i can't eat cake: a gestational diabetes update

Well nerds, I have gestational diabeetus officially. Last week on Friday I attended a Diabetes counseling session and we got a medical explanation of what was going on with our bodies and then a nutritionist came in and talked us through our eating habits and made us a little meal plan based on what we usually eat. The good news is that currently, it's at a level that can be controlled with diet and I was also given a Diabetes monitor and for the next few days I have to make myself bleed my own blood and test it once in the morning, and 1 hour after every meal. Then I get to space it out a little bit more after I've gotten the hang of what food to eat and realizing what food sends my blood sugar sky high.

The conversation with the nutritionist was really entertaining. It was a group of four pregnant women at 8:30am talking about food and what we can and cannot eat. The diabetic diet though, is really great. Honestly. It is common sense stuff about portion control and having protein and vegetables and minimizing the starches, fats, and sugars. We should all eat that way honestly and after this pregnancy I hope to keep that sort of diet up but without the paralyzing fear that if I eat a slice of cake I endanger myself and my child. The reason why it's such a big deal to control your diet and sugar levels is that my little alien isn't able to make enough insulin to break down the sugar so it becomes fat and then her torso and such becomes too fat to pass through my bajingo and then I gotta be gutted like a tauntaun.

A few of the highlights from the what we can and cannot eat portion were that we weren't specifically told you can't eat this except one thing: fruit juice. Fruit juice is LOADED with sugar and even fruit itself I have to watch and can't have in the morning right way, it has to be a snack in the afternoon type thing. The other hilarious tidbit was that if I have a burger without the bun I am allowed to have TWENTY french fries. Twenty. I literally sat down and counted out 20 fries and ate them with gusto. Bunless burgers by the way: not bad at all. You get filled up from the protein and not the bun. Of the other difficult things is the giving up of donuts and ice cream. Of course I can still have them on special occasions I just have to make sure it's a teeny piece and that I've eaten some good stuff before and after to sort of balance it out. Snacking is an important part of diabetic dieting. It keeps your blood sugar even instead of rising and falling drastically which is what makes it hard for the baby the crazy highs and lows. By the end of this pregnancy I'm gonna be pretty sick of nuts believe you me. 

So, nothing super scary, I just gotta be extra good.