Helping ace your Fasting Blood Sugar Testing

Blood sugar testing is usually done before your 24th-week check up. It is a screening for gestational diabetes.  You are at all like me who hates the thought of having to stick herself constantly or you have previous pregnancy history with gestational diabetes, you may want to preventatively take Chromium. It is a mineral micro-nutrient that binds with insulin and helps manage the glucose molecules that we take into our bodies.

The first step to acing your fasting Blood Sugar testing is : About 1 month before my blood test, I started taking chromium daily at breakfast and lunch to help my blood sugar levels.  The other reason I took it was I was craving lots of fruit specifically nectarines and peaches. While they are a healthier sugar than corn syrup, they still have an effect on your blood sugar levels causing me to worry that I may not be managing my blood sugar levels very well.

The next big thing for acing your blood sugar levels is to make sure that you are balancing all your meals with a protein component.  That means if you eat that piece of fruit you are craving, then you also must eat a small handful of nuts and so forth.

You must also never forget to exercise regularly.  This means 30 minutes a day where you keep your heart rate up and make sure that your metabolism is working at a rate that will metabolize whatever food you are eating.

The last tip for acing your fasting Blood Sugar testing happens on the day of the blood draw.  Make sure and have a high protein meal before your blood draw. Make sure to not have a lot of sugar or eat pasta 24 hours prior to the blood test.  Once the lab has you drink the syrup, excuse yourself to the restroom and walk in the parking lot for the 45 minutes till they draw your blood.  This whole process from drinking the syrup till the draw is usually 1 hour with them needing you to be back about 10 minutes before you are due to get your blood draw.  This works very well and simulates more like real life as we are never sedimentary - especially for us second time mom’s with toddlers.

For me, I make some of my Zara playtime my 30 minutes a day exercise and after I took my test, I found that I was 40 points higher than my first pregnancy due to my sugar cravings of eating lots of fruit.  But that means that I have continued to exercise regularly and also am still on chromium to make sure that I don’t have high sugar levels that would harm the baby.

Dr: Walker:Pregnant and exercising

So of course you probably know that you should exercise and that I am a fan of exercise as a family practice Chiropractor.  But something you may not know is that it is still important to be pregnant and exercising.  Here are my reason’s why:

1.     Help maintain a health weight:  women need to gain around 25-35lbs during 9 months with exceptions.

2.     Make Labor easier:   No labor is easy but labor is like running a ultra-marathon as far as energy expended so being fit can help.

3.     Banish prenatal mood disorders: Otherwise know as the baby blues or mood swings some woman have, your partner will be glad you exercise.

4.     Reduce number of backaches:  As relaxin hormone floods the system your body joints destabilize causing muscle aches and pains.  Keeping moving can help create stability and make you feel more comfortable.

5.     Staying Healthy and Preventing Pregnancy complications: Pre-eclampsia, Gestational diabetes are less common in women that exercise regularly.

So My program for exercise has been the following:

1.     Walk every morning with the Dog, if you have bad morning sickness as I have had you will want to eat breakfast first so that your blood sugar is stable.

2.     Squats as many times through out the day as I can possibly fit in.  I use my electronic toothbrush cycle of 2 minutes to do them as fast as I can.

3.     Lunges after the morning walk.

4.     Walking on hills like Quicksilver Park for 3-5 miles 2-3 times a week with the dog Bailey of course.

5.     Tracy Anderson pregnancy video that involves stretches and strength training 1-2 times a week for periods of 20minutes

6.     I now am adding in Biking on my personal trainer instead of the run’s I was doing.  I stopped running at 26 weeks as your pelvis and hips become unstable and start to have problems. 

For saving on clothing I recommend getting a new bra if you have to, but using your husband’s basketball shorts, Work out shirts and some cheap yoga pants from Target.   Remember to drink lots of water and follow the rule of being able to speak while you are working out you don’t want to deprive you or baby of oxygen.