Inspired by Gestational Diabetes:

1. Fruit! Bananas. Grapefruit. Berries. Mango.
2. Tart soft serve frozen yogurt. With fruit.
3. A cookie. Any kind.

General:

1. Diner burger, RARE
2. A piece of good steak, RARE with a glass of good red wine
3. Steak tartare from Roebling Tea Room

(I don’t eat much red near but when I do, guess how I like it done?)

4. Fluke sashimi
5. Sushi, really.
7. Turkey cold cut sandwich. Never realized how much I liked these!
8. Bacon.
9. Cured Italian meat things.
10. Soft cheeses of the world.

Non-food:

1. Steam room
2. Sauna
3. Bike ride
4. Sleeping on my stomach, back
5. Having ankles LOLLL

After dealing with gestational diabetes for the past month or so, I’ve been thinking about the room - and need - for disruption in blood glucose testing and data tracking for pre-diabetics and type 2 diabetics. This post nails why. (It’s also inspiring. Read it!)

Words I look forward to not saying again: “Is this cheese pasteurized?”

Oh yeah and I basically have gestational diabetes, which explains why i gained weight so easily starting in the second trimester (when it kicked in) and why when I carefully limited my carbs I gained zero weight. Mystery solved.

So I check in on these maternity bulletin boards once in awhile (I mean, where else can I find out that other women have “little sausages” for toes at 30 weeks pregnant and it’s normal?) and no offense, but everyone just seems really, really stupid on them (or maybe that’s just the effect of every other “word” in all the posts being “LOL”).

But then most of these women seem to have their husbands rubbing their feet for an hour (?!) each night and Robert has yet to touch mine so I guess I’m the dummy.

Of my 1 hour glucose test. No coffee or food till 1130am and I have to sit in the doctor’s for 3 hours.

That said, obviously I don’t want gestational diabetes. But it would explain my proclivity to pack on the pounds so effortlessly during this pregnancy.

I’m 7th months pregnant now. And it’s crazy but everyone says you feel best in your 2nd trimester and then in the 3rd, you get 1st trimester tired again. And suddenly, I’m there. It all started this week! Like clockwork. Not only do I just want to crawl into bed and rest my body but, mentally, I can’t quite focus enough to get anything done. And I feel like I have so, so much to do right now. I just want a 3 month long nap. 

In other news, I’m gigantic and still gaining weight too quickly (I’m at 25 pounds, which is what my doctors told me to gain for the ENTIRE PREGNANCY! yikes) and having my diabetes test tomorrow. I am managing to walk for 90 minutes a day (well, during the week) so there’s that. 

I know all my posts for my 4 readers have been about pregnancy diet. I wish I could write something much more interesting about pregnancy, but luckily, I realize that no one really cares about my pregnancy. And for me, it’s also just been this abstract, unreal experience.

Once I got past the morning sickness, which just seemed cruel and not at all baby-related, everything else has seemed amazing. I mean it. I am so, so excited not to be throwing up. I will never forget those few weeks of near constant puking. And relatively speaking, I do feel pretty good.

My body feels really wonderful, actually. I know I have a giant stomach … but it hasn’t really slowed me down in any sense, and despite my doctor’s telling me, basically, that I am an oversized ogre, I am still wearing my regular clothing, for the most part, albeit with a “baby band” accessory.

But yeah, I don’t believe I’m really pregnant. I can feel the kicking inside of me and I’ve seen the crazy detailed ultrasound we got the other week and it looks like a little baby Robert (it’s a boy, and has giant eyes). But I somehow don’t believe I’m giving birth (if all goes well) in May. I don’t believe it at all. It can’t be! I can’t be a parent. What a ridiculously selfish, stupid concept, really.

On the other hand, luckily some weird hormones make me feel moments of tenderness towards this alien in my womb, so I’m hoping those really kick in post-labor. Fingers crossed. 

So after a couple of weeks being really good about watching my carb intake (as long as I kept my carb count below 150 net carbs per day, I didn’t gain weight), I ran out of protein powder, and my morning shake routine fell away. And then I got lazy about grocery shopping, and was toying with a few job offers and trying to figure out my life, and just generally being careless, and I ate whatever. And 3 pounds piled on in just 2 weeks. Which might not sound like a lot, but in aggregate, I’ve now gained 19 pounds.

It was weird to go to the doctor yesterday and have them express concern, again, over my weight gain. I’d thought I was being relatively good! But I guess keeping this weight gain within the “normal range” is going to be something I’ll have to devote more time and energy to.

It didn’t hurt that my doctor told me a 7 pound baby is a lot easier to deliver than a 9 pound baby. And that she referenced the weight gain being bad for the baby, more so than for me. I think I have this knee-jerk reaction to anything that I might consider to be a diet as evil and anti-feminist. I need to take this more seriously. If possible, I’m not supposed to gain *any* weight in the next month till my next appointment. Is that possible? Supposedly it is, and healthy, too. Back to protein shakes.

Do you need to watch your carbs? Do you not like overly sweet things anyway, especially in the morning? 

I’ve been making lower carbs smoothies* for breakfast, and this has been one of my favorite recipes so far. I’ve also found that smoothies, while potentially boring to have every day, are the absolute easiest and fastest way for me to get the fat and protein I need in the AM without having to crack open eggs, cut up avocados, etc. 

Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie

• 1 cup frozen organic raspberries
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
• 2 scoops plain, unsweetened protein powder
• 2 teaspoons high quality unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Scharffenberger)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Dash of sea salt

[400 calories, 41 grams protein, 11 grams fat, 19 net carbs]

If this is too many calories, cut back on the protein powder (there’s a lot of protein in this, about 200 calories worth, so that’d be easy to do). 

If this is too bitter for you, add more sugar, obviously. For me, however, you can really develop a taste for bitter/dark chocolate, and it helps to gradually cut back on the sugar you add. I’ve gotten so into dark chocolate that sometimes I’ll have a cup of hot chocolate that is entirely unsweetened - just the dark Scharffenberger cocoa mixed with hot water and cream. 

Unlike eating cereal or just yogurt (even if it’s full fat) in the morning, the protein/fat combo in this really keeps me full until lunch. Which, considering my insatiable appetite before adopting this way of eating, is pretty remarkable.

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* As mentioned, after a way too rapid month of weight gain that appeared out of nowhere in the 2nd trimester, my midwife told me to eat lower carb (not low carb, like, ketosis style; just to watch my carbs and try and eat some form of protein every time I’ve eat). It’s been about 2 weeks and it’s been amazing. I’m eating over 2,000 calories/a day and about 125 net carbs, but gaining the half pound a week I’m supposed to gain at this point and no more. 

If you need to watch your weight or are in danger of developing diabetes, or just feeling sluggish and are looking to change your diet up, I recommend this app (there’s also a free trial version) to help you track your carbs. You might be surprised by some of the numbers!