where the mother would be in ketosis on a low carb <50 ketogenic diet.
so more that likely it's ok, but for the sake of 100g of carbs a day, why risk anything
 
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azure

azure

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Thanks again, @jack412

That's the way I'm thinking :) I may reduce my carbs a little but will stay at or above 100g just to be cautious. My control is mainly ok at the moment but I have had a few highs in the last week so I feel myself teetering on the edge of pregnancy-induced insulin resistance! It's the unknown that's scary. I've tried really hard to control my sugars and I'm determined not to let them go too high in later pregnancy. My consultant has warned me that I'll probably have to increase my insulin a lot as the weeks go by.

Even more so than usual, diabetes+pregnancy is a real balancing act!
 
fig

fig

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through both my recent pregnancies i was advised to have 20-30g of carbs for breakfast, 40g for lunch and 40-50g for dinner, i hope that helps a bit. I have just realised that i am still subconsciously sticking to it and my kids are now 2 and 3!
 
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azure

azure

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Thank you, fig :) That's less carbs than I'm eating currently.

My blood sugars have just started to go up and I've had to increase my insulin doses quite a lot, so cutting down on carbs is something I'm considering. Trouble is carbs are so quick and easy when I'm out and about. Plus I seem to have a big appetite!
 
fig

fig

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They were quite insistent that those carbs were the minimum amounts too as baby needs carbs to develop so if you can try to get close to that you should be about right. Both my pregnancies were hard and i had some high readings but i got 2 perfect babies in the end so make sure you stick to the medical advise as best you can but don't beat yourself up if its not perfect because its very hard to manage diabetes and pregnancy. Mine were both early and big for the weeks pregnant i was but didn't have any health problems thank goodness. Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy x
 
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