With a recent diagnosis of gestational diabetes, I guess I am now one of the few people living in China who is unable to eat white rice.

Our Ayi, a Beijinger, is relatively happy about this, having spent a number of years trying to educate us out of our daily rice eating habit and towards the northern Chinese staples of noodles, jiaozi and baozi.

Yet with just a couple more weeks to go until child number 2 arrives, my cravings have turned to all things sweet and sugary -- primarily, of course, because they, too, are banned from my diet until our new addition to the family arrives.

I've learned that gestational diabetes affects about 4% of pregnant women each year. And that the term refers to women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy.

Usually detected in the later stages of pregnancy, it starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs. Without which, glucose cannot leave the blood and be converted into energy, so it builds up in the blood to high levels, making the mother hyperglycemic.

Thankfully, it usually disappears after the baby is born.

However, the Doctor informs me that 60% of women who have this during pregnancy can go on to develop Type 2 diabetes in later life.

So, I've made a bit of a lifestyle change and familiarised myself with safe foods that rank low on the Glycemic Index and am monitoring my blood sugar levels with a kit consisting of a finger-pricker and a digital blood sugar level reader, three times daily.

Provided that I can keep these readings at safe levels, I can prevent the baby from developing macrosomia. Babies with this face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth.

Because of the extra insulin made by the baby's pancreas, newborns may have very low blood sugar levels at birth and are also at a higher risk of breathing problems. Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk of obesity and adults who are at risk of Type 2 diabetes.

So that's the science bit.

Having spent more than twenty years as a vegetarian and as an Epipen-carrying nut allergy sufferer of six years, my diet is already restricted (admittedly, the former is self-imposed).

So I was delighted with a discovery made on the weekend that has suddenly made things a little easier.

What is it? You may be wondering...

Sugar-free chocolate ice-cream at Gelateria Romana (Solana Shopping Mall) -- my idea of heaven in a world that's been momentarily made treat-free!