While I still only half-buy my gdm diagnosis I have been following the annoying rules since 24 weeks. The dietary restrictions have not only made me unbelievably moody and angry and etc etc (hormones mught have something to do with it), but also had me losing weight going into my 3rd trimester. It took me too long to figure out how to ingest enough calories within the restrictions.

Everyone's body reacts differently but if this is useful to anyone else suffering through the freakin' nightmare that is gdm, it's worth throwing out there.

I have been monitoring way more than necessary to learn the patterns and have found the following:

Eggs and cheese almost instantaneously lower my glucose levels by double digits.

--- fresh mozzarella and hard boiled eggs are my snacks of choice to reduce blood sugar. If I eat them approx 45 min after a carb heavy meal, my glucose is textbook perfect.

--- throw anything in a cheese omelet (like a giant delicious potato), and it's like not eating carbs at all. My glucose numbers monitored every 15 min for 2 hours show almost no movement, regardless of what I put in the eggs.

Exercise works well too. Walking for 15 min either immediately after eating or 45 min after eating (or both) has never failed me. For particularly high carb meals, I also add in arm lifts of varying styles (3 sets of 10 usually).

Eating half a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich (or, in a pinch, just 2 servings of peanut butter) before bed keeps my fasting blood sugar good. Or my fasting levels are just normal and the sandwiches are just a delicious way to end the night. But peanut butter has been very helpful in general.

Anyway, hope this is helpful or kinda helpful to someone out there who is having as hard a time with their pregnancy as I am with mine.

***edit/addition***

Also, for some reason, showering DROPS my levels faster than anything. Works just great for me, for any food, any time!