Survival guide for gestational diabetes

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Survival guide for gestational diabetes
Survival guide for gestational diabetes
Anonim

When I started writing, I vowed that I wouldn't poke my nose into medical topics, considering that an economist with a vitriolic pen and an IT background is just as credible in this field as Manci, who sells nutritional supplements and miracle cures, and who everyone knows about, that his last education was rapid typing and that he supports himself by cleaning. I'm making an exception for gestational diabetes, since I've had it twice.

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I am writing this primarily for you, gentle reader, who hides on the Internet with a terrified face, with a find in your hand, which probably has a number beginning with an eight, the he alth professionals cheerfully told you that you do not need insulin (yet), you are on a diet, they pushed it into your hand some paperwork, and now you don't see the task as easy to solve. After two he althy babies, I might be able to write something that will put you in a better mood and make your everyday life easier. Be careful, there is a lot of excellent material on the internet written by real dieticians (it's a pity that some of the advice is impractical if you don't just eat at home, you don't have a pharmacy scale and three hefty books on the subject), and unfortunately you will also find a lot of sheer nonsense, especially from the pen of laymen, I hope I don't increase their number.

1. Do not panic! (because your sugar will go up)

Although gestational diabetes can cause serious problems, if it has been recognized, most of them can be avoided with a relatively good chance. Before you rush to sick pay or give in to nagging them to be hospitalized, think about how many thousands of real diabetics are running around you, who are forced to live this and that way for the rest of their lives, yet are excellent clerks, actors or deputy CEOs. Instead, buy a blood sugar meter, yes, it is also worth it for "this little time", with the help of this you can really see if things are going well. No matter how many grams you put on a diet, it is only a means, not a goal - the goal is that your blood sugar level should not be higher than 7.1 one to one and a half hours after any meal. Without starving you or the baby - one of the signs of this is acetone in the urine, which is advisable to avoid. If this works, you're on the right track.

2. Instead of pharmacy scales

I'm a lazy bum, I cook to the eye level, and I ate lunch in the canteen at work until the 37th week. My only measuring device is a kettle used to measure liquid things (from liquid to flour), the kitchen scale usually sits bored on the top shelf. However, on many things (packaging) the weight and even the carbohydrate content are listed by default, and for fruit and vegetables, I sorted them based on the quantity purchased - if there were five apples in 1 kg of apples, then you already have roughly the CH content of an apple. With the blood sugar meter, you can also see what a certain type of soup, vegetable or whatever causes - from this point on, the measure changes to the "one plate of spinach" type, always prepare a dish the same way. In addition, it is worth keeping a sugar diary, which includes the foods you eat and the measured values - the diary I kept during my first pregnancy was then shared with three other expectant mothers who wanted to get ideas from it, but it also helps us remember which foods worked and which no. Every body can react a little differently to certain foods, but the basic rules and laws are the same for everyone. The milkshake-Coca-Cola combo is a sure disaster.

3. How many buns a day? If possible, lean - or the glycemic index

In the past, guides for diabetics often stated how many buns can be eaten per day. It's easy to remember, buns are available on every corner, but I still say, if you have the means, don't eat any buns-kiflit-white bread slices, they quickly raise the sugar level to a relatively high level, and you can even stay hungry. Brown bread, rye bread. The easiest is Ceres sliced spelt, rye, bakonyi, etc.to choose breads (my daughter just called them pregnancy bread) because the packaging says that a slice contains CH and it raises blood sugar only slowly, and it is available in quite a few places. CBA's Pur-pur bread became our favorite - everyone loved it, although its beneficial properties are somewhat impaired by the high price (300 HUF for half a kilo), but this way we didn't have to buy several kinds to have bread for every family member.

The key is the so-called glycemic index - whether certain foods raise the blood sugar level quickly or for a long time. There is a glycemic index table online, and in better cookbooks written for diabetics.

4. Rice, potatoes and dumplings - then what should be the side dish?

No way, no more than a spoonful of boiled rice or 3-4 french fries, does that sound scary? Instead, you can have boiled vegetables (if you don't pour it on your neck with a cart waist-sized amount of jerky), grilled or maybe steamed vegetables (it's worth checking out the offer at the mirelit counter, it's amazingly varied and delicious), and Italian-style durum pasta. NOT pizza, colleagues.

5. What is not really worth measuring

If you did not start your pregnancy significantly overweight, then it is not worth worrying about the CH content of fried meat, eggs and some vegetables (be careful, carrots, green peas and breaded chicken are not like that). Meat, hot dogs, eggs, and bacon can be consumed quite freely in terms of sugar, of course it can cause extra kilos, but it's not a problem for the baby, at most it's for you.

