Nutrition during gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is type of diabetes discovered during a pregnancy, it exposes you to a risk of childbirth because it causes complications for the delivery by fetal macrosomia (birth of a large baby). But don’t worry! It happens when you don’t treat your diabetes during pregnancy!
Following the medical and dietary treatment decreases the risk and leads to better conditions for the delivery.
The problem with gestational diabetes is that women often feel guilty, they think it’s their fault!
Generally it’s heredity that is behind this gestational diabetes, on the contrary you should think that you need to eat well in order to help your child to be born easily and not to stop eating! Your child needs you right now.
You should follow the recommendations of your doctor and nutritionist, and follow the dietary advice to help your child.
There are certainly dietary recommendations to follow during gestational diabetes, it is about fast sugar!
You must stop this enemy, especially what concerns industrial sugar, products that constitute sweeteners, additives … etc..
On the other hand, it is necessary to consume slow sugar which is constituted in the pasta for example to have good energy and to avoid falling in hypoglycemia.
What is gestational diabetes?
It’s a type of diabetes that is revealed by pregnancy and usually disappears after delivery, but, it’s a risk factor for type 2 diabetes (adult onset diabetes), which is why you should pay attention to your diet before and even after pregnancy,because diet is a preventive treatment.
It usually appears after the 6th week of amenorrhea, and disappears in 98% of cases just after delivery.
Its presence is associated in the child by an increased risk of fetal macrosomia (birth of a baby that has a month more than 9.9 lbs.
In the absence of a good medical and dietary follow-up, this poses risks of cesarean section.
Gestational diabetes: is it my fault?
Not at all! usually it is because of a family history (I mean heredity), but you should not feel guilty!
Often women feel guilty and say that I am responsible for this complication and risk of my child, so they deprive themselves of eating.
You should know that if you don’t eat, you risk having hypoglycemia, and this is the main problem of diabetes in general.
So if you really want to do good to your child and help him/her to be born healthy, you have to follow the recommendations of the doctor and dietician, nutritionist and follow the dietary advice and your diet.
Here are the causes of gestational diabetes:
- Presence of a family diabetes (heredity)
- Obesity
- Excessive weight gain during pregnancy (don’t worry we will detail how not to gain weight during pregnancy in this article).
- The previous birth of a child with an abnormal weight: either a large baby: a weight greater than 9.9 lbs
- or atrophic baby with a weight lower than 4.4 lbs.
- If you have had a miscarriage or stillbirth
Will gestational diabetes go away after pregnancy?
Yes, in 98% of cases, gestational diabetes goes away after pregnancy.
That is why it’s called gestational diabetes because it is revealed by pregnancy and disappears after pregnancy.
But don’t ignore your diet, because gestational diabetes is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. I mean you should continue eating healthy even after the delivery.
Gestational diabetes diet plan
Dietary treatment is the first and only therapeutic tool other than insulin that can be used in a standard way in gestational diabetes.
Dietetic treatment :
Early and rigorous, it helps reduce fetal death.
Why a diet for gestational diabetes?
The goal of a balanced diet during gestational diabetes is to normalize blood sugar levels during pregnancy, because the more unbalanced the blood sugar levels, the higher the risk of complications for the baby.
A special diet also for pregnant women with gestational diabetes is aimed at preventing any deficiency and controlling weight gain.
The dietary advice that the dietician must give you is given according to the medical prescription, the corpulence and the data of the food survey.
Gestational diabetes diet plan
All foods except alcoholic beverages can have a place in the diet as long as the main nutritional principles of pregnancy are respected and foods with a low glycemic index are favored in order to reduce postprandial glycemia.
Carbohydrate foods should be distributed among the different meals and snacks.
The second principle is the regularity of food intake and energy intake is an important element of the diet in gestational diabetes.
The division of food into three meals and two or three carbohydrate snacks allows to reduce the glycemic load of meals (i.e. avoid heavy meals, on the contrary.
They should be spread out to avoid eating too much in one meal), it also avoids postprandial hypoglycemia (because sometimes when we eat too much, (because sometimes when we eat too much, too much insulin is secreted to decrease the high rate brought by this heavy meal, so there will be a hypoglycemia caused by a hyperglycemia.
So this state of excessive decrease of the glycemia just after a meal will induce a state of hunger, and therefore to a snacking!
A part of the carbohydrate food of the meal (here we speak about slow sugar), must be postponed to the snack to prevent hypoglycemia.
A well-calibrated evening snack based on dairy products and cereals also has the advantage of reducing the duration of the night-time fast.
It should be noted that it’s not required to split meals into three plus two snacks, but it’s strictly forbidden to skip meals!
It’s according to the woman’s case, and her eating habits that we realize how many meals she must take per day.
What to eat during gestational diabetes?
Foods to avoid when you have gestational diabetes
- sugar
- Confectionery
- Candy
- Chocolate
- Jams
- ice cream and sorbets
- sweet and fruity yoghurts
- fruits in syrups or compote
- All sweetened drinks
- Camembert cheese
- French fries
- Canned and prepared meals.
- Cakes, pastries and cookies.
Foods to eat in limited amounts:
- Pasta, rice, potato: No more than 10 tablespoons.
- Fruits: 1 fresh fruit per day just after lunch.
- Milk: It provides carbs: No more than 600 ml per day or three glasses per day.
How much fruit per day during gestational diabetes?
According to the principles of the gestational diabetes diet, and the caloric distribution :
1/10 of the energy expenditure is in the form of fresh fruit.
9/10 of the ED, is in the form of slow sugar.
So you have one low glycemic index or moderate fruit to eat directly after lunch.
Why right after lunch?
Lunch is the most important meal for the woman during gestational diabetes, because it is the meal that allows the woman to do her activities and have energy to use throughout the day.
So if she eats a balanced meal and a fresh fruit at the end, she won’t have a hypo or hyperglycemia because the sugar and energy that she took during lunch will be burned during her activities during the day.
In addition, simple sugar is less taken up when consumed at the end of a meal rich in protein and fiber.
So when you eat balanced meals that include fiber and protein, the absorption of fast sugar contained in the fruit will be reduced.
At night, you should prefer slow sugar to prevent a nocturnal preventative hypoglycemia (while sleeping).
How to prevent gestational diabetes?
A weight loss before getting pregnant decreases the risk of having gestational diabetes by 33% while a gain of 11 lbs increases the risk of gestational diabetes by 47%.
The keto diet & gestational diabetes
You should not focus on diabetes and forget about gestation!
It is important to know that the ketogenic diet is very low in carbs and almost sugar-free, but very high in protein and fat.
In this case there are too many restrictions that must be put in place.
The keto diet is excellent for people who want to lose weight and who are in good health.
When we talk about the pregnant woman, we are talking about the specific needs that must be present in the diet of the pregnant woman for the good progress of the pregnancy.
The only diet that I recommend for pregnant woman is a balanced diet while keeping control of the quality of sugar as I mentioned above.
Simply put, the pregnant woman with gestational diabetes cannot live without carbohydrates!
If not, there will be a risk of hypoglycemia!
Don’t forget that our goal is not to lower blood sugar levels but to regulate and normalize blood sugar levels!
Can I have a cheat day during gestational diabetes?
I know it’s hard to keep control of your cravings when you’re pregnant, so I’m not going to say no!
Occasionally, once every three months you can have something sweet like dark chocolate or half a cookie, however you eat it right after lunch.
As I explained above, the absorption of fast sugar is not complete when sugar is consumed after protein and fiber.
These two molecules, fiber and protein decrease the absorption of fast sugar!
First, dietary fiber forms a viscous gel that resides in our digestive tract and traps excess sugar and cholesterol from entering the bloodstream.
Secondly, animal protein molecules also decrease the absorption of fast sugar because the molecules are similar and compete in the intestin.
When proteins are often the ones that gain entry into the bloodstream, so automatically there will be a decrease in the absorption of fast sugar.
Therefore, before each meal, eat proteins and fibers like any balanced meal and consume the fruit and the portion of fast sugar at the end.
How to correct Hypoglycemia naturally during gestational diabetes?
There are many tips that you can find by all on how to correct hypoglycemia, however there is only one way to correct it according to the health recommendations and that is the rule of 15!
How do you know if you have hypoglycemia?
There are some symptoms that can tell you that you are in a state of hypoglycemia:
- Feeling hungry
- Sweaty forehead
- Nausea
- muscle weakness
- chills
- lack of concentration
these are the main symptoms and often encountered during a hypoglycemia
If you feel any of these symptoms, you need to confirm that you are truly hypoglycemic.
- First, sit down to stop expending energy!
- Secondly, take your glucose meter.
- Measure your blood sugar
- When you prick your fingers, wipe off the first drop of blood with absorbent cotton because it may reveal false results
- Take a drop of blood and measure your blood sugar level.
- At the beginning of the pregnancy: fasting blood sugar: must be less than 3.8 mmol/L so it is confirmed! it is a hypoglycemia
How to treat this hypoglycemia naturally?
- 1 half glass of water
- 3 sugar cubes or (15g of powdered sugar)
- Mix it well and drink it!
- Wait 5 minutes and measure your blood sugar again.
- If the figure is normal and higher than 4 mmol: eat 30g of slow sugar which can be: bread to stabilize your blood sugar and not to make a hypoglycemia again.
- If you are still hypoglycemic: repeat the steps.
- To learn more about the Healthiest way to correct hypoglycemia visit this link.
Vomiting during gestational diabetes
Vomiting during gestational diabetes is due to two different things: A hormonal cause and a psychological cause.
Vomiting is a physiological disorder during pregnancy because there is a hormonal imbalance.
However, if the vomiting takes a long time, there is a psychological problem that leads to a lack of appetite.
Vomiting or nausea that is due to hormonal causes can be treated, just tell your gynecologist about your feelings and he will prescribe you a suitable treatment if necessary.
Vomiting during gestational diabetes that leads to a lack of appetite is usually psychological: it is the feeling of guilt towards their baby.
Mothers say to themselves: I am responsible for the risk to my baby, so I shouldn’t eat!
This is totally false!
Gestational diabetes is usually due to heredity, its cause is something we can’t control. But it can be treated and any complications in the baby can be avoided by eating a healthy and balanced diet.
Typical day’s menu for a woman with gestational diabetes:
Breakfast:
- Choice of beverage: Milk, coffee, herbal tea, tea
- Buttered bread (maximum one hazelnut), or dairy: plain yogurt.
Snack:
- Water, light tea.
Lunch:
- Raw veggies with olive oil seasoning with cider vinegar.
- Meat, fish or egg
- Steamed vegetables or baked green vegetables.
- Starchy food: 80g of potato or maximum 10 spoons of: pasta or rice or semolina.
- Cheese or dairy (avoid camembert)
- 1 portion of raw fruit.
Snack at 4pm: not compulsory only if you are hungry:
- Small handful of oilseeds: about 20g
Dinner :
- Vegetable soup or raw vegetables
- Meat fish or 1 egg
- Baked cauliflower and cheese gratin
- 60g of bread.
- Dairy: Plain yogurt or cottage cheese, or a glass of semi-skimmed milk.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is not a question of losing weight, but of rebalancing meals by encouraging a varied diet, rich in vegetables and preferably consuming starchy foods with low glycemic indexes (brown rice, brown bread, legumes, etc.).
It’s not a question of starving yourself, but of limiting fast sugars in favor of fiber and starchy foods, while balancing protein and fat intake.
Note that the diet is personalized according to your eating habits. That’s why, in some cases, your diabetologist will refer you to a dietician who will be able to adapt more easily to your lifestyle.
