Real Food for Gestational Diabetes: An Effective Alternative to the Conventional Nutrition Approach Paperback – January 19, 2015

This book has made all the difference in my experience being diagnosed with gestational diabetes and making the adjustments I need to to have good blood sugar levels and a healthy pregnancy! Truly remarkable research and helpful formatting. THANKS LILY!!

Just read it. If you have GD, you need to. She really does her research and exposes where medicalScience has failed us with their lack of it.

Amazing book! I was diagnosed with GD at 28 weeks and was spiraling. I remember seeing this book so ordered it. Within 2-3 hours of reading I felt better about things and how to manage my diet.It has been an easy read especially with my pregnancy brain.I’ve been able to map out meals and understand what might make my glucose levels spike. I feel much better about these next 8-10 weeks with this knowledge.

I had higher numbers with my second born during pregnancy. It would only occur after certain meals (white flour, rice, junk food), so my midwife recommended this to help manage and avoid any additional interventions. The book is well written, easy to follow and implement. A common sense approach. I was able to get my numbers under the threshold and have a successful pregnancy and home birth.

If you are expecting a cookbook, like I was, I think you will be disappointed. However, I don't regret my purchase: This book is full of great information for women who have been diagnosed with prediabetes or gestational diabetes. I find Ms. Nichol's approach very reasonable, and I like her emphasis on mindful eating. She makes some very convincing arguments that challenge conventional GD treatment (see chapter 11). I like that she includes a list of foods to eat and foods to avoid. There's a fairly robust list of snack ideas,. which was really helpful as I try to figure out what/when to eat.A couple of things, though, that I didn't like about this book. There's little information about fruit. It's included in some of the meal plans and snack ideas, but it's not really addressed like other carb sources are. This was confusing. Secondly, I was hoping for more recipes to get me inspired. I was really disappointed by the number of recipes included. I think she is purposely trying not to make this a "what to eat / diet plan" book, but for people that really need to change how they're eating, a few weeks worth of ideas would be very welcome.

I am so happy to have discovered this book. When I got pregnant I had a good idea of how to eat to keep my blood sugar steady, but this guide was invaluable in its advice and insight on how to build a diet that not only kept blood sugar in a healthy range, but offered the most nutritional bang for your buck for mom and baby. The focus on what to ADD as opposed to just what to avoid was a welcome and insightful addition. Not to mention the fact that reading it made me feel understood and validated in my choices, when seemingly everyone around me was pushing the status quo.For the past four years I’ve been focusing on eating real, whole foods. I’ve cut out gluten and most grains, reduced my sugar intake drastically, and found a level of health and comfort in my body I never thought possible. Throughout this time, my husband and I were also trying to conceive. It took a long time, but we were thrilled to find out we are expecting our first child several months ago. Since then, I’ve continued eating pretty well. My appetite took quite a hit the first trimester, but I avoided morning sickness for the most part. I was surprised at my lack of crazy cravings.From my experience over the last few years, I knew my body does not handle refined sugar or processed grain products well. Those foods are also pretty devoid of nutrition so I keep these types of foods to a minimum, although I no longer think of them as “bad” or “never”. That tends to insight my inner toddler who doesn’t want to be told “no”. Instead, I try to eat what makes me feel best at any given time. It works for me!Knowing this, I had a bad, bad feeling about having to do the diabetes testing done during pregnancy. My doctor does the 1 hour glucose tolerance screening followed by the 3 hour test if your first results cause concern. I did the first screening (despite my reservations) and my results came back high. I was not surprised that my body didn’t know what to do with all that glucose all at once. Ironically, if I was taxing my body with a high carb diet on a daily basis, I’d probably do OK on the test. My body just wasn’t used to dealing with that load.At this point, I decided to take a stand and refuse the three hour test. It sounded miserable and I knew I’d fail. It took some serious negotiating, but my doctor finally allowed me to get a blood sugar meter and just test 4 times a day to see how I was handling the food I was actually eating (I requested this from the get-go but was shot down earlier). Basically, she agreed to treat me “like” a gestational diabetic but would hold off with an official diagnosis as long as my numbers stayed in range.That was when I found this wonderful book!As a result of following the advice in this book, I have kept my blood sugar steady and my doctor is happy! Whether you have an official diagnosis of GD or not, following this author’s protocol is perfect for any pregnant woman. We all want to do the best for ourselves and our new little ones. This is a great way to start! Thank you!