6. He althy looking food and crime and carousing

Fruit yogurt, muesli, hmmm. Most of the varieties available in Hungary should be banned immediately, they are full of sugar, but the CH content of dried fruits is not low either. Plain yogurt, maybe a small amount of natural muesli or oatmeal (unfortunately for me, not the last two towards the end, at least not for breakfast, because it turned out to be a lot anyway), the sweetened versions are forgettable.

If you're dying for something embarrassingly forbidden, maybe try replacing them with nuts or 70-80% dark chocolate. Diabetic sweets are expensive, the second time I didn't eat any of them. And of course no chips or popcorn. Better skip the cinema too…

7. Balls and movement

In pregnancy, increased fluid consumption is a basic requirement - the bad news is that sugar-free fruit juices are also bad, during my first pregnancy I had to completely avoid them, when the sugar problem became apparent, during the second one, approx. a third of a glass of apple or grapefruit juice was fine, no more. What should be avoided from afar is must and all sugared horse saliva - if you don't want to see shocking values on the meter. Tea, water.

Exercise is highly recommended (in the right form) for people with gestational diabetes. I saw that it didn't affect anything in particular for me (of course it's good for my well-being, except for the last weeks and days when even going to the corner store was already considered an extreme sport), it didn't burn sugar with terrible force - the sports that are suitable for this are they are generally contraindicated during pregnancy.

8. Secret Tip - Stevia

It was better for me to simply leave out sugar than with sorbitol, aspartame, etc.to replace it, I don't like their taste either, sorbitol is also cruel, it can only be recommended in small quantities for expectant mothers with constipation. However, since it was around Christmas, I ended up getting a bottle of Stevia drops (an extract of a South American plant) as a sweetener. According to some sources it slightly stimulates the pancreas, so it can lower blood sugar - I have no idea how reliable these reports are (my sugar readings were good, for one reason or another - it is certainly not so effective to cut half a cottage cheese cake with four drops of Stevia), anyway it worked for me, side effects were not mentioned by any source, and a few drops a day are more than enough.

9. The risk of falling, or the HgbA1c value

During the blood test (if the doctor is conscientious, he can occasionally check the sugar level with a venous blood test during pregnancy) you can look at the so-called HgbA1c value. This gives a 1-month retrospective review of sugar levels, the last approx.an "average" blood sugar level over thirty days is determined from it. The value itself shows the ratio of a protein compared to the others to which sugar was attached.

The percentage of protein linked to sugar cannot be more than 7% under normal conditions. If they are examining it, then it is absolutely not worth fasting the day before the blood sugar test in order to get a better result, if you didn't follow the diet before, your history will be revealed:). If, on the other hand, this value is good, the sugar balance is balanced from the baby's point of view, so you can relax. If, um, I don't want to do this test for economic reasons, the family doctor can also refer you.

10. It passes like everything in life

If you didn't have diabetes before, then gestational diabetes will go away, right, although smart people classify you as a high-risk factor from now until the end of your life, according to some researches, in the next 10-15 years, half of those suffering from gestational diabetes may be real diabetics, so it is worth going for a check-up a few months after giving birth (8. My value of 5 dropped to 3.8 due to the same sugar load), on the other hand, maintaining most of the learned lifestyle rules (fewer carbohydrates, meals spread over several meals, lots of fluids, lots of vegetables, more exercise) is also not disadvantageous. Which also helps us to show off our old pants soon after giving birth, at least I succeeded.

According to my experience, it's not worth having a nervous breakdown if the blood sugar level jumps above the prescribed value once or twice (I'll say it once again, once or twice, not say two or three times a week!), but it's worth it for normal values to hold on until the last moment, avoiding that the poor baby starts the outing with a big hypoglycemic sickness (suddenly low sugar level). Diabetic babies usually have their blood sugar checked in the first day or two - if you forget, you should tell them. You could say why torture the poor man with it, but I think it's worth it.

If you want to read more, Dr. I would recommend the online writings of doctors György M. Csákány, Dr. László Nagy and dietitian Rózsa Tibay (Rózsa also has her own website, with a lot of useful information), from the cookbook for me Dr. József Fövényi-Rita Papp: Sugar disease and diet c. his book helped me in addition to the tables and sample diets I received at the hospital (which were originally compiled for elderly pensioners).

Special thanks to Csutkababa for the proofreading, to avoid possible lay side dishes.

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