Gestational diabetes lunch

Gestational diabetes lunch ideas

Looking for gestational diabetes-friendly lunch ideas? This post is for you! Whether you need a quick lunch on the go, a packed lunch, or a cooked meal at home, planning ahead is key. Without a plan, it’s easy to end up grabbing whatever’s nearby or making less-than-ideal choices — especially if you’ve waited too long to eat and are feeling “prangry” (pregnant + angry)!

8 Golden Rules – the key to a successful diet

1. Eat little & often, ideally 3 meals and 3 snacks a day
2. ‘Pair’ foods so that they will be tolerated better, “food pairing” is a term that we use in relation to the GD diet
3. High protein
4. Plenty of  good, natural fats
5. Low amounts of unrefined complex starchy carbohydrates at every meal
6. Bulk up meals with lots of vegetables & salad
7. Drink plenty of water
8. Go for a stroll  

Make sure you get your lunch

Ideally, we want blood sugar levels to look like gentle rolling hills, not steep spikes and sharp crashes.

During pregnancy, the best way to keep levels steady is to:

• Choose balanced, sensible foods
• Eat small amounts regularly — aim for 3 meals and 3 snacks a day

Why skipping meals can cause problems

Skipping lunch or going too long without eating can actually harm your blood sugar control. When you miss a meal or snack, blood sugar levels can drop too low, which may trigger a false hypo.

When this happens, the liver releases stored glucose into the bloodstream providing a quick energy boost. This sudden rise can cause your blood sugar to spike high, and then, when you finally eat your next meal, your already elevated levels spike even higher.

The rollercoaster effect

After a spike, the body signals the pancreas to release insulin to bring levels back down.

• With gestational diabetes, there may not be enough insulin, or hormones can block your body from using the insulin effectively.
• Sometimes, the body overproduces insulin, causing blood sugar to crash too low.

This creates a rollercoaster effect of high spikes followed by sharp crashes, which makes blood sugar levels much harder to manage.

If you’re struggling to find time to eat throughout the day, it’s important to make changes so you can. Properly managing gestational diabetes requires regular meals and blood sugar testing.

Work-related challenges

If your work schedule is getting in the way, speak with your manager or HR department about completing a risk assessment. This will help address your additional needs related to gestational diabetes.

Many women face challenges getting breaks to eat and test, especially those in roles like:

• Medical professionals (e.g., nurses, doctors)
• Teachers
• Anyone in long meetings or roles where breaks are limited

Making adjustments is essential — without regular eating and testing, blood sugar levels are much harder to control.

Busy parents

If you’re a parent caring for other children, remember: you need to eat too. Take time to nourish yourself, just as you do your kids.

Making meals more blood sugar-friendly

When preparing lunches or quick meals:

• Use food pairing to keep blood sugar stable.
• If you include higher-carb foods (like bread, pasta, rice, or fruit), always pair them with protein and healthy fats to slow digestion and make them more tolerable.

Possible benefits of reheated foods

It’s been found that when cooking carbohydrates such as pasta or rice and leaving them cool, it changes the structure to become a “resistant starch”^​1​.

When pasta is cooked, cooled, and then reheated, it becomes more resistant to the enzymes in the gut that break down carbohydrates. This slows digestion and can reduce the rise in blood sugar levels, making reheated pasta a potentially better option for blood sugar control.

it is evident that the cooking methodology of pasta influences post-prandial glucose response, with a faster return to baseline in both cooled and reheated pasta, as well as reduced AUC following reheating, further work is needed to understand the mechanisms driving these changes^​1​

Method of Food Preparation Influences Blood Glucose Response to a High-Carbohydrate Meal: A Randomised Cross-over Trial

An experiment on from the BBC series, Trust me I’m a Doctor, found that re-heating the cold cooked pasta helped reduce the impact on blood sugar levels by 50%

Just as expected, eating cold pasta led to a smaller spike in blood glucose and insulin than eating freshly boiled pasta had. But then we found something that we really didn’t expect – cooking, cooling and then reheating the pasta had an even more dramatic effect. Or, to be precise, an even smaller effect on blood glucose. In fact, it reduced the rise in blood glucose by 50%. This certainly suggests that reheating the pasta made it into an even more “resistant starch”. It’s an extraordinary result and one never measured before.

