Me, sobbing: It’s always time for another snack.
It’s been about a month since I was diagnosed with Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), this is “a condition in which a hormone made by the placenta prevents the body from using insulin effectively. Glucose builds up in the blood instead of being absorbed by the cells”1. and my full time job has become eating, sleeping, and stabbing myself multiple times a day.
I will brag though that I have been declared as having done all I can in my control with dietary changes2. Tweet below summarizes my approach to my doctor’s appointments, oops.
Despite that… I am still experiencing 1) slightly elevated fasting blood sugar (the one you take after not eating overnight) and 2) outlier blood sugar spikes that are directly linked to missing or delays in snacks and meals because I had back to back meetings.
Ultimately, it means that 1) I will need to start a very low dose insulin and 2) despite my best intentions of working until 3 weeks before my due date, my last day at work has now been advanced to September 18. It’s been a whirlwind since this all was all coinciding with my first semester of my (part-time, online, asynchronous) Master’s in Library and Information Studies. However, it is incredibly boring to do nothing except pass time until my next meal so doing readings and writings at home is actually a very welcome distraction.
I Really Do Love a Project
So I would say I am experiencing not a lot of anxiety around pregnancy in general, or the development of GDM because unlike all of the other hypothetical things that can go wrong in life, there are pretty specific things I can do to occupy my brain. This gestational diabetes thing: such a fun data project.
I just get to measure and adjust my meals based on evidence and trends?? I feel truly alive.
Planning the Meals
Considerations
- Mild hypothyroidism. Synthroid has to be taken on an empty stomach and not with coffee, calcium, high-fibre foods, walnuts and high fibre nuts, or soy products.
- The baby has also taken all my irons. Iron supplement are the most annoying because it can’t be eaten with most of the things they want you to eat, specifically calcium, and it should be combined with vitamin C. So it has to be isolated from other snacks and meals by 1.5-2 hours.
- The number of meals and having to track carbohydrates per meal/snack combined with my energy levels makes it difficult to sustain any bulk meal prep. So everything needs to be easy to measure and throw together under 5-10 minutes.
- Carbohydrates needs to be approximately 45-60 grams per meal and 15-30 grams per snack, but over 175g per day to sustain my energy and fetal development. However, the carbohydrate amounts is after subtracting any fibre because it does not raise blood sugar (i.e. 36 g carbohydrate – 6 g fibre = 30 g available carbohydrate)2. No added sugar overall with limited amounts of synthetic sugar being acceptable.
- Sufficient calories to support recommended weight gain based on current BMI.
- Generally, but not strictly, vegetarian. Mostly I don’t like handling raw meat, worried about food poisioning, it’s gross if not well seasoned (high sodium and sugar), and it takes longer than I am willing to spend on cooking and measuring.
- Minimizing food waste (hence a lot of frozen fruits/veg).
The Schedule
Below you will see the very intense schedule I am now on to ensure this baby does not eat me. This being something that as of last week was still actively happening… I am now back at pre-pregnancy weight and my urine ketones still showing that I not eating enough to prevent my fat storage from being converted into glucose to feed the baby.
Now I don’t recommend you just directly take and follow the schedule as it’s been highly calibrated to my own needs, tested over time, while being monitored regularly by a Maternal-Fetal specialist team.
| Time & Focus | Meds | Meal Plan |
|---|---|---|
| 6:30 - 7:00 AM | Synthroid Take blood sugar reading (less than 5.3 mmol/L) | Wait 60 minutes before eating breakfast Water bottle refill 1 |
| 8:00 AM | Foquest + ASA & Sertraline | Breakfast: Guacamole Toast: 1 slice granary toast + ½ cup guacamole + 2 tbsp seed blend + 2 Cracker Barrel Swiss slices + ½ cup Frozen Berry Mix or mangoes |
| 9:00 AM | Take blood sugar reading (less than 7.8 mmol/L) | |
| 10:30 AM | Morning Snack (choose 1): • Option A: 1 Piller’s Turkey Bites + 2 Cracker Barrel Signature Swiss Cheese Slice + 6 Mary’s Organic Crackers + ½ yellow asian pear • Option B (Savory Kimchi Yogurt Dip): ½ cup 5% Greek Yogurt + 2 tbsp kimchi + 1 tsp brine + ½ tbsp seed blend + ¼ cup walnut halves + 12 Mary’s Organic Crackers | |
| 12:30 PM | Prenatal Vitamin | Lunch: • Grazing Plate: ¾ cup firm tofu tossed with 2 tsp Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chili Oil + 12 Mary’s Organic Crackers + ¼ cup walnut halves + 1 Swiss slice + 4–5 T&T Sesame Seaweed Pumpkin Seed Crisps + ½ yellow asian pear Water bottle refill 2 |
| 1:30 PM | Take blood sugar reading (less than 7.8 mmol/L) | |
| 2:30 PM | Afternoon Snack (choose 1): • Option A: ¼ cup Roasted Garlic Hummus + ½ tbsp mixed seeds + 12 Mary’s Crackers + 1 Cheddar Cheese Stick + 4–5 T&T Sesame Seaweed Pumpkin Seed Crisps + ½ yellow asian pear • Option B: ¼ cup Roasted Almonds + 1 Cheddar Cheese Stick + 12 Mary’s Crackers + 4–5 T&T Sesame Seaweed Pumpkin Seed Crisps + ½ yellow asian pear | |
| 4:15 PM | Iron Supplement | Afternoon Snack 1 Clementine + ½ yellow asian pear |
| 5:30 PM | Dinner: • Savory Kimchi-Sesame Tofu Soup: 1 cup veg broth simmered with 2 tbsp kimchi, 1 tbsp coconut aminos, ¾ cup firm/smoked tofu, ¾ cup frozen kale, ½ cup edamame, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp sesame seeds + ½ cup lentils Water bottle refill 3 | |
| 6:30PM | Take blood sugar reading (less than 7.8 mmol/L) | |
| 7:30 PM | Bedtime Snack (Choose 1): • Option A: 1 Cheddar Cheese Stick + ¼ cup roasted almonds + 6 Mary’s Organic Crackers+ 4–5 T&T Sesame Seaweed Pumpkin Seed Crisps • Option B: 1 Piller’s Turkey Bites + 2 Cracker Barrel Signature Swiss Cheese Slice + 6 Mary’s Organic Crackers + 4–5 T&T Sesame Seaweed Pumpkin Seed Crisps • Option C (Savory Kimchi Yogurt Dip): ¼ cup 5% Greek Yogurt + 1 tbsp kimchi + ½ tbsp seed blend + ¼ cup walnuts halves + 6 Mary’s Organic Crackers |
My Post-Pregnancy Dream
To eat nothing all day except one giantic meal without looking at a single nutritional label or drawing my own blood. I’m thinking all you can eat sushi, all you can eat Korean barbeque, a buffet.
However, I may stick to a looser version of the schedule. It’s actually been quite nice not having to make any decisions about what I will eat. Before this I would often delay eating because I had decision paralysis or had no ideas for what to do for a meal.