i am nearly eleven weeks pregnant with my first child and have type one diabeties. If anyone ese has been through this i would love advice onsweet cravings and keeping good blood suger contol.
Congratulations - it isn’t always easy combining diabetes and pregnancy. Food cravings are a normal part of pregnancy and driven by your hormones but very difficult to ignore, particularly those sweet cravings. It is going to be a balancing act between giving in to too many of those sweet cravings and achieving good blood sugar control. Women with diabetes should aim to keep their fasting blood glucose between 3.5 and 5.9 mmol/litre and 1-hour post meal blood glucose below 7.8 mmol/litre.
Sweet foods have got a bad reputation but people with diabetes can and do eat sugar. In your body, it becomes glucose, but so do lots of other foods such as sweetcorn, potatoes, milk and fruit. With sugary foods, the rule is moderation. Eat too much, and you’ll send your blood glucose level up higher than you expected; you’ll fill up but without the nutrients that come with vegetables and grains and you’ll gain too much weight.
There are some strategies that will help you resist sugary cravings:
1.Remove temptations. Go through your refrigerator and food pantry. Get rid of the cakes, ice cream, biscuits, etc. When you go food shopping, make a conscious effort not to buy sweet items.
2.Gargle with an antiseptic mouthwash or brush your teeth. The aftertaste doesn't mix well with sweets and you'll probably lose your craving quickly.
3.Substitute fresh or dried fruit for sweets and sugar. The sugars in fruits are digested differently than the empty calories of white sugar that are in most sweets and processed foods. The fibre in fruit also slows the absorption of the sugars so you don't get as high a sugar rush.
Low calorie sweeteners are safe for pregnant women. Calorie-free sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and acesulfame-K won't increase your blood glucose level. The sugar alcohols -- xylitol, mannitol, and sorbitol -- have some calories and do slightly increase your blood glucose level. Eating too much of any of these can cause wind and diarrhoea.