Less (Sugar) is More

A week ago today, Jude and I met with a nutritionist and a staff nurse at Baptist Hospital's Diabetes Clinic for a consultation due to her gestational diabetes diagnosis. The nutritionist provided us with a lot of helpful information on foods Jude should and shouldn't eat, taught us how high carbohydrate foods can raise Jude's blood sugar level to unhealthy levels, and gave us a sample diet plan to follow. Very, very helpful information. The staff nurse taught Jude how to prick her finger (which she has to do 4 times a day) and check her blood sugar level.

We left the Diabetes Clinic around noon and ate lunch at Bread & Company, armed with the knowledge we needed to help Jude select a meal low in carbohydrates. Thus began Jude's 10-week journey down the low carbohydrate trail. So far, she's eating a lot of chicken, chicken salad, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, cheese, toast, etc. Oh, and peanut butter - she's eating lots of peanut butter. She's avoiding all juices, fruit in the morning, potatoes, pasta, potato chips, etc. Generally, excessive amounts of carbohydrates are bad and protein is good.

The really, really great news is that for the past week, her blood sugar level has been within the normal range for a pregnant woman on every occasion except for two. Both times when her blood sugar level tested high, she had eaten a chicken wrap sandwich (Subway, etc.). So, now we know - no more wraps! She's doing fantastic overall and we're very relieved, needless to say, that her blood sugar level has been where it needs to be.

This morning, as part of the "Pregnancy Empathy Plan," I pricked my finger and checked my blood sugar. Actually, I had to prick it twice to get a drop of blood out of it. My blood sugar was fine and I didn't even pass out. Now, that's a real surprise.