GD Diet

Drinks

10th September 20157th March 2019 Jo Paterson caffeine, coffee, hot chocolate, juice, milk, milkshakes, squash, tea, water

Drinks and gestational diabetes

Staying well hydrated is very important during pregnancy and even more so if you have diabetes whilst pregnant. Drinking water doesn't directly lower blood sugar levels, but it does flush excess sugar out of your system and so staying hydrated will help control and stabilise blood sugar levels.

Ideally you should be drinking around 3 litres (10 -12 glasses) at least, a day. You will need to drink even more during warmer weather or if you are exercising.

We recommend drinking a glass of water with AND in between every meal and snack during the day.

Tea, coffee and fizzy drinks containing caffeine should not be included as part of your recommended daily fluid intake as they are diuretics. Diuretics make you urinate more frequently, causing you to lose water. If you don’t like the taste of water then you could try carbonated water with lemon and lime added to it, or some sugar free squash. Be careful when choosing drinking squash which has ‘no added sugar’, it means exactly that, no ADDED sugar, but will still contain natural sugars. Check labels for the lowest total carbs for the best choices.

Drinks suitable for a GD diet

Water, carbonated or still. Beware of flavoured waters that may contain sugar.
Tea & coffee, decaffeinated or remember to include within your recommended daily intake
Diet/Zero/No added sugar carbonated drinks
No added sugar diluting squash (watch out for high juice or squashes with natural or concentrate fruit juices added)
Raspberry leaf tea
As a treat - Highlights, Options or Choc Shot hot chocolate with added whipped cream!

Diet, no added sugar and zero carbonated drinks

There are many alternatives to well loved, original full sugar drinks such as the following:

Dr Pepper > Dr Pepper Zero
Coke > Diet Coke or Coke Zero (please note that Coke Life still contains sugar)
Pepsi > Diet Pepsi or Pepsi Max
Fanta Orange > Fanta Orange Zero
Fanta Icy Lemon > Fanta Icy Lemon Zero
Lilt > Lilt Zero
Sprite > Sprite Zero
7UP > 7UP Light/7UP free
Irn Bru > Sugar Free Irn Bru
Levi Roots drinks > Levi Roots Zero
Vimto > No added sugar Vimto
Cola > Diet cola
Lemonade > Diet Lemonade
Ginger Beer > Diet Ginger Beer
Cream Soda > Diet Cream Soda
Dandelion & Burdock > Diet Dandelion & Burdock

Whilst many of these drinks are not completely sugar free (even some zero ones still contain naturally occurring sugars), the diet, light and zero fizzy drinks have much less than the original full sugar versions. Check labels to see how much sugar you are drinking and limit yourself if you feel they are impacting your blood sugar levels.

Caffeine in drinks

Be mindful that some carbonated drinks, coffee and tea contain caffeine. Current guidelines recommend no more than 200mg of caffeine per day to be consumed during pregnancy.

How much caffeine?

The amount of caffeine found in some drinks is as follows:

one mug of instant coffee: 100mg
one mug of filter coffee: 140mg
one mug of tea: 75mg
one can of cola: 40mg
one can of energy drink: up to 80mg

Artificial sweeteners in drinks

The majority of No Added Sugar, diet and zero drinks contain artificial sweeteners. Although there is much controversy over artificial sweeteners, they are safe to consume:

All sweeteners in the EU will have undergone a rigorous safety assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) or its predecessor, the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF), before they can be used in food and drink. "Large studies looking at people have now provided strong evidence that artificial sweeteners are safe for humans."As part of the evaluation process, the EFSA sets an acceptable daily intake (ADI), which is the maximum amount considered safe to consume each day over the course of your lifetime.You don't need to keep track of how much sweetener you consume each day, as our eating habits are factored in when specifying where sweeteners can be used.

If you prefer to avoid aspartame then it may be helpful for you to know that Sainsbury's & M&S diet, no added sugar drinks and flavoured waters contain a different artificial sweetener (sucralose).

Avoid adding sugar to drinks as this is pure sugar which your body cannot process as it would normally, even cutting back is still adding excess pure sugar which is difficult for your body to process.

