08/13/2026
After completing my pregnancy glucose test, I thought I may have failed it by trying to optimize my glucose response🤦🏼♀️
Take my pregnancy glucose test with me!
Here’s what happened…
I was told I could eat before my test, including eggs, so I decided to have a zero-carb protein shake about an hour beforehand. And then I started second-guessing myself…
Did I just mess up my glucose test? 👀
Thankfully, no. Eating breakfast 2–3 hours beforehand was actually part of the instructions I was given. I was told I could eat a breakfast like eggs, with protein and minimal carbohydrates, before coming in for the test.
And this is an important distinction:
This is a standardized glucose screening test — not a test of how your blood sugar responds to your typical meal.
You receive the same 50g glucose load, followed by a standardized blood glucose measurement.
What would be more likely to interfere with the intended glucose challenge is consuming protein or food with or immediately before the glucose drink, because nutrients can influence gastric emptying and the glucose response. This is a standardized test, not a functional lab.
So apparently… I didn’t need to panic. 😂
But this experience made me think about something I talk about with my patients all the time:
Your metabolic health during pregnancy doesn’t start with the glucose drink.
Preparing for pregnancy — ideally months to years before conception — gives you an opportunity to work on the things you can control.
Things I focus on include:
✨ Building and maintaining muscle mass prior to and during pregnancy
✨ Staying active throughout pregnancy
✨ Eating high protein + high fiber diet
✨ Eating breakfast - Hello to my morning smoothie
✨ Assessing metabolic health before and early in pregnancy
For my own patients, I often want to understand metabolic health early in pregnancy — including markers such as fasting glucose, insulin and HbA1c, with additional testing based on individual risk factors. So I can understand how their blood sugar responds functionally.
….Continued in the comments.
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