As you saw in my last post, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes a couple of weeks back and I won't lie, I've gone through the stages of denial, anger, depression and acceptance to come to terms with the it is what it is factor to be able to manage my situation. For those of you not familiar with GD it can be a result of a few factors such as age, genetics, weight, diet and a number of other factors. Genetics does a play a big part of it, the biggest in fact. Basically if your parents are diabetic, which both mine are, you my dear are pretty much shit out of luck. Moving on, having met my Endocrinologist I was sited three reasons for my GD issue. Genetics as the major cause, followed by age as I'm over 31 and Obesity..wait, what? That's right, Obesity. No joke!! Here's the proof.
Now I don't know about you but when I think about you but when I think of Obese I think of Honey Boo Boo's mom, bless her obese little heart.
Apparently that's not the case. Obesity is decided on a simple BMI factor which considers weight and height. Listen, I'm not claiming to have been in the best shape of my life but I did not expect to be called obese by any means!! Believe it or not, this gets even better. So there I am attending a GD class where I'm told about eating healthy and provided a "strict diet" that is supposed to keep my blood sugar in check. Now if you know me you know at least three things about me:
1) I love, I mean LOVE food.
2) I'm a nutrition Junkie who's managed to feed ani-healthy eaters extremely nutrient packed foods and antioxidants while depriving them of their beloved junk food and fillers without them even noticing the switcheroo.
3) I know a lot more about food and the reaction one's body has to everything you put in your mouth than most people do. It's my obsession and my passion.
To top it off, I've had the fear of God in me about diabetes so I know how to prevent diabetes and control it like no one's business. Sitting through this class, I'm handed a guide that includes things like white rice, white potato and a number of other things that should generally be avoided as they lack the ability to truly feed your body well. I should also mention that I played dumb and started eating this "diet" fully knowing it would mess with my blood sugar and not keep me "fed" because well...I have a weakness and it's food and sometimes I try new things to see what happens. The diet, just so you know consists of 4 to 6 times what I'm used to as my starch and grain intake. Though I fully tried to consume the said amounts of food, I just couldn't do it. Upon finishing half of the given amount, I felt like I was suffocating or possibly suffering a heart attack. Needless to say, when I measured my blood sugar it was sky high. Given the fact that I felt overly full to the point of wanting to throw up and my blood sugar being frighteningly high as a result, I decided to go back to my regular portions, take out the refined starches (eg White rice and pasta) and only take it what I can (1/4-1/2 cup) of quinoa, brown rice and whole grain pasta. I also increased my vegetable intake as I love to do and it was business as usual and hmmmm lookie lookie what came down to normal levels! MY BLOOD SUGAR!
Next step, chat with the dietitian. Also keep in mind I've also been keeping a food log at this point. The conversation started as "Ummm wow you eat really healthy...I'm not sure what I can change" To which my inside voice remaining inside responded "what did you expect to see ice cream and chocolate all around?". Anyways she tells me that she doesn't want me going hungry, HA she obviously doesn't know me, so she wants me to not cut my "carbs" so much and spread it out over my snacks. I'm also told that "restricting my diet" with this "special diet" may cause a little weight loss but that she is afraid I will lose too much weight. Are you kidding me? I`ll have to have the Jerry Springer team break me out of this house with a crane if I eat on this special diet of yours!!
So far if you've kept up, I was told I was obese but now I'm told I can't be losing weight. MAKE UP YOUR MIND PEOPLE!! Just so we`re clear I'm still gaining about a 1 lbs /week or slightly more which is what's expected at this point. I should also put in a side note that I do see a naturopath on a regular basis and my balanced diet is also something that we've worked on that has worked for a long time taking into consideration my food sensitivities and my family history of diabetes along with my chances of becoming diabetic in the long run if I don`t get on it as well so I'm not just coming up with random food intake out of my ass :D.
Anyways I guess what this has taught me and led me to believe is that the medical world tends to generalize everyone and group them without any additional consideration (If I'm not hungry, full of energy, and I'm eating well then trying to force feed me that also pushes my blood sugars up and makes me tired is not the solution). Please don't take this as me discrediting the medical profession as this is not my intended goal. My point is you need to be open to other ideas and perhaps a more natural approach at times to help you keep your body healthy. What sense would it make for me to over feed myself to the point of discomfort then take insulin to force my body to digest the excess food? To be called Obese, a bit harsh, told that white rice and brown rice are the same (not true brown rice has the extra fiber that fills you up faster and keeps you full longer) based on generalization is questionable. Decide for yourself but given that I look and feel fabulous and our baby is perfectly healthy and active, I find it hard to believe that my clean eating is going to be more harmful that the millions of other prego sisters that are filling their bodies with junk (not judging just saying) that have the luck of genetics on their side that allows them to go through this experience without GD.
And that is my soap box rant for the day. To end this off, I shall show you a picture of a drunk dude I caught with his pants down pissing in front of my neighbor's car/house that I took after accusing him of indecent exposure and posting it on twitter for all to see.
Until next time!
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