Often women on the GDM diet still feel hungry and more than likely it’s because they aren’t actually eating the recommended daily amount of carbohydrate. First check you’re eating the recommended amount of carbs at all meals and all snacks. All the recipes here at GestationalDiabetesRecipes have the main carbohydrate containing ingredients listed in bold so you know what they are and can adjust to your diet. You can also add a little more protein to your diet, such as lean meat, tofu or eggs as this won’t affect your glucose levels and can make you feel far more satisfied. But too much additional protein can still affect your weight so don’t go overboard.
Non-starchy vegetables or ‘free vegetables’ are fine to eat as much of as you want. They will help to keep you feeling full but won’t affect your glucose levels or your weight and are full of nutrients for you and your baby.
Drinks such as diet cordials and diet/Zero soft drinks are acceptable if you want to drink something other than water (or some low fat milk). It is up to you whether you want to include foods that are artificially sweetened in your diet. There is no evidence they cause harm in pregnancy but many women still prefer to avoid them.
Certain condiments that you may use to cook with and flavour foods such as soy sauce, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, chilli and garlic, are still okay. See the ‘free foods’ list below for more examples. You may feel extra hungry if you are eating bland foods because you aren’t sure what you can and can’t have.