During both of my pregnancies I developed gestational diabetes and was forced to give up all sugar. That means the white crystal stuff that most of use on a daily basis, but also it means all refined sugars like flour, white bread, potatoes and so much else. It was hard. Very hard. I don’t know how diabetics do it every day of their lives. Now that I’ve had the baby I’m back on sugar. I’ll have to take a glucose test in a couple of weeks to make sure I don’t have diabetes, and I’ll have to take this test every year from now on, but for now I don’t worry about it.

Now, I have a new dietary restriction — no dairy. This is a doozey. Just lovely. I only started eating sugar again a few weeks ago and now I’m already restricted again. My 4-week-old baby has reflux and the medicine doesn’t seem to be working as well as I’d hoped so her Pediatrician suggested I eliminate dairy from my diet and see if the baby responds.  Since I’m breastfeeding, what I eat affects her.

I used to tell people … Do you realize how many foods sugar is in? Now, I’m saying Do you realize how many foods milk is in? It’s hard to eliminate it completely …

• Cow’s milk
• Cheese (oh, how I love cheese) — and this means, no pizza
• Cottage cheese
• Yogurt
• Ice cream
• Butter
• Mayonnaise — do you know how much is made with mayo?

That’s only a partial list. I have yet to do all of my research to know all that I should not be eating.

If you have to give up either sugar or dairy, which would it be?

It’s a hard pill to swallow — “your blood glucose test came back high.”

You just learned you have gestational diabetes. What now?

If it’s anything like my experience, you don’t get the counseling the same day you hear the diagnosis. Most likely you’ll run home and get online to search for information. It’s torture while you wait to learn what you can/can’t eat. You are afraid of hurting your baby by eating the wrong foods.

TIPS

Here are my tips on the first steps to take while you wait for more information from your doctor:

1. Don’t stress out
2. Stop eating anything that you know has sugar in it
3. Stop eating all white food: potatoes, rice, bread, flour
4. Drink lots of water
5. Eat smaller meals, more often. Strive for three meals a day with two snacks in between.
6. Watch the fruit. Don’t eat fruit in the morning or at night.
7. Skip all juices. Yep, you can add OJ and all fruit juices to the list of things you can no longer drink. For me, this was hard. I was drinking specialty juice drinks in place of a cocktail at parties and special outings. I had to get used to drinking water more often. Diet soda is OK.
8. Exercise. (Walk if that’s all you are allowed to do.)
9. Go to the library and check out some books. Here are a list from Amazon.
10. Join an online forum where you can find other mothers dealing with the same issues — sample forums TuDiabetes.org, iVillage.com’s Pregnant with diabetes board.
11. Tell people about it. You’ll be surprised about the support you’ll get and I bet you’ll find another woman you know who had to deal with the same thing. I was very worried when I first found out and was telling people at work about it, saying I didn’t know what to do. A coworker told me she had it with her second pregnancy and gave me tips. It immediately calmed me down.

Resources:

• American Diabetes Association Gestational Diabetes Resources
• “Gestational Diabetes: What to Expect” book

Imagine pouring a 5-pound bag of sugar down your throat … new research shows that this is how much sugar each American man, woman, and child gets each month — and most of it doesn’t come from the sugar bowl.”
– Opening chapter from “The Sugar Solution.”

Now, re-read that statement. Here are the key words:

• 5-pound bag of sugar
• man, woman, and child
• each month

Let’s translate for those of you who are shocked right now: Every month you, yes you, eat 5 pounds of sugar.

What is going on here?

Since I have had the pleasure of having gestational diabetes for a second time around I have been noticing even more how hard it is for American’s to not eat sugar. It’s nearly unavoidable. And this isn’t just about being diabetic. It’s about a healthy lifestyle that sugar robs of us because we are surrounded by bad choices.

Sugar is Everywhere You Turn

It’s in that white hamburger bun and in that multi-grain sandwich bread. Unless it’s whole wheat, it’s got more sugar than you think. And, try asking a restaurant if they will serve you a slice of whole wheat bread. Most look at me like I’ve asked to be sent to the moon. Forget about whole grain pasta.

Making Concessions

If you are truly on a sugar-free diet you have to make concessions and sometimes it gets boring. I get tired of asking for a hamburger without the bun and a side salad.

