Favorite Foods - LONG POST

As you can read in previous postings I have gestational diabetes which really just means that I'm diabetic in this pregnancy.  I can tell you after months of my assigned diet, sticking my fingers 4 times a day, and tracking my blood sugar obsessively that this isn't the life I want.  Losing the baby weight, and the other 20 lbs) is pretty high on my priority list.  That being said I'll probably stick to a hybrid of the diet I was assigned to help get this weight off.  Just as a reminder, the plan consists of 3 meals and 3 snacks per day.  The combination of foods that are eaten during those times are the key to making it work.  It goes like this breakfast (meal), morning snack, lunch (meal), afternoon snack, dinner (meal), bedtime snack.  Most diabetics do not eat a bedtime snack but gestational diabetics do.  My favorite food combinations are:

Breakfast: (2 oz meat, 2 carbs - NO FRUIT)

• 1 egg, 2 slices of sugar free toast with butter and a reasonable amount of jelly
• 1 thin bagel with ham (1 oz) and cheese (1 oz)
• 1 mozzarella cheese stick (1 oz) with ham (1oz) wrapped around it for my meat and my carb is Dannon Greek Yogurt (Vanilla) with 1/8 c. of my favorite granola

• Fast Food Faves: 
•   McDonald's Egg McMuffin..not the best choice but its lower in carbs than the other options I would prefer to eat.  

Lunch: (3 oz meat, 2 carbs)

• Ham sandwich - 2 slices sugar free bread, reasonable amount of lite mayo, ham (2oz), slice of cheese (1oz), and pickles.  I eat cut up carrots and cucumbers as a side as they are considered a "free" item.
• Carefully measured leftovers from dinner
• Cottage cheese (3 oz) with 30 grapes (equals 2 carbs)
• Garden Salads of any sort, no croutons and beware of creamy dressings, added fruits (those are carbs) and any fried meat (breading = carb) thrown on top.  

• Fast Food Faves: 
• Wendy's Ceaser Salad, small chicken nuggets with bbq sauce (this is a little indulgent in the carb department so I don't eat it often). 

• Restaurant Faves: 
• The Grill's Black and Blue Salad, minus the blue (not a fan) with wine and cheese dressing.  I never use a full serving of dressing because its a creamy dressing and that equals extra carbs.  
• Zaxby's Chicken Zalad - opt for the grilled chicken and avoid the huge chunk of texas toast and the croutons.  
• Veggies plates and carefully calculated blue plate specials from various local sources..just watch all the extra salt and fat added to them 

 * notice the trend with all the salads when eating out...its really the only way I can eat out with such strict limitations on my carb consumption.

Dinner: (3 oz meat, 3 carbs)

• Chicken stir-fry that we make at home
• Caprese Salad with 2 oz of spaghetti and my homemade spaghetti sauce
• Homemade BLTs with ham, sugar-free bread and lite mayo
• Various baked chicken dishes with a veggie and rice, potatoes, fruit, whatever carb I have on hand.   A personal fave is half of a chicken breast pounded out flat and rolled up with a slice of ham and swiss cheese.  
• An artichoke stuffed pork tenderloin recipe that I found on http://diabeticgourmet.com/ with a veggie and a carb side.  
• Any of the fast food or restaurant faves

Daytime Snacks: (1 oz meat, 2 carbs)

• 1 mozzarella cheese stick and yogurt with granola
• 1 tbsp peanut butter with 1 apple
• 1 tbsp peanut butter with 1 banana
• 1 mozzarella stick and a plain vanilla ice cream cone from Sonic ** discovered this in the last few weeks.  The web site claims that the plain vanilla ice cream cone only has 30 carbs!! 
• 1 mozzarella stick and a granola bar
• 0.25 c. cottage cheese with 30 grapes or 1 c. strawberries
• mozzarella stick and fruit of choice
• sliced cheddar and 30 g worth of crackers or fruit of choice

*Guess which item I'm not going to be eating a lot of anymore.  The mozzarella cheese sticks will go on my "I Just Can't Eat Them Anymore List" next to Ramen Noodles, Hamburger Helper, and Easy Mac that I abandoned after college.  Hopefully they won't be there permanently but for right now the thought of another cheese stick kind of makes me gag. 

Bedtime Snack (2 carbs - NO FRUIT)

• 8 oz milk and a granola bar
• 8 oz milk and 6 vanilla wafers
• Dannon Greek Vanilla yogurt with 1/8 c. of granola 

My biggest lessons from this diet plan:

• Small portions are really all you need - Your stomach really is only as big as your fist and you don't need to overfill it to be satisfied.  If a pregnant lady can curb her eating then I'm convinced anyone can.  
• Do not let yourself get too hungry because you WILL make a bad nutritional choice and that's not good for you or your child or anyone for that matter.
• Motherhood means sacrifice and you'll do anything to ensure that your child is healthy..including giving up a life-long sugar addiction.  
• Sugar and fatty foods are a luxury not a need.  You're body doesn't NEED any of that stuff to survive, even though your brain will attempt to convince you otherwise.
• Going for a walk after a bad nutritional choice will always make you feel better and can even drop your blood sugar up to 30 points.  Just do yourself a favor and walk at least 30 minutes a day and you'll always feel better even if your blood sugar isn't out of whack. 

Foods I'm really looking forward to eating again..in moderation of course ;)

• CEREAL!!  I've missed it so much
• FRUIT!!
• Dessert of any sort..I have a ferocious craving for a double stuffed oreo blast from sonic.
• Half and half sweet tea
• Pretty much anything that is guaranteed to help me retain the weight I need to lose after baby.  I'm planning to eat my favorite foods again in moderation and am really just looking forward to the satisfaction of knowing that  I can have them whenever I want them again.