My gestational diabetes diet, meal plan

“No ice cream for you, pregnant lady.” What? Is this some kind of nightmare?

No, actually, it was reality for the last half of my pregnancy -- I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 24 weeks, which I touched on briefly in a previous post. I was shocked.

My activity level had definitely dropped since becoming pregnant, as had my healthy eating habits (thanks to a vomit-filled first trimester), but never in a million years did I think I would fail the glucose tolerance test.

After meeting with an endocrinologist, I was relieved to learn that I didn't cause this diagnosis -- my placenta was just blocking the insulin that my body was trying to produce to keep my blood sugar in check. Womp, womp. So what now?

I had to completely change my eating habits and ramp up my exercise. In the beginning, I had to check my blood sugar THREE times a day, an hour after eating. This would let me know if I needed to make more changes to my food consumption. Once I figured out foods that kept my blood sugar down I only had to test twice a day. Still, pricking your finger with a needle is not fun. Not to mention that I had to give myself shots of Lovenox in the stomach daily … but that’s post for another day.

So what kinds of foods did I eat and what activities did I do? Well, for starters I did a lot of walking and riding the recumbent bike. Those were two low-impact workouts that I was comfortable with. I know people who run throughout their pregnancies, but I can barely convince myself to run at my fittest let alone while carrying around 20+ extra pounds.

As far as foods, I ate small meals every couple of hours. Here’s what a typical day of eating and managing gestational diabetes looks like: