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Pregnant: New to GD - Breakfast!?!

A

Agentk76

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Hello,

I was diagnosed last week with GD, I am 22+4. So far I have been managing well, but am struggling with breakfast cereals. I don't have time in the morning to cook myself things like eggs on toast etc, as I'm out early.
I've tried Bran flakes and Crunchy bran which both give me post readings of between 8.4-8.6, I had toast and marmite which gave me a reading of 7.9. Tomorrow I plan on trying porridge, to see if it makes a difference. I was wondering if anyone had found a cereal that works for them.

Thank you in advance.
 

Welcome @Agentk76 and congratulations on your pregnancy

Are you on any medication for the GD? Have you been given advice about diet?
 
My husband has a nature Valley protein bar for breakfast.
Doesn't increase his blood sugar, quick, easy and plenty of protein for growing babies!
 
Please can people wait for the OP to confirm if they're on meds and if they've been given any dietary guidance. Balancing macro-nutrients during pregnancy is crucial and GD guidelines are usually tailored to the individual, including calorie requirements appropriate for pregnancy.
 
azure said:
Welcome @Agentk76 and congratulations on your pregnancy

Are you on any medication for the GD? Have you been given advice about diet?
Click to expand...

Hello,

Not medicated and trying to avoid it if I manage with diet. My diet is actually good, midwife said I don't really need many adjustments as I've always followed a low GI diet. The breakfast cereal that was suggested by the midwife, branflakes/special K seem to make me spike slightly. So I was just wondering if anyone had any experience themselves that they could share.

Tomorrow I'm going to try porridge to see how it affects them.

Thank you
 
Jo123 said:
My husband has a nature Valley protein bar for breakfast.
Doesn't increase his blood sugar, quick, easy and plenty of protein for growing babies!
Click to expand...

I tend to have one of these type bars for my mid morning snack, I can try and see if one for breakfast would help.

Thank you
 
Excellent news about your good diet - a great start for your baby

I find Special K very bad for spikes. Bran flakes are better, but All Bran is best.

Full fat milk may help any spikes, as may adding some other fat like plain Greek yoghurt or a chunk of cheese.

Porridge is a good idea to try

Other options are something like rye bread (slow spike) with cheese or a hard boiled egg (boil the day before). That's quick

Edited to add you could also explore some of the less sweet granolas as the fat in them can help slow spikes. Lizi's granola is one. I recommend you weigh it so you know what size bowl works for you. You could try it with full fat milk, or if that spikes you, try mixing some into plain Greek yogurt. You could also add a few berries if you like.
 
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I'm not a fan of all bran so I think I may go down the porridge route, I may even make it with water
As I can't stand milk and it effects my skin, so generally have the smallest amount of skimmed milk. I'm a pain I know!
Ive never considered rye bread, but am willing to try anything especially for those times I haven't got time to make porridge. I work for the ambulance service and am generally out the house by 6:15 each morning.

It's all come as a surprise for me, the pregnancy is an IVF pregnancy and while I've always had a good diet, I've tried extra hard to maintain that good diet throughout. I only allowed myself 1 small slice of cake for my 40th a couple of weeks ago.
So last week when I was diagnosed I had a small meltdown with the Midwife, she was very reassuring and explained that it's to do with my age, pcos and just hormones rather than anything I had done. This made me feel a whole lot better.

Whilst I deal with many type1 and type 2 diabetics in my line of work, when it's myself and due to pregnancy I think I'm harsher, and finding it quite difficult.
 
It's absolutely nothing you've done - just bad luck.

I've added to my post above as you could also try granola. I hope you're ok with Greek yoghurt.

You may find mornings hard as the liver often pumps out some glucose when you get up. I know some ladies with GD find a small snack before bed helps this.

Any diabetes is difficult and it's particularly frustrating to get it during pregnancy. Don't let it get you down. Keep records and see what works for your blood sugar. I'd also say that as your pregnancy progresses, you may find control gets a little harder. Again - not your fault at all - the pregnancy hormones cause insulin resistance.

Don't let GD spoil your pregnancy. It's a pain but it can be controlled. You'll also get extra scans, I believe, and so you and your baby will get extra care
 

I'm trying not to let it spoil my pregnancy, I am enjoying it, I'm just finding it frustrating. It's been less than a week so I'm still trying to get my head around it, and I just want to be able to report back to the midwife that I've been trying to work out when and why I spike and what I've done to combat it. It's the medical person in me.
I'm trying to look at the positives, the main one being I get to see my little lady more often.

It's great to have advice from those actually living it as well.
 
Well this morning I had a small bowl of porridge made with 1/2 skimmed milk, and 1/2 water, with added sweetner and afterwards went for a walk with my dog.
My post breakfast blood sugar was 5.3 so porridge is obviously the key! Let's hope it wasn't a fluke and tmr remains much the same.
 
Keeping active after meals can help too. It doesn't have to be really active. Even housework and tidying rather than sitting straight down helps a lot.

Glad your porridge worked
 
azure said:
Keeping active after meals can help too. It doesn't have to be really active. Even housework and tidying rather than sitting straight down helps a lot.

Glad your porridge worked
Click to expand...

Worked again for 2nd day in a row, so fingers crossed I've cracked the breakfast issue.
I had 2 post evening meal spikes the other day, but I'm almost 100% sure that I know why. Sundays Stew was a big portion, totally out of habit I piled on the veggies, potatoes, beef etc but it probably was easily 2.5 people's meal worth! It's one of the only things I over eat with, so not bad for me but too big a portion. And I learned Tuesday that Risotto rice is a no no. Otherwise I think I may have cracked it, or at least be over halfway there.

Thank you for the advice
 
Risotto rice is kind of pudding-y so probably high GI. I find basmati rice works ok, so you could try that when you want rice (although obviously not in a risotto : D )
 
azure said:
Risotto rice is kind of pudding-y so probably high GI. I find basmati rice works ok, so you could try that when you want rice (although obviously not in a risotto : D )
Click to expand...

We only eat basmati or brown rice/pasta anyway always have, but I do enjoy a nice risotto, now need to find brown risotto rice, apparently it is out there somewhere!
It was a lesson I learned afterwards, I'm just scrutinising everything I eat now. It's going to be tough over Christmas and I have a few meals out to battle through, I'm sure I will manage.
 
Try a health shop I love risotto and used to eat a bowl of it with an accompanying salad, but I now tend to have a small portion and add meat or fish to my meal. You could always try that if you still have trouble.
 
I could not tolerate any cereal at all, nor porridge!
I've also met very few women who can tolerate cereals with GD.

High protein breakfasts are the way forward... I used to have bacon, eggs, Skyr high protein yoghurt with chopped mixed nuts.

I couldn't tolerate any bread either, apart from Lidl protein rolls from the fresh bakery counter - they were my saviour!
 
I have 2 handfuls of nutty granola, 6 grapes and low fat natural yogurt for breakfast and my readings come in between 6.2 and 7.4
 
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