Try sweeteners instead. A range of different sweeteners are available; natural and artificial, some are powder or granulated forms and others are tablets.

Tablet sweeteners are only suitable for adding to drinks. Powdered sweeteners can leave a froth on top of drinks and granulated sweeteners dissolve much the same as beet or cane sugar.

There are some research links at the bottom of the page for more information on artificial sweeteners.

Milk

Due to lactose which is the naturally occurring sugar in milk, it can have varied results in different people. It's advisable to perform a 'milk test' - have a glass of milk as a 'snack' and then test to see how it effects you after one hour. If you get good results then you are able to tolerate milk well, if you see high blood sugar levels then it is best to avoid milk or swap to a different type of milk.

This table compares 100ml of each type milk. All the milks listed are fresh (chilled) milks, with dairy alternatives being Alpro UNSWEETENED versions of the milk with the exception of the rice milk which is long life. Bear in mind that 4g of carbs is the equivalent to 1 tsp of sugar. [Information taken from Tesco, Waitrose and Grahams websites, correct March 2019]

milk per 100ml	carbs (g)	protein (g)	fat	calcium (mg)
almond milk	0	0.4	1.1	120
soya milk	0	3.3	1.8	120
lacto free whole milk	2.6	3.3	3.6	109
coconut milk	2.7	0.1	0.9	120
hazelnut milk	3.1	0.4	1.6	120
Graham's gold top	4.7	3.7	5	134
whole milk	4.7	3.5	3.7	120
semi-skimmed	4.8	3.6	1.8	122
Arla BOB	4.9	4.6	0.4	147
skimmed	5	3.6	0.3	124
1% milk	5	3.6	1	127
oat milk	6.8	0.3	1.5	120
rice milk	9.5	0.1	1	120

A splash of milk in tea or coffee should not impact blood sugar levels, but if you drink very milky tea or coffee, or when drinking larger amounts of milk, then you should include this drink within your meal or snack and incorporate this within your test times i.e. avoid eating and drinking these things before testing your one hour blood sugar level.

Different types of milk suitable for a GD diet:

Cows Milk - Advisable to perform a 'milk test' as mentioned above. Gold top, or full fat/whole milk is best for more stabilised blood sugar levels as fat slows down the absorption of sugars into the body
Almond milk - low fat, low carb, aids food to breakdown and a source of vitamin E
Soya Milk - low fat, high protein
Coconut milk - low fat, source of vitamin B12
Lacto-free Milk - cows milk with lactose removed

AVOID oat and rice milks which are high in carbs, low in protein and fat AND sweetened versions of dairy milk alternative milks as these contain added sugar!

Ice cream milkshakes

All I can say is walk the other way!

Ice cream milkshakes should come with a huge sugar warning sign on them!

These thick, creamy milkshakes can contain anything from 66g - 90g of total carbs for a medium or large serving!

There is a HUGE 90g of carbs in a large banana flavoured McDonald's milkshake is the equivalent of 22 ½ tsp of sugar!!

Safer milkshake options

Great news, in the last year we have seen the launch of some much better milkshake alternatives for all you ladies craving milkshakes! Yazoo has launched a no added sugar range in strawberry, banana and toffee flavours, Frijj has launched a ZERO range in chocolate, strawberry and mango & passion fruit flavours and Crusha liquid that you add to milk is now no added sugar too.

The Yazoo and Frijj still contain the lactose (natural sugars from the milk), but if you tolerate milk well, then you should tolerate these milkshakes fine too!

Don't forget that you can also easily make your own milkshakes using full fat milk, or almond milk and some cocoa or Sweet Freedom choc shot!

Iced fruit smoothies, iced coffees & coolers

Unfortunately these icy, refreshing and fruity drinks can also be packed with sugar. Not such a big surprise when we know that fruit itself and even more so, fruit juice and sweet syrups can spike levels very high, very quickly.

