Personally I would call the nurse line and inquire. Those are really odd directions.

I have unfortunately taken the 3 hour test twice in the last couple of years...my doctors office is quite strict with the 1 hour test cut off. I passed both 3 hour tests without GD. It is a fasting test, typically they tell you not to eat for 8+ hours. Do it first thing in the morning because it suuuuucks. You can’t even really drink water (“sips”) and get your blood drawn 4 times over 3 hours. Blood draw 1 is fasting sugar, and then you chug the gross drink and have to have your blood drawn an hour, two hours and theee hours after you finish.

I felt the worst in the first hour, super hungry and dizzy and hot, and then as the sugar metabolized started to feel slightly better just starving. Bring something to eat after!

I would eat normally leading up to the test but on the healthier side, so I avoided sweets and tried to eat mostly whole grains (whole wheat breads and pasta) and fruits/veggies. Wouldn’t go crazy with cake or anything.

Good luck

Because I was super curious, just found this study that the abstract said carbo, candy, versus ad lib diet had negligible effect. But damn, those women who ate 6 snickers bars a day for 3 days... amazing and gross at the same time lol.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9584817

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Yes, she's instructed to fast before the test. It's in the morning, so she won't be eating anything after dinner the night before.

Our aim is certainly not to game the test. We want an accurate result. My concern is just that with vague instructions, we want to be sure that we're not getting an *inaccurate* result (false positive) by not preparing for the test properly. I know a three-day high-carb diet is often prescribed before the test, and so I'm wondering what the effect of this is, and whether lower-than-average carb consumption in the days/weeks before the test can lead to a false positive diagnosis of GD.

Outside of your posts in this thread, I've literally never heard of this.

NP, and I was instructed to carbo load the weekend before my Monday test, which I did happily and willingly.

Bloom Ob/gyn

I’ve never heard of this. What practice is this?

Anonymous wrote:OP here: This was the diet laid out in the doctor's materials (but which the docs now seem to have rescinded?):

If, by chance, it is necessary for you to undergo a 3-hour GTT, you will need to follow a specific diet beforehand.
The suggestions outlined below represent a high carbohydrate diet designed to supply the proper amounts of food
needed to obtain an accurate test. You should eat at least the amounts shown below. You may also add to the diet
any other food you would like.
Important: Eat the diet as listed daily for three (3) days, plus anything else you desire. Also, you should not eat or
drink after 10 pm the night before the test.
Breakfast
• Cereal (1/2 cup) cooked or dry
• Bread, white, two (2) slices
• Skim milk (1 cup)
Lunch (Noon)
• Potato (1 medium, 2 1?2” diameter)
• Vegetable (1/2 cup) cooked
• Bread, white, 2 slices
• Dessert
Dinner (Evening)
• Follow the same menu as specified for lunch.

This is really interesting... I have literally never ever heard of eating like this before the 3 hr test and would never normally eat like this period. Same with friends who've had the test. Hm.

11:27 here -- it only matters if she is currently in ketosis.

If you are strictly keto, then you already know whether she is or not and have made that decision in view of the reasons not to be in ketosis during pregnancy.

Otherwise, eat normally in the days before the test.

OP here: This was the diet laid out in the doctor's materials (but which the docs now seem to have rescinded?):

If, by chance, it is necessary for you to undergo a 3-hour GTT, you will need to follow a specific diet beforehand.
The suggestions outlined below represent a high carbohydrate diet designed to supply the proper amounts of food
needed to obtain an accurate test. You should eat at least the amounts shown below. You may also add to the diet
any other food you would like.
Important: Eat the diet as listed daily for three (3) days, plus anything else you desire. Also, you should not eat or
drink after 10 pm the night before the test.
Breakfast
• Cereal (1/2 cup) cooked or dry
• Bread, white, two (2) slices
• Skim milk (1 cup)
Lunch (Noon)
• Potato (1 medium, 2 1?2” diameter)
• Vegetable (1/2 cup) cooked
• Bread, white, 2 slices
• Dessert
Dinner (Evening)
• Follow the same menu as specified for lunch.

What Is The Glucose Tolerance Test?
Prior to the taking the glucose tolerance test, your doctor will ask you to make sure and eat at least 150mg of carbohydrates (about what you will get from a slice or two of bread) for three days prior to the time you will be asked to fast.
https://americanpregnancy.org/prenatal-testing/glucose-tolerence-test/

3 DAYS BEFORE THE OGTT: Plan on eating three healthy meals and snacks for 3 days before the test. You do not need to buy special food, but you do need to make sure you have healthy foods to eat. Your meals should be balanced with plenty of carbohydrates.

Foods containing carbohydrates include:

Fruits
Breads
Cereal
Pasta
Rice
Crackers
Starchy vegetables (corn/peas/carrots)
https://youngwomenshealth.org/2014/02/25/oral-glucose-tolerance-test/

OP, the answer is, keto induces physiological insulin resistance. Eat a sweet potato each day before the test, if she is currently in ketosis. If she's not in ketosis, then eat normally. Most labs don't specify "carb loading" because most people aren't in ketosis.

Good luck. GD is manageable, if she does have it.