Pregnancy, Pineapples, And Type 1 Diabetes
Hi there. I’m addicted to pineapple.
This week, I’ll be five months pregnant, and it seems like the vitamin C cravings I had early on in my pregnancy are back with a vengeance. Orange juice (yes, with pulp), kiwi fruit, apples, raisins (even though they’re low in it, I still want them), and pineapple. To the point where Chris and I bought a pineapple at the grocery store last week and I ate half of it in two days time. What’s good is that, for whatever reason, my blood sugars aren’t rebelling against this fruit overload. (Different from cute overload, where hamsters play the trumpet.) Before the BSparl invasion, I had things like oatmeal timed out with precision, so that I could eat something with 30 grams of carbs in it without a spike, but just one apple could cause my numbers to go berserk. Now? Oatmeal is hard to predict, but I can nosh on a whole bowl of fruit salad, estimate the carbs, and coast in the low 100′s for NO REASON.
Pregnancy and type 1 diabetes is a very peculiar combination. /digression
But then I Googled “pineapple and pregnancy” and received a pile of search results that made me feel like I was going to have the baby that night. One site said that “Bromelain [found in pineapple] can soften the cervix and bring on labor.” Another said that it could cause uterine contractions.
So, of course, I freaked out slightly. And talked to fruit.
“What am I supposed to know? I mean, there’s so many do’s and don’ts when it comes to this baby gestation adventure – how can I figure out what I’m supposed to be doing? And how come I keep finding out about suspect foods AFTER I’ve already eaten them?” I asked the pineapple on my plate. It did not offer a useful answer.
I have heard that I should avoid shellfish. (Not that big of a problem, as my new food cravings seem to be for shrimp only). I’ve heard to keep the caffeine tapered to a minimum, which I managed to get under control before we left for Spain in August, so that’s cool. And I have also been told, many, many times, that I can’t eat cold deli meat anymore, so anything involving cold cuts needs to be “piping hot.”
But after those few bits, I get a little foggy. Should I not be eating pineapple? Someone else told me to avoid things with gluten in them because it can affect the baby. Then I was told to avoid eggs unless they were whites-only. And not to eat any sugar substitute except for Splenda. And to steer clear of soft cheeses (which to me is everything except the cheese that you forget to wrap in saran wrap and ends up all nasty hard). And to only eat while hanging upside down in my closet, like a bat. While wearing galoshes.
What the heck am I supposed to eat??? Or supposed to avoid? And will eating pineapple really make my body flake out? Because while Google is a great place to find information, I don’t trust it nearly as much as I trust real people. For now, I’ll be chugging orange juice and bolusing accordingly. 
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
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