This is highlighted as a possible benefit because studies on rice have shown mixed results, with little impact on post-meal blood sugar levels in some cases. Feedback from our Facebook group members has been similar — while some notice an improvement, others see little to no difference.

That said, it’s worth trying to see how your body responds.

Leftovers gestational diabetes lunch ideas:

• Any GD-friendly meal which is leftover and suitable for re-heating safely, e.g. spag bol, or cottage pie, tikka
• Spanish frittata with leftover potatoes
• Bubble and squeak with fried eggs
• Leftover chilli with added fresh chillies, guacamole, salsa, sour cream and grated cheese with nachos
• Leftover cooked wholewheat pasta mixed with chopped smoked sausage, cheese, broccoli and mayonnaise or chopped tomatoes and herbs, served with salad
• Warmed leftover chicken fajita wrap with salad and mayonnaise

Think about the order you eat your food

Eating your lunch in a specific order can be a simple but effective way to help keep blood sugar levels lower and more stable.

Research^​3​ suggests that eating vegetables, followed by proteins and fats, and carbs last can reduce the postprandial spike in blood glucose levels! This is maximising the food pairing benefit.

Gestational diabetes lunch shopping list suggestions:

• Eggs! Lion stamped eggs if you want to eat eggs soft, runny, or raw

• Bacon or turkey rashers
• Steak 
• Cooked meats or Quorn slices; ham, turkey, chicken, beef, pork, Mattesons smoked sausage
• Bread; Burgen Soya & Linseed (found to be the best tolerated bread by mothers in our Facebook support group), local bakery Low GI bread, Hi-Lo,  400g loaf slice of granary or wholemeal, brown sandwich thins (shops own brand, Kingsmill or Warburtons), rye bread, Morrisons in-store bakery pumpernickel with sunflower seeds
• Wholemeal tortilla wraps (mini ones, or Mission Deli), or BFree wraps (quinoa & chia seed, sweet potato, or multigrain)
• Wholemeal pittas (mini ones are preferable)
• Wholegrain crispbreads or crackers; Ryvita crackerbread, Ryvita crispbread, Jacobs crispbreads, shops own brands – it’s important to choose wholegrain versions!
• Ryvita Multigrain Rye Cakes
• Fish; smoked salmon, mackerel, prawns, tinned tuna or salmon, anchovies
• Real butter (ideally from grass-fed cows e.g. Kerrygold)
• Sour cream (full-fat)
• Hummus (full-fat)
• Guacamole 
• Sandwich/deli fillers (full-fat)
• Tofu
• Wholewheat pasta
• Couscous
• Quinoa
• Chopped tomatoes
• Olives
• Pesto
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Tomato purée
• Capers
• Pickled beetroot
• Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Nuts; in their natural form without added salt, flavourings or coatings. Salted and flavoured nuts can be eaten but can have a very high salt content. Good nut choices are: Mixed nuts, almonds, brazils, macadamia, peanuts, pecan, pine nuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts. Avoid dried fruit!
• Pork scratchings
• Seeds; Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, linseed, flaxseed, chia seeds, soya beans
• Salad; salad leaves, rocket, baby spinach, lettuce, spring onions, peppers, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, radishes
• Vegetables; onions, avocado, mushrooms, carrots, courgettes, new potatoes, baking potatoes, sweet potatoes,  garlic, chillies, cabbage, beetroot, sweetcorn
• Cheese; all full-fat cheeses including cheddars, cream cheese, cottage cheese, soft cheese, halloumi, feta, mozzarella, Babybels or cheese portions (avoid unpasteurised cheeses, which should not be eaten in pregnancy unless cooked)
• Mayonnaise (full-fat)
• Herbs & spices; fresh chives, fresh basil, paprika, chilli flakes, garlic, mixed herbs