And, then there’s my regular coffee from Starbucks. I have to remember that in addition to saying that I want a “tall, decaf, vanilla latte,” I have to remember to say sugar-free AND NO whip. Because, you know, sugar-free only refers to the beverage, not anything they would add on top of the beverage.

What About Sugar and the Kids?

We need to learn more about food and what we are eating. At every meal, we need to think about that 5-pound bag of sugar. What choices can we make to reduce that amount? We need to start learning more about food so that we can prepare more healthful meals for our families and teach our kids how to eat. Make them aware of what they are eating so they will grow up with this information.

Reward the Effort

Children need to be rewarded for adopting healthier habits, not for pounds lost. ‘The biggest mistake parents make is offering children food-related rewards in exchange for weight loss,’ says Hangen (Jan P. Hangen, RD) …
The next time your child begs for candy after dinner in exchange for eating all his peas and carrots, try offing yourself as a reward instead.”
– “The Sugar Solution.”

This last quote really hits home. How often have I though to offer my son a cookie after dinner if he eats his peas? Next time I’ll offer to play with him after dinner. After all, kids just want to be with us. A cookie treat is fine every now and then, but shouldn’t be part of the offer when eating healthy foods.

For me, when I’m done with gestational diabetes (and hopefully it will go away again after I have this baby) I am going to really try to keep in place some of my learnings about food. Making better choices will help me avoid becoming a full-blown type 2 diabetic later in life, but it will also help my family become a more healthy one. I might even put a 5-pound bag of sugar on the kitchen counter as a reminder — make that 4, 5-pound bags to represent all the sugar that my family would eat in a month if we aren’t more aware.

Related:

• Get “The Sugar Solution”

Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/

I’m evaluating the time I have left during this pregnancy in finger pricks. Twenty-four One hundred sixty eight left to go.

I’ve written about my gestational diabetes and how I have it for the second time around, but this time seems to be driving me crazier than the first go ’round.

Four times a day I have to prick my skinny little fingers with a sharp object until enough blood oozes out so that I can test the blood and get my sugar count for the previous meal. Four times a day doesn’t sound so horrible when I write it, but it’s a real pain. Pun intended.

While it doesn’t hurt that much, it does make me flinch every time I do it. The worst part is when I do it and don’t get enough blood for the testing strip. Then, I have to do it all over again.

Not only and I tired of pricking my finger and testing my blood, but I’m tired of having to remember to do this at exactly one hour after I took the first bite of each meal. At home I set the kitchen timer so I don’t forget. At work, I try to eat around times when I will have meetings. Some times, however, it is impossible to do it at the right time, so I do it when I can and make a note of it.

So, I have a little more than 6 weeks to go before Baby Girl is born. After lunch today, it will be only 167 finger pricks to go.

Update: when I originally wrote this post I said I had 24 pricks to go. As I did my testing this morning ( a few days after this post launched) I was thinking of many lancets and test strips I needed to have until the end of my pregnancy. Twenty-four I remembered. What? That can’t be right, I thought. I test 4 times a day, 7 days a week - for six more weeks. Then it hit me, when I was writing this post I multiplied wrong.

4 times a day X 7 days a week = 28 pricks

28 pricks a week X 6 weeks = 168 pricks left.

WOW. That’s a lot of finger pricking!

Dear Santa:

I haven’t written in years, thinking I’m too old for your magic. This year, however, I wish I’d written sooner. You see, I’m in a jam. I’ve got so much going on that I really just want a few things for me for Christmas. Nothing big. (Well, OK, I do want that photography light.) But, what I really want are a few simple things:

• I’d love for you to bake some sugar-free sweets. I’ve been baking this month for others and would love for someone to bake for ME. I know you read my blog so I don’t have to remind you that I have gestational diabetes. (A terrible form of torture during Christmas.) Since I have been baking for others, I haven’t had the time to experiment with some sugar-free recipes that I really want and now I’ve run out of time.
• Replace the batteries in my favorite black watch. I haven’t worn it in nearly a year because I haven’t had a chance to get the battery replaced.
• Import my old addresses.dba file into a new contact management system so that I can create mailing labels.
• Upgrade my blog to the newest version of WordPress; I’m several versions behind.
• Send your elves down to my house on January 2, (I don’t think they will be busy) to take down and pack up all of my Christmas decorations.

When you arrive on Christmas Eve, can you set the clocks back two hours so I can get some sleep? I think I’m going to need the extra time.