Tuesday, January 14, 2014

I don't tolerate glucose

Man, you get one bad score on a three-hour glucose test and suddenly counting carbs becomes an obsession.
I passed my first test in November, but was required to retake the test a month later just to be safe which I'm cool with because the potential results of not having blood sugar in check can lead to a really big baby and/or a really shaky baby having sugar withdrawals.
Luckily since I only had one bad score, I was deemed "glucose intolerant" and not diabetic.
I'm thankful for that because it means I don't have to prick my finger daily to test my blood sugar.
Buuuuut...I have to eat like I'm a diabetic, which is kind of a pain in the butt.
Initially I thought this meant I needed to stay away from sugary foods, but after a phone call with a dietician, I realized there's way more to it than that.
I'm the first to make fun of people who do low-carb diets.  You need carbs to live, and you can't live on steak and cheese alone.  Figures I'm now the one who has to count carbs.
Not only do I have to have three meals and three snacks a day, I have to eat a set amount of carbs at each meal.  Breakfast and snacks are 30 or less, and lunch and dinner are 45.
But it gets better.
I can't have fruit before noon, because it spikes blood sugar, or milk, or cereal.
So there goes cereal with banana, I can't put apples in my oatmeal, and I can't have cantaloupe with my eggs.
I can have oatmeal or eggs with toast or a tortilla.  Some vegetables are okay with eggs, like bell peppers, or spinach or avocado.
The other rule that I'm having a hard time getting on board with is having an evening snack.  I'm not supposed to let more than 10 hours go between my evening snack and breakfast. 
Since I never know what time Lucy will get up, be it 4 a.m. or 6 a.m., I've been having my snack around 8:30 p.m.  I know some people that like sleeping after a meal, but when I do it I just wake up and feel gross.
Figuring out low carb snacks hasn't been too much of a problem though, it's been more of a struggle to remember to eat them and to pair a protein with them.
By far the biggest challenge has been planning dinners.  I had meal planning down to science, using a Pinterest board my favorite crock pot site to pick meals from.
On Sunday, when I usually meal plan, it took me about an hour longer than usual just to figure out some meals that fit my carb requirements.
What I'm planning to do this week is go through my favorite go-to recipes, and use this website to calculate the calories and carbs. 
The plus side of this is I've been using Fat Secret to track my carbs, not calories, but by staying at or below my required carbs I've actually managed to eat the correct amount of calories to sustain my current weight.
Which is great, because I've already gained more at this point than I did in my entire pregnancy with Lucy, which is not healthy given the fact that I'm only supposed to gain 10 to 15 due to my starting weight.
Only eight more weeks of this, though, so I think I can handle it.

2 comments:

Patrick said...

A no-carb diet just sorta sucks the life out of you, in my experience. I gotta have bread, damnit.

Stephanie Dumm said...

Luckily bread is okay in small doses. But it takes the fun out of going out for pizza and Mexican food.