It's All About Balance
Don’t worry, we’re not talking about yogurt with fruit.
When you have gestational diabetes, you get really tired of thinking about food: whether or not you can have your usual latte in the mornings, what you should pair with dinner to keep your sugars stable overnight, and how many carbs you need to eat without accidentally eating too many. If you’re someone who enjoys sweets — you know, a normal human person — it can feel like you’re not allowed to have anything you love (and when someone suggests yogurt with fruit as a dessert alternative, you want to roll your eyes). But there are store-bought sweets you can safely eat, as in just rip open the package and eat them — no overthinking, no making them yourself, and maybe, actually, satisfying your craving.
Of course, being diagnosed with gestational diabetes does mean you need to be mindful of your blood sugar to minimize the risks to you and your baby. Many expectant parents will be able to manage their sugars with diet alone, while some may need medication (which is not a sign of personal failure, for the record). Either way, there’s a lot of confusion for people who go from not thinking about carbs all that much to needing to monitor them in every meal.
How many grams of carbohydrates (which includes sugar) you can eat each day is unique to each person, but you should eat a minimum of 175 grams per day, says Wendy Lopez, MS, RDN, CDCES, registered dietitian/nutritionist and a certified diabetes educator, co-founder of Diabetes Digital, and co-host of the Diabetes Digital podcast.
“It’s not excessive, but it’s not restrictive. There is a minimum because oftentimes with gestational diabetes, a lot of people [err] on the side of restriction with carbohydrates because they want to help lower their blood sugars, and that is not recommended, that extreme restriction with carbohydrates,” she says.
You should work with your OB-GYN and dietitian to figure out what your carbohydrate intake should be each day — it will depend on the severity of your gestational diabetes, how your blood sugar fluctuates throughout the day, any pre-existing health conditions you have, and your physical activity and eating patterns. (They can also help you safely work in small amounts of the sweets you’re craving, if possible.)
If you’re on the hunt for sweet snacks you can munch on without putting so much thought into it for a change, these are some dietitian-approved ideas you can add to your grocery list. Even if these specific products aren’t in your local store, they’ll give you an idea of what to shop for. They balance sugar and carbs with protein and fat, which makes them less likely to destabilize your blood sugar, says Lopez.
1Smart Sweets Sweet Fish
Smart Sweets, and brands like them, make dupes of your favorite candies that are low in sugar, high in fiber. The daily recommended intake for all pregnant women, including those with gestational diabetes, is 28 grams of fiber, Lopez says, so at least this sweet snack contributes to your fiber consumption.
This particular brand is sweetened with sugar substitutes allulose and stevia leaf extract. According to Lopez, “most low-calorie sweeteners that the FDA has approved or recognized as safe are OK to use in moderation during pregnancy.”
2Duncan Hines’ Keto-Friendly Cake Cups
Products marketing themselves as keto-friendly are basically shorthand for, “Hi, I’m low in carbs and high in protein.” Again, you do still need to hit that carbohydrate minimum throughout the day, but these cake cups can help satisfy a late-night dessert craving without you having to stress out about the math. Bonus points for contributing some protein to the 71 grams per day recommended for pregnant people, Lopez says.
If you’re trying foods like this that use artificial sweeteners (or natural alternatives) in place of sugar, just be mindful of how they affect your stomach. For some people, too much of them can cause GI issues, like bloating. “If you’re finding that you have any kind of stomach upset or anything like that, then it’s something that you would want to cut back on or maybe try an alternative sweetener to see if it’s a little gentler on your stomach,” says Lopez.
3Halo Top Pops
First things first: regular dairy ice cream “has a good amount of fat and protein,” Lopez says, “so having a scoop of that could also be a fine option.” But if you are being super mindful of your sugar intake, haven’t limited carbohydrates elsewhere in your meals today, or you intend to eat the whole pint (make no apologies), something like a Halo Top might be the move.
4Russell Stover Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cups
Sugar-free candy brands make all sorts of dupes, and Russell Stover happens to be available in most major grocery stores and pharmacies nationwide. They’re pricier than regular candies, but if you’d give your kingdom for a Reese’s right now, these come pretty darn close. (You may also be able to get away with the Reese’s Thins, Lopez points out.)
If you’re super limited in what you can eat right now, Lopez says to try a mix of nuts and dark chocolate. It may not be the peanut butter cup you’re dreaming of, but perhaps it’ll scratch the itch for now (while still providing a balance of fat and protein).
5Magic Spoon Fruity Grain-Free Breakfast Cereal
Sometimes you just need to stand in your kitchen at night and eat a big bowl of sugary cereal, you know? When compared to regular, unsweetened Cheerios, this Froot Loop dupe (fun to say) has twice as much protein per serving, and about half the carbs. “So, there’s a benefit there,” Lopez says.
6JOJO’s Chocolate
There are seriously countless low-sugar and sugar-free candy brands out there these days. It’s just hard to find them if you don’t know what to look for (i.e. what brand name to type into the search bar, or what labels to scan the shelves for in stores). JOJO’s has a few different flavors of sugar-free, gluten-free, soy-free dark chocolates, including these yummy macadamia nut and coconut bites.
7Fairlife Chocolate Ultra-Filtered Milk
Fairlife’s shtick is that their milk has 50% more protein and 50% less sugar per serving than regular milk. Because it’s higher in protein than most desserts and not solely a sugar carbohydrate-based sweet, it’s a more balanced option to curb your chocolate cravings before bed.
Products like these can be costly and are harder to find in areas where food is less accessible, Lopez points out. So, whether you specifically want a Reese’s cup or paying for the sugar-free version is not plausible, know that you can have a piece of regular candy.
“If you want to have some candy, you can have some candy. It’s going to cause a spike, but you can make informed decisions maybe knowing that, OK, your next meal is not going to have as many carbohydrates so that you can have a sweet in between as a snack and you're not fluctuating as much. So kind of planning around whatever the sweet is that you’re really craving or you really want to have,” she says.
Gestational diabetes can feel like it’s all about restriction — and yeah, some days it just is. But with a little time you can figure out when and how to work in a sweet treat, and on the other days, there are so many yummy dupes of your faves worth trying.
Expert:
Wendy Lopez, MS, RDN, CDCES, registered dietitian/nutritionist and a certified diabetes educator, co-founder of Diabetes Digital, and co-host of the Diabetes Digital podcast