Hot gestational diabetes lunch ideas

• Omelettes; add cheese, ham, chicken, Quorn, chives, onion, peppers, mushrooms, paprika, chilli flakes – whatever takes your fancy! Add 3 new potatoes, 2 x 400g loaf slices, or 1 x 800g loaf slice of toast or 2 x Ryvita and salad
• Small jacket potato or half a larger potato (no bigger than your fist); with bacon, sausage, ham, smoked sausage, grated cheese, leftover chilli,  or tuna mayonnaise on top, add salad on the side
• Loaded jacket potato
• Crustless warm mini quiches with salad and new potatoes, rice, couscous or quinoa
• Cheese on toast; add meats, tuna, onion on top
• Grilled cheese sandwich (toastie); add meats, tuna, onion or avocado
• Tortilla wrap or pitta pizza; add a little tomato purée, grated cheese and meat, olives and veggies, dried mixed herbs and drizzle of olive oil, grill for a few mins
• Garlic mushrooms with cheese on top of wholemeal sandwich thins
• Mushroom soup
• Homemade Vegetable soup
• Broccoli & Stilton soup
• Cauliflower Cheese soup
• Ham & Vegetable soup
• Chinese Chicken Noodle soup
• Chicken soup with added chicken breast, buttered bread or Ryvitas for dunking
• High meat content beef burger with grilled halloumi slices and sweet potato chips
• Steak, chorizo, egg and potato warm green bean salad

Salads

Create mixed salads using any of the following: Salad leaves, rocket, spinach, lettuce, celery, onion, cucumber, peppers, radish, avocado, fresh herbs, chilies, spring onion, olives, capers, onion, grated cabbage, green beans, lemon, lime, seeds, nuts, edamame beans, *tomato, *grated carrot, *beetroot, *fresh peas, *sweetcorn

*Some find it difficult to tolerate certain vegetables, such as tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, peas, or sweetcorn. It’s best to introduce these one at a time, paired with foods you know are well tolerated, and then test your blood sugar to see how your body responds.

Add the following to mixed salads:

• Cooked meats: ham, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, bacon, Quorn
• Cheeses: cheddar, feta, cottage cheese, grilled halloumi, mozzarella
• Boiled eggs
• Cooked fish: tuna, mackerel, smoked salmon, anchovies, prawns
• Tofu
• Pan fried steak
• Cooked, roasted chicken breast
• Slice of crustless quiche

Don’t forget to add ONE starchy carbohydrate to your salad such as:

3-4 egg sized new potatoes (you could also cut and fry these into potato wedges), 3 tbsp of potato salad, 4 tbsp of basmati or brown rice, 4 tbsp of cooked pasta, 4 tbsp of couscous, 4 tbsp of quinoa, 1 x 800g loaf slice of good GD bread, 2 x 400g loaf slices of good GD bread, 1 x wholemeal pitta, 1 x high protein bagel thin, 1 x wholemeal sandwich thin, 1 x tortilla wrap, 2 Pagen Krisprolls, 3 x Ryvita, 4 x Scottish oatcakes, 4 x falafels

Dress salads with:

• Full-fat mayonnaise
• Balsamic vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Full-fat Caesar salad dressing
• Full-fat coleslaw
• Full-fat remoulade
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon or lime
• Full-fat Hummus
• Homemade dressings: make in an old jar, tub, or bottle: lid on, shake & pour
  • Pesto dressing: 2 tbsp squeezed lemon, 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, tbsp of pesto
  • French mayonnaise dressing: 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 ½ tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 pinch salt & ground black pepper
  • French dressing: ¼ crushed clove garlic, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 pinch salt & ground black pepper
  • Balsamic dressing: 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 pinch salt & ground black pepper

Sandwiches, wraps, pittas, crispbreads

One of the following:

• 1 x 800g loaf slice of good GD bread
• 2 x 400g loaf slices of good GD bread
• 1 x wholemeal mini pitta
• 1 x wholemeal mini tortilla wrap or a well-known tolerated wrap as shown on this post
• 1 x high-protein bagel thin
• 1 x wholemeal sandwich thin
• 3 x Ryvita crispbreads
• 4 x Ryvita Thins
• 4 x Scottish oatcakes

Have chopped cucumber, celery and pepper sticks on the side, or if you miss crisps with your sandwich, try some nuts, seeds or pork scratchings!

