Another Sugary Experience

I have to expand on a portion of my post on StrongGirlsWin.com from yesterday: the 3-Hour Glucose Tolerance Test. So, the test is screening for Gestational Diabetes and you only have to take this version if you fail the 1-Hour Tolerance Test (which I did).

There are, of course, strict rules to follow to keep the test valid:

1. Eat a diet containing at least 150g of carbohydrates per day for 3 days prior to testing.
2. Fast for 8-hours before consuming glucose solution.
3. Drink solution containing 100g of glucose within 5-minutes. Think throwing back about 4 shots in 5-minutes… maybe not the best idea.

Then you sit for 3-hours that are interspersed with blood drawing every hour.

Doesn’t sound too bad does it?

Well, for me, this is about as bad as it gets in terms of medical testing. I have strong dislike for fasting, having my blood drawn, being forced to drink huge amounts of sugar, and sitting still for long periods of time. I’m not trying to exaggerate or be funny, I really don’t like any of those things.

In fact, I almost didn’t get the test done at all. After all, I’ve “been there, done that” with my first pregnancy. So, why should I put myself through this hellish experience again?

Aside from simply “getting over myself” and acting like an adult, I pulled up some research to educate myself on the risk factors associated with babies who are born to women with gestational diabetes and decided I did, in fact, need to get over myself.

A couple of the most notable risk factors for the child that I didn’t know include: increased likelihood of becoming diabetic at some point in their future life and falling into a coma if the doctors don’t know they need to monitor the newborn’s blood sugar levels. Those were the two points that resonated with me.

Well, anyway, this got me thinking about how absurd it is to consume so much sugar in one sitting, much less in one single day. But, that’s exactly what people do ALL the time!

Here are a number of popular beverages you or a loved one probably consumes regularly. All have around 100g of sugar:

You may think I'm being a bit dramatic about this whole thing. It's just a standard test, after all. But diabetes has a history in my family and I recognize my body's own regulation of its blood sugar levels as a natural challenge - pregnant or not. I've actively been trying to provide myself the best quality foods for about 10 years now and the idea of failing any sort of glucose test is frightening for me!

The good news is I passed my second test and the doctor assured me failing the first version is NOT a sign of things to come... not sure if I totally believe her. I think I'll just keep my head down, focused on continuing to consume high-quality whole foods and will have to enjoy Shamrock Shake commercials instead of indulging in the real thing: