OY! We are going to get pretty deep today friends. So I am just going to jump right in. But at the outset I just want to say – I am NOT a doctor. This is SOLELY based on my research. AND I am NOT opposed to testing for diabetes during pregnancy, my concern is with the testing method itself.
I love interacting with lots of different naturopathic doctors, nutritionists, fitness instructors, yogi’s etc but let me tell you – the MOST informative as of yet has been wellness focused mama’s. These mama’s know their sh*t. One of my favorite wellness mama’s is WELLNESS MAMA herself. I recommended her pregnancy book in this post. I highly recommend it as she goes through holistic + traditional medicine/tests etc during pregnancy.
But what stems this blog post is when another wellness mama, Laury Raiken (who will be on the post VERY Soon), asked me what I was doing about the glucose test around 3 months into my pregnancy. This wasn’t even on my radar yet! But thank goodness she brought it up.
Naturally I had no idea what she was talking about – I had heard other mothers talk about the gross orange drink you had to consume for a test later in pregnancy but that was it. So what is this test all about?
Gestational Diabetes
Gestational Diabetes is when a pregnant woman develops high blood glucose levels during pregnancy. And almost 10% of pregnant women are diabetic while pregnant. That’s quite a staggering number. How is it caused? Wellness Mama explains it best:
“No one knows for sure, but the medical community’s best guess is that it could be caused by the placenta’s growth. As the baby grows, the placenta grows to support him. But that growing placenta also releases a growth hormone called human placental lactogen (HPL) that can block the action of insulin in the mother’s body. If your body doesn’t have enough insulin to change the glucose in your blood to energy, it can build up to high levels, which leads to a failed glucose test and a diagnosis of gestational diabetes.”
How can you tell if you are diabetic during pregnancy? It is actually quite hard to determine on your own. The symptoms include the typical pregnancy symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, excessive thirst, excessive urination and a few others.
Western Medicine’s Glucola Test
Most doctors test for gestational diabetes via the glucola test between 24-28 weeks. The setup is pretty standard, you drink the glucola solution and then the doctor will test your blood sugar every hour for about three hours. It is merely a screening to determine how your body handles the influx of sugar. And I also want to note that false positives are actually quite frequent. But that’s not my issue….
My issue with the glucola solution is that is full for GMO’s, carcinogenic additives (cancer causing), and petroleum based food coloring. Not very condusive to a “healthy and balanced diet” that doctors recommend during pregnancy.
And as Laury put it, “I would not drink this regularly, let alone during such a sensitive time, carrying my unborn child. Doctors educate women on the importance of proper diet and exercise during pregnancy, but require this potentially harmful, unhealthy drink be administered for testing. There is a better way.” I could NOT have said it better myself.
Laury breaks it down pretty in depth here so I’m going to do a spark notes version of it for your here.
Ingredients in the Glucola solution include: Water, Dextrose (D-Glucose source: GMO Corn), Citric Acid, Natural Flavoring, Food Starch Modified, Glycerol Ester of Wood Rosin, Brominated Soybean Oil, FD & C Yellow #6, Sodium Mexaphosphate, BHA, and Sodium Benzoate.
BHA is a carcinogenic additive (cancer causing).
Genetically Modified Soybean Oil is banned in Europe. Enough said.
“Natural flavoring”, well the food industry slaps this on EVERYTHING so WHO KNOWS what this could be.
Combination of citric acid and sodium benzoate is a known carcinogenic recognized by the World Health Organization.
The issues go ON AND ON. But here is what I am here to tell you, there are other options.
Other Options Aside from the Glucola
I am actually so excited to have Laury on my podcast to discuss this very issue because we pursued different options. Laury opted for the real food options and was fortunate that her doctor was informed and allowed her to do so.
The real food options includes drinking the same amount of sugar as the glucola solution ONLY you guessed it, via real food such as:
- 16 ounces of 100% fresh pressed orange juice and 1/2 of a banana (50)
- 6 ounces 100% organic grape juice and 1 banana (50)
- 8 ounces 100% organic apple juice and 1/2 banana (50)
My doctor was not so keen on this idea and claimed she had never heard of the issue before. (She really is darling, I just don’t 100% believe that). Instead of following the real food method, I was given the option to test my blood sugar 4 times a day for 2 weeks. It really is NOT a big deal at all. It merely consisted of a glucometer + supplies which costed about $45 total and taking 2 minutes to prick myself 4 times a day. I then recorded the blood sugar result and BAM no need to consume any toxic, carcinogenic, petroleum colored solutions..
DO YOUR RESEARCH
Again, I just want to make it clear, I am NOT saying to forego the gestational diabetes testing altogether. In fact, I’m not telling you to do anything. I am just sharing my journey and letting YOU know that YOU have options. And of course, have an open discussion with you significant other, your doctor and YOURSELF about what test is right for you and your BABY! Have any questions? Feel free to reach out!
xx Erica
Yaaas! So awesome that you went a different way than the standard glucose test! Good job mama 🙂
I really had no idea about any of this. I had to pin to save for, you know, down the road… 😉