Diabetic Diet While Pregnant – The gestational diabetes diet can be confusing when you first start. Learn the “why” and “how” here.
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Diabetic Diet While Pregnant
If you haven’t already, it is highly recommended that you read everything you need to know about gestational diabetes and gestational diabetes testing and options. These articles will give you a better understanding of the “why” behind the diet.
What To Eat (and Avoid) When You’re Pregnant
Gestational diabetes (GD), also called gestational diabetes (GDM), is diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy. It is treated with diet, exercise and medication as needed. In most cases, diet is the first form of treatment, and if a combination of diet and exercise does not effectively control blood sugar, medication and/or insulin is the next step.
Treatment is case-specific. You and your healthcare team decide what is best for your situation. Go to Everything You Need to Know About Gestational Diabetes for more information.
Gestational diabetes requires a special diet because your pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to maintain blood sugar. Since carbohydrates are nutrients that raise blood sugar, the diet requires you to change the type, amount, and frequency of carbohydrates you eat.
Figuring out what works for you can be a journey of trial and error; However, general instructions are helpful.
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It is likely that you will need to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat to keep your body’s natural insulin effective.
For GD, breakfast and breakfast are usually limited to 15 to 20 grams of carbohydrates and lunch and dinner to 30 to 45 grams of carbohydrates.
It is estimated that pregnant women (without GDM) need about 156 g of carbohydrates per day. Based on your GDM test results, the nutritionist will recommend a maximum amount of carbohydrates per day and with meals. Real pregnancy food
If you have been diagnosed but haven’t seen a nutritionist yet, it’s best to start with a low carb diet at each meal. Note how you feel and if your blood sugar is in range and adjust it up or down.
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See the chart below. You will notice that the foods are not placed in their normal food groups; Instead, they are classified based on their macronutrients and how they affect blood sugar. Pay special attention to the carbohydrate column, where you will see unusually placed foods such as fruit and milk.
Note that some foods, such as beans, are listed in two columns. This is because beans contain significant amounts of both protein and carbohydrates. And you’re probably wondering why yogurt is in the carb column, but Greek yogurt is listed under protein. Greek yogurt, like beans, is high in protein and should be considered both protein and carbohydrates.
From the table above, you can therefore take it that the foods listed as protein and fat do not raise blood sugar. However, foods listed as carbohydrates raise blood sugar.
Now that you have a general idea of what foods are considered carbohydrates in this diet, let’s break them down.
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“Glycemic” is a common term in the diabetes world. Glycemia is a classification system for carbohydrates and their effect on blood sugar/glucose.
Simple carbohydrates are considered moderately high glycemic because your body processes them quickly. In other words, they rush into your system, causing your blood sugar to rise (spike) quickly. Simple carbohydrates include
It is often found in many processed foods. These are the carbs you want to eat less of, if not avoid.
Tip – If your blood sugar is too low, eat a simple carbohydrate to quickly bring it back to a safe level. complex carbohydrates
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Complex carbohydrates contain more fiber and are digested more slowly. They still raise blood sugar, but more slowly. This is important because it also allows your natural insulin to be more effective. Complex carbohydrates include:
You want to eat more complex carbs than simple carbs because they are more nutritious and keep your energy levels up better.
Note that starchy vegetables are not included in complex carbohydrates. This is because they contain more starch than fiber. Starchy vegetables and foods include:
Starchy vegetables and grains are high glycemic. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat baked potatoes, rice, or corn; Rather, it means that you should strictly portion out each serving to avoid overeating. However, some mothers find that they need to avoid one or more of these foods.
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Let’s review, carbohydrates raise blood sugar. Eating complex carbohydrates like whole grains, whole fruits, vegetables, beans, etc. is better than eating simple carbohydrates like sugar, white grains, juices, jellies, pastries, etc. etc. are good but should definitely be a part.
Regardless of the type of carbohydrates you eat, it’s best to combine them with another food group. Protein acts as a stabilizer, so your blood sugar doesn’t rise. And since the need for protein increases during pregnancy, it is doubly beneficial to combine carbohydrates with protein.
The need for protein changes according to the stages of pregnancy. Pregnant women are recommended to eat about 140 grams of protein per day. Real pregnancy food
When it comes to vegetables and proteins, it is difficult to raise blood sugar. I mean, you’ll probably eat twice (and be full) before you hit your max carbs with veggies and protein.
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Yeah; Vegetables contain carbohydrates, but they are complex carbohydrates that digest slowly, and most of them are low glycemic. They have far fewer carbohydrates than any food in the carb column – foods in the carb column contain carbohydrates that have a significant impact on your blood sugar.
* All fruits are recommended in this diet because they are natural foods that contain important vitamins and minerals; However, since these are simple carbohydrates that digest quickly, they should be evenly distributed. Small whole fruits are very safe. Examples of whole fruits are oranges, apples, pears, peaches, dairy products, etc. are in their natural form. Fruits that are not kept whole are juiced, concentrated, dried or otherwise modified.
**Trans fats are found in margarine, peanut butter and other spreads, baked goods and other processed foods. Sometimes the amount of trans fat per serving is not enough to describe it in the nutrition label. To find out if a food contains trans fats, look for “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” ingredients.
When you eat, you tell your blood sugar what to do. If you eat simple carbs, you’re telling them to get you faster, and if you eat complex carbs, you’re telling them to keep you going for a while. But what happens when you don’t eat?
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When you don’t eat, your blood sugar decides what it wants. It can be lower or higher. (That’s why fasting glucose is so difficult.) Either state is undesirable, so you have to tell it what to do—which means eating within a few hours.
A snack between meals is built into the diet so that the sugar does not get too low or too high.
Ideally, breakfast is eaten about 3 hours after a meal and at least 2 hours before the next meal. As always, they should be within carbohydrate limits and combined with protein.
When it comes to drinks for diabetics, there are few options. Soft drinks and juices are on the list of essential foods, and many other drinks use “hidden” sweeteners that affect your blood sugar.
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Some wines use low-glycemic sweeteners, but this varies by brand. Diet drinks usually use an alternative sweetener called aspartame, which is unlikely to affect your glucose. Non-diet soda, flavored water, tea, coffee, alternatively sweetened sodas, and low-sugar protein-fortified sodas are all options, but most importantly, water!
Hydration is very important in life, and even more so during pregnancy. It is recommended that pregnant women drink 100 ounces of water per day (pregnancy staple). That’s almost a gallon of water (128 oz)! Suffice to say, if you drink the recommended amount of water and eat 6 meals a day, you may not have room for another drink.
But you can also drink water! What does that even mean: right? Fruits and vegetables contain water, so you can eat as much water as you need. That doesn’t mean you can measure it the same way, but it does mean you don’t need to drink nearly a gallon of water over six meals a day.
You can flavor the water to change it up a bit, but be careful when using flavoring powder. Check what sweetener you are using and make sure it is low glycemic.
Gestational Diabetes Diet: What To Eat For A Healthy Pregnancy
The plate construction guide above can also be used when eating in a restaurant. The trickiest part is controlling the portion size, so guesswork has to be done.
Tip – You will be served larger portions than you need, so ask for another plate. Divide portions and put extra food on another plate so you don’t overeat your carbs. Fastfood
Fast food restaurants are a little different. You can see the reviews of the menu
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