The Balanced Body Podcast

Did you know that most pregnant women don't meet their nutrient requirements? And that this can impact blood sugar in a big way?  Women with gestational diabetes seem to have lower quality diets and higher rates of micronutrient deficiencies.  IMPORTANT NOTE - I'm by no means implying that developing GD  is solely to do with diet, or that all women with GD eat badly, or that you did anything wrong...

We all know we should be doing exercise, right? It's good for our physical health, mental health and your blood sugar. So it's a no brainer to fit it into your day, right? Except that ... sometimes life gets in the way and sometimes it can be hard, and how the hell are you meant to know what to do when you're pregnant! It's not always simple.  It's a bit like with food how we all generally know th...

If there's one key thing I want you to know about managing gestational diabetes, it's that it doesn't have to feel restrictive.  If you're hating what you're eating, spending a lot of time hungry, constantly getting food envy, sick of eating low carb bread and lettuce burgers, and/or scrolling wishfully through all the carby things you "can't" have on instagram, I can't stress enough that it doesn...

Are you ready for one of the biggest secret weapons in your blood sugar balancing repertoire? Of course you are. But first a hot tip - flip your mushrooms upside down and take them outside.  Listen to the ep to find out why. Anyway, back to the secret weapon. It's vitamin D.  Are you excited?! I am. But if you're not, did you know that vitamin D actually seems to have a pretty big role in gestatio...

The World Health Organisation recently released a new guideline warning against the use of artificial sweetners following the results of a systematic review, citing there may be potential undesirable effects from long-term use of non-sugar sweeteners, such as an increased body weight, risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults.   Listen for my take and how this appli...

  Hey First name / friend ,   Hopefully by now you know that the main driver of gestational diabetes is HORMONES, produced by your body in response to pregnancy, and from the placenta. And you might already know about some of the typical risk factors for GD (and if you don't, don't worry, we cover these in the episode). But what if you don't fall into any of these categories? It can be very stress...

*Trigger warning* Mention of disordered eating and miscarriage in this episode.   This is a logical train of thought after a diagnosis of gestational diabetes:   I have high blood sugar → carbs raise blood sugar → I should reduce my carb intake → the keto diet is low carb → keto will help me keep my blood sugar lower and be the best way to manage gestational diabetes   It all seems to check out.  ...

I've got to get something off my chest.   Sometimes I go read threads in gestational diabetes support groups, and I get SO FRUSTRATED when I see things that aren't accurate.   To be clear, I'm not trying to make anyone feel silly and I know all the comments come from a good place. But it just pains me from the other end of the computer screen when I see misinformation because I just so badly want...

  I wonder what your feelings are towards insulin. Often there is a lot of anxiety, fear, and even guilt associated with it.   You might be hoping to stay diet controlled during your gestational diabetes journey and feel like you're failing if you need to rely on insulin or medication. Or maybe it impacts the type of care you receive, e.g. whether you have midwifery led care or not, or the level o...

Have you thought about your birth preferences?   Having gestational diabetes, you might be worried about the big I word…   Induction.   There are typically higher rates of induction among mothers with GD. This likely has you wondering about how your diagnosis will impact your own birth experience.   If the thought of an induction has you feeling anxious and frustrated about the potential for thing...

  I bet you're sick of it.   When you eat the same thing you've eaten 3 times before with perfect numbers, and then all of a sudden, it's sent your blood sugar sky rocketing.   Now before you go swearing off whatever (probably delicious) meal you were eating and resolving to eat nothing but chicken and vegetables, let me get a word in.   Unfortunately, I can't wave a magic wand and give you perfec...

TW: we touch on weight and disordered eating in this episode.  If you would rather not hear about this at all, then please feel free to skip this episode. **   We all (me definitely included) loved listening to Kate's story so much, so I've decided to make  pregnancy and birth stories a regular feature on the Gestational Diabetes Club podcast.   I really feel that hearing the stories of other wome...

