Gestational Diabetes Sample Meal Plan during Pregnancy!

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If you are being pregnant and diagnosed with gestational diabetes, it’s so important to keep monitoring and managing the level of your blood sugar. And when it comes to managing the level, appropriate diet is a part of the primary treatment because what you eat can affect the volume of glucose in your bloodstream. If you are still confused on how and where you should start your diet, here is gestational diabetes sample meal plan.

However to keep safe and for best advice, it’s much better to discuss with your doctor before starting your diet.

Gestational diabetes is pretty rare in pregnancy – it only affects about 4 percent of all pregnancies.

After pregnancy, it usually will goes away on its own. However, if you have it during pregnancy, your risk of having type-2 increases later in your life! Therefore, it’s still important to stick with a well-balanced diet and healthy lifestyles afterwards.

How to manage gestational diabetes?

As noted before, controlling blood sugar as close to normal as possible is the goal of your diet.

There are also other crucial issues you need to concern in your treatment plan. These may include:

  1. Your focus should not only on your blood sugar – you need also to control blood pressure! High blood pressure during pregnancy increases the risk of some pregnancy complications.
  2. Eating right and in right amount! It’s not only about nutrient supply for your pregnancy, but also pay attention on the portion because your weight gain matters. How far you should gain weight during pregnancy – see this section for in-depth information?!
  3. There are several options to help monitor your blood sugar, including through your urine. If you find ketones in your urine (ketones are a kind of acid that can signal uncontrolled blood sugar), tell your doctor!
  4. Diet is not a single way of your treatment plan. You need also get plenty of physical activity (moderate exercise) to improve your fit status and your insulin sensitivity.

If necessary, sometimes your doctor may also ask you to take insulin replacement. Follow your treatment plan as your healthcare provider suggests!

Gestational diabetes meal plan during pregnancy

In general, the meal plan for gestational diabetes is similar to what you find in diet for type-1 and type-2 diabetes. But there may be some adjustments to make sure that your diet can provide enough nutrients for your pregnancy and the growth of your baby.

The following are a few common culprits to restrict in your diet:

  1. Foods high in sodium. Salt may not directly affect your blood glucose, but it can affect your blood pressure. Diet high in salt is one of the leading causes for hypertension, which is dangerous for pregnancy.
  2. Foods high in cholesterol (such as high-fat animal products, high-fat dairy products, and shellfish).
  3. Saturated fats, commonly found in bacon, animal proteins and high-fat dairy products.
  4. Another unhealthy fat, trans-fat! It is commonly found in baked foods, fried-foods, and processed foods.

Different approaches of diet for gestational diabetes

There are several different approaches of diet to manage your blood sugar. With the help of your registered dietitian or doctor, you may find one or a combination of the following options works for you:

Glycemic index is a method to rate the level of food in affecting the blood sugar. Foods with low GI are commonly considered less likely to cause a spike in blood sugar level.

But they are not always considered healthier! For instance, some foods high in saturated fats are also low in glycemic index rate. So you and your doctor need to do this carefully!

In this exchange system, one package or a group of servings is named an ‘exchange’.

Each exchange is designed to have the same level of effect on blood sugar. The foods of each exchange are different but contain the same amount of calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrate. For instance, you can exchange one-third cup of cooked pasta by 1 small apple.

It’s undeniable that your dietary carbohydrates play a key role of your blood sugar fluctuation. Fats and protein also cause impact on blood sugar, but they don’t cause as much as carbohydrate does.

Therefore, counting your carbohydrate intake a day is crucial. Furthermore, you need also to stick with your regular meals in order to maintain the regular timing of your carbohydrate intake for every day.

Gestational diabetes meal plan

The meal plan for pregnant women with gestational diabetes varies, depending on your normal calorie requirement /day, whether or not you take insulin, or other factors.

With your dietitian, you can make some meal plans that meet your body needs. Your meal plan may also be adjusted along with the progress of your pregnancy.

The following is a sample meal plan if your body needs about 1,200 calories – 1,600 calories per day:

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