Costa Massimo Caramel Latte Cooler, 61g total carbs!
Starbucks Tall (small) Iced Chai Tea Latte, skimmed milk, 33g total carbs
Costa Primo (small) Watermelon & Strawberry Cooler, 36g total carbs
McDonald's (medium) Strawberry & Banana Iced Fruit Smoothie, 40g total carbs
McDonald's (regular) Caramel Iced Frappé, 46g total carbs
Costa Medio (medium) Mango & Passionfruit Cooler, 57g total carbs
Costa Massimo (large) full fat Caramel Latte Cooler, 61g total carbs

Lower carb iced/cold drinks to take out, but many still contain high carbs so beware...

Starbucks Cool Lime Refresha, 13g carbs, or just over 3 tsp of sugar! You could just have iced water with a slice of lime instead? You decide!

WATER! This is our top recommendation!! 0g carbs and no added artificial sweeteners! The best way to flush blood sugar levels through the body and handy for tipping onto a tissue when testing blood sugar levels...win, win!
McDonald's Sprite Zero, 0g carbs
McDonald's Diet Coke, 0g carbs
Starbucks Venti Iced Americano, 4g total carbs
Starbucks Tall Iced Cappuccino, coconut milk, 7g total carbs
Starbucks Tall Iced Cafe Latte, skimmed milk, 9g total carbs
Starbucks Grande Iced Cafe Latte, soya milk, 9g total carbs
Starbucks Tall Cool Lime Refresha, 13g total carbs
Costa Primo Soya Coffee Cooler, 16g total carbs
Starbucks Tall skimmed milk frappuccino, no whip, 18g total carbs
Costa Primo Full Fat Coffee Cooler, 18g total carbs
Starbucks Tall skimmed milk mocha frappuccino, no whip, 21g total carbs
Starbucks Tall skimmed milk caramel frappuccino, no whip, 21g total carbs
Costa Primo Peach Iced Lemonade, 22g total carbs
Costa Primo Summer Fruit Punch, 23g total carbs

Non alcoholic versions of alcoholic drinks

Be wary of these as many contain high amounts of sugar, especially ciders, wines and mocktails! Mocktails etc. contain a lot of fruit juices which are very high in natural sugars.

One non alcoholic drink that a few ladies have had success with is Becks Blue which has 9g carbs per bottle. Due to the carbohydrate amount, ideally it would be best to drink this with or following a high protein meal and test levels after it (like you would food).

Summertime BBQ party drinks:

Why not make up a jug of the following;

Lemon iced decaf tea
Iced raspberry leaf tea
Carbonated water with ice and slices of lemon & lime
Carbonated water with ice and berries
Carbonated water with ice, mint and cucumber slices
Non alcoholic version of 'Pimms': 2 tblsp balsamic vinegar, 2 ltrs diet lemonade, lots of ice, mint, slices of orange, lemon, limes, cucumber and strawberries

Winter warming Ribena

!!! Hot on the Facebook group at the moment is the limited edition No added sugar Winter Spice Ribena. It does contain sugar, 1.8g total carbs per 250ml serving, but it makes a lovely warming winter drink to snuggle up with. Grab a bottle while you can!

Drinks to avoid, these drinks will raise blood sugar levels very fast:

Pure or concentrated fruit juices eg. orange juice (OJ), apple juice
Ready to drink juices eg. Oasis, Ribena
Diluting squash e.g. full sugar versions of orange squash, Ribena, high-juices
Full sugar carbonated drinks e.g. Coke/Pepsi, Ginger beer, Irn-Bru, Lilt, Lemonade, Tango
Sports & energy drinks e.g. Lucozade, isotonic drinks, Red bull, protein shakes/drinks
Milkshakes e.g. Yopp, Frijj, MacDonalds and Burger King milkshakes
Smoothies e.g. Innocent smoothies
Iced coffees and coolers with added syrups
Hot chocolate e.g. full sugar hot chocolates
Adding sugar to tea & coffee

Hydration levels, blood sugars and ketones

Being dehydrated can cause higher blood sugar levels and can lead to you producing ketones. Ketones can lead to a nasty condition which is not good for either your baby or you. For more information on ketones, please read more here.