Grocery Grab for High Sugar Pregnant women

Part 2 of my grocery finds to keep my sugar manageable....

   6.  Century Corned Tuna and Century Lite Tuna in Veg Oil

    These products have 0 carbs but high in sodium. Some websites say that canned tuna is better for pregnant women as this has lower mercury level.

  7.  Arla Kids Sticks - Cheese

   Perfect for a snack when you're on the road with crackers or on its own.

 8. Wasa crackers

    I normally eat this with cheese or tuna for afternoon snacks. It tastes like cardboard on its own but with some peanut butter, cheese or tuna, this actually is not a bad alternative.

  9.  Fita crackers

   

    If there's one thing I don't leave home without nowadays, it would be these crackers and my Arla cheese sticks. Though each cracker is 2g, it helps a bit ease hunger in the middle of traffic.

10. Kiwi fruit

    Fruits are high in sugar... True! but you still have to have 1/2 a serving of fruits to get the much needed vitamins. Here's one of my fruit choices. I normally have it for afternoon snack.

11.  Grapefruit

  I'm not a big fan of this fruit but its necessary for my baby's nutrition so I close my eyes and eat them. :-)

12.  Green leafy veggies

   Vegetables were not part of our childhood and growing up years. Thus, its a surprise that I'm looking for them now. I've successfully integrated them into my menu. I usually pair a caesar salad (though vinaigrette dressings are better for your sugar count) with grilled chicken. 

13.  Tofu

     Being vegetarian for a year really helped me a lot as I was able to experiment on different kinds of tofu recipes. I have one recipe in mind that I will try this weekend. I'll share it soon.

14.  Gouda cheese

  

   I have a new love affair with sandwiches and its because of the new Rustan's Deli that opened beside our condo building. I'm experimenting on different types of cheese and deli meat in my sandwiches. Great for lunch!!!

15.  Turkey Ham

    With cheese, tomatoes, sugar free/ whole wheat bread... this is part of a great meal.

  I'm still finding more stuff to add to my weekly menu. The more I research, the more I am comforted by the different healthy options that I have. Suddenly, altering my diet is not so bad and I do enjoy the different dishes.

Menu on Day 1

I had to run to the grocery as soon as I found out that I have high sugar since I needed to alter my diet. The goal is to lower down my sugar and carbs intake.

Thus, my grocery cart suddenly had these:

1. Peter Pan Creamy peanut butter

   Since most of what I researched recommended whole wheat bread and peanut butter for breakfast, I checked every Nutritional Information label in each of the bottle I've held and this has lesser Carbs and Sugar than the Reduced Fat version.

    For every 2 tbsp, it only has 6g Total Carbs and 3g of sugar.

     I just use 1tbsp on my sandwich and its pretty good already and cuts my carbs and sugar in half.

2.  Sugar free Wheat Bread from Walter

    I've been having this bread for some time now so I'm happy to know that there are 22g of carbs per 2 slices and 0 sugar.

3.  Multigrain Cheerios

   I got this because it has the lowest carbs content in the cereals section and because it is multigrain. Make sure to use skim milk or low fat milk.

4.  Wholemeal Penne of San Remo

   125 grams of this is about 77g of Carbs but I noticed that I feel full at 65 grams so I cut down my intake in half but still enjoy the past taste.

5.  Brown rice

  There are a lot of options in the market nowadays. Unlike white rice that you cook it one cup of rice to one cup of water, cooking brown rice takes longer and the proportion is 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.

 Part 2 later.....

Pregnancy and Menu for High Sugar women

   We are in our 17th week and finally I have a baby bump showing. :-) In addition to getting new clothes and looking for pre-natal yoga and pre-natal massage services, there are a few more things that I have to worry about.

 
 I get it now... pregnancy is not easy! Some breeze thru but mine is just a tiny bit challenging. I was diagnosed with high sugar level.  Thus, I have to alter my diet. I cried for a while as it means that I would not be able to eat white rice, pasta and bread.... most of all, any kind of sweets.

   What's interesting is that God really prepared me for this... All my experiences in preparing menus and my love for cooking helped me in putting together something that would help me maintain my sugar level so that I can make sure that I have a healthy pregnancy.

    Because I want to get gestational diabetes, I have started researching and cutting down on my sugar. With the research that I made, here are some details that helped me.

   A gestational diabetes diet looks something like this:
   -- Don't go over 30-45g of carbs per meal, 15 carbs per snack
   -- Always have protein and/ or fat when you have a carb
   -- 3 meals a day, 3 snacks per day
   -- avoid fruit before lunch

    I'm still in my adjustment phase as I have not completely digested all of the information yet but this is what I have gathered.
   -- Fruits are a high source of sugar so I have to minimize my intake of fruits except for lemon, lime or berries.
   -- Fruit juices are just as high in sugar.
   -- I can still eat carbs as long as they are made of grains. Ex. brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat and sugar free bread
   --  Choose chicken and fish more often
   --  Protein should be the dominant food in your meal but there should about 1/4 cup of carbs
   --  Monitor your sugar and carbs intake.
   -- Don't skip any meal
   -- Its better to cook your meals and portion it already so that you are sure of what's in the dish and the amount that you will be consuming
 
    I will share my meals as often as I can so that pregnant women going thru the same thing so that they don't feel deprived.

   For monitoring, I use My-Fitness Pal. Its primarily a calorie counter but I find it most useful for now as it has a good database of food choices and there's a barcode scanner that can help in the input of the nutritional information. Just make sure to go the Nutrition section and look at the Total Carbohydrates and Sugar lines.