Easy Breakfast Ideas for Gestational Diabetes
They say most important meal of the day is breakfast, and if you’ve got gestational diabetes, your first meal of the day is even more important than normal! After being diagnosed with gestational diabetes myself, I created some resources to help you with your gestational diabetes diagnosis because I wasn’t happy with what I found when I was doing my own research. In addition to my gestational diabetes meal plan and dinner ideas for gestational diabetes, I’m sharing breakfast ideas for gestational diabetes that will help get your day off to a great start while keeping blood glucose levels stable.
Disclaimer: This article and the gestational diabetes breakfast ideas are just that – IDEAS to help you navigate! As always, run everything by your Doctor.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
New to Gestational Diabetes?
Start with my gestational diabetes meal plan page. This is an in-depth article that covers everything from the diagnosis to meeting with the registered dietitian or diabetes educator to meal ideas to what it’s actually like to have this type of diabetes and how you can make healthy choices. You will become a pro at food labels!
Be sure to grab my healthy snacks for gestational diabetes list here.
Tips for Best Gestational Diabetes Breakfast
Depending on your own blood sugar levels, your Dietitian give you a carb range for your meals and snacks. My body was pretty sensitive to carbs, so my recommended range for breakfast was 15-20 grams carbohydrates, so for me, the most important thing was a high protein, low carb meal first thing.
If you find yourself having high blood sugar spikes, your Dietitian might adjust your suggested carb amount for your breakfast and meals the rest of the day.
Also, I think this is important to note that even though I was following a healthy eating protocol, I still had to give myself insulin injections.
High Protein and Low Carb Meal Component Ideas
You may not want to make a full-on breakfast recipe every day, so here are some components that are lower carb options. Pair a few together for a great choice for your morning meal:
- Hard-boiled egg or any cooked egg
- Cottage cheese
- Greek yogurt – I had to use Siggi’s as it’s lower in carbs but you may be able to use plain yogurt and add some berries to sweeten it up
- Filtered milk – This milk is filtered so that it’s lower in carbs
- Nuts
- Whole-grain toast – I used sprouted bread or whole-grain bread for an extra boost of protein and fiber
- Breakfast sausages or vegetarian sausages
- Air Fryer Turkey Bacon
Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Gestational Diabetes
Here are some balanced breakfast ideas that are either lower in carbs or easy to swap out for low carb options. Definitely try some avocado toast toppings or peanut butter toast topping ideas with some sprouted or whole grain bread for a quick and nutritious meal that can pack in the protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
- Sour Cream Scrambled Eggs – Took a trick from Anthony Bourdain, and it’s a genius one!
- Banana Sushi – Breakfast or snack, these bananas are spread with peanut butter (or try almond butter!) and then topped with nutritious crunchies like chia seeds, hemp hearts, or chopped nuts. You could also swap out the banana with berries for a lower carb option.
- Banana Oatmeal Pancakes – Just 5 ingredients to make these nutritious and satisfying pancakes.
- Egg Sandwiches – Because my carbs were quite restricted for breakfast, I had 1/2 of a sprouted english muffin, Trader Joe’s meatless breakfast patty, slice of cheese, and a fried egg a LOT. It was satisfying and tasty.
- TikTok Breakfast Sandwich – Use a low carb or sprouted bread made with whole grains.
- Mini Frittatas – Add your favorite non-starchy vegetables for a veggie boost.
- Greek Yogurt Parfaits – If you need this to be lower in carbs, choose a lower sugar yogurt like Siggi’s. Top with chopped nuts or whole-grain cereal.
- Green Smoothie – Smoothie recipes tend to be higher in carbohydrates, but this one might work, or adjust fruit (try swapping out some of the banana for some frozen riced cauliflower) or try my peanut butter and jelly smoothie.
The Good News
I mention this in my gestational diabetes meal plan article, but you can absolutely have a healthy pregnancy with gestational diabetes, so do not despair. (Though I know this from experience that it’s easier said than done!) Do your best and take advantage of the resources you have available to help you out and your health care provider and know that this gestational diabetes diet is most-likely temporary.
