any vegans ever had GD?

[Seana]

I just got my three hour glucose test back.  1 point over normal on the one hour test, a couple points over normal at the 2 hour.  The fasting and three hour were normal.  However, I still have to get a glucometer, meet with the nutritionist at the hospital on post, etc.  bleh!  I am not good at counting/measuring, and having to micromanage everything I put in my mouth is really depressing to me!  I have a very old magazine with a vegan diabetic diet in it, and I guess I'm going to try to figure out how to exercise more (it's been hard because I was completely exhausted first trimester, I have two little ones at home and my husband never gets home till really late.)  Any advice/sympathy will be welcome.  I am really hoping the nutritionist isn't completely ignorant about veganism.  Feeling grouchy and discouraged. 

[NatureMom2Two]

Well...sort of. I was vegan when I was diagnosed with GD during my second pregnancy. It turned out that I was actually in the early stages of Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults (LADA), a kind of T1 diabetes with a slow, progressive onset...it would not have been detected early on were it not for a failed GTT administered at 28 weeks.

I will say that I think vegans have a real advantage, generally, in managing diabetes. I never counted carbs during pregnancy. (I have to now that I am on insulin...but, during pregnancy, I didn't need it. I was able to manage with diet and exercise alone.) I could not do any bread products at all, so most of my fiber came from beans and legumes. Those, along with tofu, soy, and nuts and seeds became real staples for me. So long as I ate those foods along with lower-carb veggies and fruits (no potatoes or bananas, and squash in very small amounts), I was just fine.  

Really, it's not as hard as it seems at first. Once you get through the first few weeks, you learn what you can and cannot eat, and how your body works with food, and it becomes very intuitive. I know, though...it's a bummer. I cried after I was diagnosed. I was so upset. You feel like you do everything right...you are mindful of what you eat already, and it seems so unfair! You'll get through. I went out and got some cookbooks, including EatingWell's diabetic cookbook which is very vegan-friendly, and that made it easier, too!

[Seana]

Thank you! 

[Seana]

I haven't seen the nutritionist yet, but I've been avoiding bread, and sweets.  (I hate the idea of avoiding fruit though)  How about brown rice?  Is that okay? 

[NatureMom2Two]

It really just depends. I knew some women who could do it...but I couldn't. Corn was good for me, though. I could do corn chips or tortillas. Rice and bread of any kind was nearly impossible. I didn't have trouble with fruit, though, besides really starchy ones like bananas. I knew some women who could not do citrus, but I was fine with oranges. So much is trial and error. You learn what time of day is hardest for you (my sugars always run higher at night), and what foods work best versus those might inclined to send your sugars soaring.