How Many Carbs is Best?

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 : )

Thank you, catherinecherub : )

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

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?

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

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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?

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!

noblehead said:

@azure, don't know if you've seen this but the JDRF have a pregnancy toolkit for people with type 1 diabetes, might be worth sending off for:

https://www.jdrf.org.uk/news/latest...ncy-toolkit-for-uk-women-with-type-1-diabetes

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@noblehead Ooh, cool! I didn't know that existed. Thank you

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!