Meal Planning Monday 2017 Week 52

Merry Christmas! 2017 has been completely life changing in one major way as my husband and I are expecting a baby. After getting pregnant in June the second half of the year has been a whirlwind of researching buggies, buying baby clothes, coping with extreme tiredness (though luckily nothing else, not even morning sickness), trying to think of a name, and much more. Most other things have taken a backseat, including blogging, as you might have noticed!

A couple of days ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes- really not the best time of year to be told you can’t eat anything sweet!  It's different from type 1 and type 2 diabetes and is caused by hormones released by the placenta. It can have detrimental effects on the unborn baby so my blood sugar levels have to be monitored and controlled - mainly by cutting out refined sugars (nooo!) and cutting back on carbs. I can eat wholemeal bread and pasta and brown rice, but only tiny amounts of potatoes so will have to change my diet quite a bit.

I am eating meals at other people’s houses for five days in a row (though I am at home in between) and while some of them have asked what I can eat and tailored menus accordingly, I don't want them to have to worry about catering for me, especially as I know the family we are going to on Christmas Day and Boxing Day have already done their food order.

My sister, her partner and baby are coming to stay for new year so I've started planning meals but need to spend a bit more time thinking about it after Christmas especially now I have a more restricted diet, so this week’s meal plan is a bit incomplete for the moment, but will be continued.
 

You can expect to see some more GD and diabetes friendly recipes on my blog over the next few months –if you have the condition yourself and have any good meal or snack ideas, let me know in the comments! Luckily I did Sugar-Free September last year and bought a book called I Quit Sugar so that will come in handy!

Monday – Christmas Day

Breakfast – was going to have croissants but that’s now out. I bought some smoked salmon to have with wholemeal bread; I wanted eggs benedict but couldn't find a wholemeal muffin.

Lunch – midday nibbles at my brother in law’s and his family – not sure what food they will have so I will take a couple of things including houmous and oatcakes (to have with cheese).

Dinner – Christmas dinner, yay! Meat and veg is fine and I know roast potatoes will push my blood sugar readings up but they are my favourite part of the meal… I will have some but in moderation. I will probably have to skip dessert or maybe have the tiniest taste – I don’t know what they are serving and it’s too late to ask. There are desserts I can eat, like sugar-free jelly, but I don’t know if taking my own mini pot of jelly while everyone else is tucking into something nice will just be depressing! Or I could take these homemade peanut butter chocolate brownies which I could have with cream: http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/peanut-butter-swirl-chocolate-brownies

Tuesday – Boxing Day

Breakfast – bacon roll on wholemeal bread roll

Lunch – with family. Again don’t know what food there will be; I will take a few GD-friendly snacks

Evening – usually have leftovers from Boxing Day buffet

Wednesday – at home

Breakfast – wholemeal toast with peanut butter or egg on toast

Lunch – possibly Boxing Day leftovers

Dinner – out for another buffet meal

Thursday – visiting friends

Breakfast - wholemeal toast with peanut butter or egg on toast

Lunch – either a sandwich/ leftovers on the train or out

Dinner – at my friend’s who very kindly has planned a meal that should work both for me and our vegan friend!

Friday

Breakfast – at my friend’s

Lunch – hopefully home in time otherwise will have to see what I can get on route, can’t think of any snacks I can easily take down on Thursday that I can then eat on the train on Friday apart from nuts
Dinner – meatballs with pasta for him and spiralized carrot for me

Saturday – my sister and her family are visiting
 

breakfast: yogurt (for me anyway - other choices for other people!)
lunch: not sure if they will be with us for lunch or not. Easy to do baked potatoes and sweet potato for me, to serve with beans or tuna and cheese.
dinner: baked chicken with lime, honey and soy, from Lorraine Pascal's  A Lighter Way To Bake (p65) with cauliflower rice for me and potatoes for the others
dessert: sugar free jelly 'fluff' (blog post to follow, if it works!)

 

Sunday – New Year's Eve, with my sister and family

Not sure what we are doing yet as we still need to find something suitable for a one year old! And I'd like to cook a special meal in the evening but tend to get very tired these days so don't want it to be too elaborate.
breakfast: yogurt  (for me anyway - other choices for other people)
lunch if we are home: bacon or sausage sandwich
dinner: steak and chips/ sweet potato fries followed by what is hopefully a gestational diabetes-friendly cheesecake.

  

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