 Sandwich toppings and fillings

• Store-bought sandwich/deli fillers (avoid any containing dried fruits, e.g. coronation chicken)
• 2 Boiled eggs crushed with full fat mayonnaise (egg mayonnaise)
• Cheese, salad & mayonnaise
• Tuna mayonnaise and cucumber
• Homemade Coronation chicken
• Chicken, sweetcorn and mayonnaise
• Cream cheese, ham, pickled gherkins, olives and salad
• Spicy chicken and salad
• Steak and rocket
• Hummus and olives
• Ham, cheese, salad, mustard and mayonnaise
• Prawns, salad, avocado and mayonnaise
• Falafal, cheese, salad and hummus
• Avocado and chargrilled roasted veg
• Cold chicken fajita filling, salad and cheese
• Bacon, lettuce and tomato with mayonnaise
• Smoked sausage, cheese and salad
• Egg, bacon and cheese
• Smoked mackerel fillets blitzed with full-fat cream cheese
• Cream cheese and smoked salmon
• Cottage cheese and salad
• Herring tostada; smoked herring in sour cream with chives on shredded lettuce on mini wholemeal wraps (toasted till crispy)
• Prawns or crab meat

Watch out for Lunchtime ‘double carbing‘

• Avoid eating crisps with sandwiches. Crisps and a sandwich, roll, wrap e.t.c. is too much carbohydrate for your body to process in one go and is ‘double carbing‘. Instead, save your crisps for a snack with cheese or some nuts for later
• Skip yoghurt, fruit, and sweet treats right after lunch, as that’s too much sugar at once. Have them an hour later as a snack instead. For a light dessert, try a sugar-free or no-added-sugar jelly pot.
• Beware of quiches with pastry crusts alongside other carbohydrates such as potatoes, pasta, rice, bread e.t.c. Ideally, opt for crustless quiches so that you can have an unrefined complex carbohydrate instead of the pastry
• Watch out for carbs served with carbs, such as baked beans on toast, baked beans on a jacket potato, soup with a roll, pasta with garlic bread e.t.c.

Gestational diabetes lunch on the run

Many of us need a quick lunch on the go, and that’s totally doable if you follow the 8 Golden Rules. More shops now offer fresh, lower-carb, high-protein options, or you can pick up a few items to create your own gestational diabetes-friendly lunch.

Subway salads are a favourite of many members of our Facebook group. McDonald’s, KFC and other fast food restaurants have good salads that won’t impact blood sugar levels too much, but watch out for sauces and dressings that are high in carbs.

M&S Food shops have some great items and most supermarket stores and corner shops have items that are perfect as long as you think outside of the box and walk beyond the sandwich cabinet! Items from the hot chicken counters, cooked meats and fish, cheese, nuts and prepared salads are easy to whack together in a hurry.

Golden Rule No. 8

Rule No. 8 of the 8 Golden Rules is to get moving after meals. A short walk after lunch can really help lower your blood sugar levels. If the weather’s nice, consider making lunch a picnic and enjoy some fresh air. If you can’t get outside, even a quick stroll down the street or to the other side of your building can make a difference.

But I eat a healthy diet…

This post shows a typical popular healthy lunch, but one which can easily spike blood glucose levels.

Gestational Diabetes UK Lunch Meal Ideas

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I created Gestational Diabetes UK as a GD mum, for other mums. My goal is to provide clear, helpful information about gestational diabetes — from diagnosis through to birth and beyond.

You won’t find ads, pop-ups, or affiliate links on my website, and I don’t make money from any products mentioned. All links are shared purely for information.

Gestational Diabetes UK doesn’t sell physical products. Instead, the site is funded through an optional membership, which gives access to extra recipes and meal plans. This support helps keep the main site free for everyone and allows me to keep adding new content and resources.

If you’d like to help support the site and my work, you can find out more about the membership by clicking the link below.

Thanks,
Jo
Founder & Author of Gestational Diabetes UK

Membership Options

References

1. 1.

   Hodges C, Archer F, Chowdhury M, et al. Method of Food Preparation Influences Blood Glucose Response to a High-Carbohydrate Meal: A Randomised Cross-over Trial. Foods. 2019;9(1). doi:10.3390/foods9010023
2. 2.

   Chiu Y, Stewart M. Effect of variety and cooking method on resistant starch content of white rice and subsequent postprandial glucose response and appetite in humans. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2013;22(3):372-379. doi:10.6133/apjcn.2013.22.3.08
3. 3.

   Shukla A, Iliescu R, Thomas C, Aronne L. Food Order Has a Significant Impact on Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels. Diabetes Care. 2015;38(7):e98-9. doi:10.2337/dc15-0429