The most terrible thing has happened. I’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes in the last month of my pregnancy. Just when all I want to eat are pastries, gelato, and churros with chocolate, I’ve been reduced to monitoring my blood sugar four times a day and strictly following a 2,000 calorie diet. Woe is me!
Since I simply can’t let anything well enough alone, I’ve been playing around with the diet to figure out what things I can eat and make that still fit within the guidelines and keep my blood sugar to a reasonable level. I discovered this last week that fish sticks are *not* one of those things. But you might be surprised to learn what delicious meals I’ve been able to put together!
Below are my guidelines. I generally stick to the same items for most of the day and allow myself some creativity for dinner. That is, I follow the guidelines but I might substitute bread products, or cheese for yogurt. If I ate all the yogurt on the diet I would have 5 yogurts a day! They love Activia here.
What would you make given these dietary restrictions?
Breakfast: 200 cc milk or 2 yogurts, 40 g baguette, or 4 whole wheat toasts or 30 g cereal, 30 g of cheese, turkey or ham.
Mid morning snack: 20 g baguette or 2 whole wheat toasts plus one yogurt.
Lunch: 1 plate of salad or greens,* 2 servings of carbs** or one serving plus 40 g baguette or 80 g baguette, 125 g of meat or 150 g of fish, one serving of fruit.
Afternoon snack: 1 yogurt or 50 g cheese plus 20 g baguette, or 1 serving of fruit plus 1 yogurt.
Dinner: 1 plate of salad or greens, 2 servings of carbs or 1 serving plus 40 g baguette or 80 g baguette, and two of the following in any combination: A) 50 g cheese, B) 75 g fish, C) one egg, D) 40 g sausage, E) 50 g meat. Dessert – one serving of fruit.
Night: 1 yogurt or half a glass of milk
* One plate of salad equals about 200 g of low carb veggies. Most veggies are okay, one that is not is peas.
** One serving of carbs can be 40 g of bread, 40 g of beans, 100 g of potatoes, or 30 g of uncooked pasta or rice.
Dirty Kitchen Adventures 
Since spices are more or less “free”, I would make a big pot of chicken curry (Thai or Malaysian) with coconut milk (low in carbohydrates). Instead of rice, I would substitute it with cauliflower. I actually do this all the time and do not miss the rice since it’s just a flavor carrier for the curry anyway.
Spinach and cabbage are also good accompaniments.
I love carrots in my curry, but would use them judiciously, because relatively speaking, any root vegetable will contain more carbs compared to leafy vegetables.
Here’s some interesting reading: http://www.franmccullough.com/lowcarb/diabetes.php
Cindy, how did you know? A chicken curry with roasted cauliflower is indeed one of the first things I made! Great minds think alike 🙂
Have you tried 30 days of eating only raw vegetables and a litytle fruit?
George
Hi, George. I am not interested in such a diet, nor does it fit into my guidelines or timeframe.
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