Did your diagnosis of gestational diabetes feel like it came out of nowhere?   It can be such a mindf*ck. Especially if the only thing you've been told about GD is that you have to go have a super sugary drink and get a bunch of blood tests to find out if you have it, and then cut out carbs if you do (which is a myth, by the way).   Before your test, you might have been thinking something along th...

Hidden sugar is a tricky topic in gestational diabetes.  Obviously it makes sense to keep your carb portions moderate and reduce foods with excessive amounts of sugar to avoid blood sugar spikes (and just for general health!).  But worrying about hidden sugar may actually be less important than you think , and potentially could do more harm than good.  In this episode I discuss why I don't place t...

I hope you LOVED listening to part 1 of Kate's birth story.    In this second part, you'll hear all the juicy details of Kate's second pregnancy and birth, including how she handled a diagnosis of gestational diabetes this time around.   I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't say anything else!     Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any of my free nutrition tips.  And if you...

Gestational diabetes can be a lonely experience.   It often isn't widely spoken about, and you might be dealing with feelings of guilt, shame and fear.   I'm so passionate about starting more conversations around GD so that we can start to break down this stigma and remove some of the unknowns.   I can't help but think that the best way to do that is to hand the microphone over to you .    There i...

You know those days, where no matter what you do, your blood sugar just skyrockets.  You're eating all the same "safe" foods.  You're exercising.  You're drinking water.  All of it.  … Yet for some reason, nothing is working and everything is just OFF.  Well, one of my first questions to you would be, how is your sleep?  It's easy to gloss over poor sleep as no big deal but it can have an enormous...

Sick of erratic blood sugar numbers that won't seem to behave, no matter what you do? Well, in this episode I go through 6 things you can do that will absolutely guarantee perfect blood sugars, with minimal or no effort required!! Sound too good to be true?  I'll let you decide.    *I do NOT recommend that you do any of the things mentioned in this episode!!   Make sure you hit  SUBSCRIBE so you d...

Have you ever felt frustrated as hell that you have to keep your fasting blood sugar under 5.0mmol/L… only to find out that some people seem to have it waaaay easier with a target of 5.5mmol/L?   Or maybe your numbers were only a tiny bit over on the glucose tolerance test , and you're annoyed that now you've been handed this diagnosis.   Or perhaps you were told to test 2 hours after eating , but...

So you've just got the results back from your glucose tolerance test and it's not great. Your blood sugar was high, and you've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. You might be feeling upset, overwhelmed, stressed, anxious … all the things. And maybe now you're stuck in that awkward period where you know a little about the changes you need to make, but not a lot. In this episode I take you th...

Ahhh fasting blood sugar - it can be such a nightmare!!   It is super common to be advised to eat a snack before bed to help regulate your fasting blood sugar numbers, but what and when this snack should be seem to vary hugely.  I've seen people experiment with all sorts of things, from a glass of milk, a boiled egg, a glass of milo, a protein bar, ad even ice cream.  As a clinician, I've always b...

So you've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and now you're hyper conscious of everything you eat in case it raises your blood sugar.  You might have been given some vague advice to "just eat healthy" or "reduce carbs" and you might be doing okay at avoiding regular spikes. But here's the thing. Eating for gestational diabetes isn't quite that simple.  For the best chance at regulating your...

Did you know there is a major link between gestational diabetes and your gut? Research has consistently shown that the gut microbiome of women with GD is remarkably different compared with women without GD, and is potentially something that can be targeted to improve blood sugar, and influence the long term health outcomes for you and your baby. So it's important to pay attention to it! In this ep...

Swapping to low GI carbs is super common advice, and can be very helpful to reduce your blood sugar levels. However. It doesn't really tell the whole story, and it isn't what I consider the most important factor in optimising your blood sugar. In this episode I go into detail about glycaemic index to give you the information you need to make sure your diet is ticking all the blood sugar friendly b...

If there's one thing I know you know about gestational diabetes, it's that you need to be watching your carb intake.  And If there's one other thing I know, it's that you're probably curious about what the ideal amount of carbs to be eating is. In this episode, I go through the latest evidence so that you have everything you need to know when it comes to carbs, how much you should be eating, how t...