Diabetic Pregnancy Diet And Gestational Diabetes

A record of 3% to 5% of pregnant women are diagnosed to have gestational diabetes. Since their case is utterly sensitive they have to be treated in a natural way with fewer medications. To achieve this goal, pregnant women with this condition need to follow a diabetic pregnancy diet.

In diabetes, a person's body inappropriately utilizes the food that is consumed. Among many women there is a specific type of diabetes which they really have to battle during their pregnancy; this is known as Gestational diabetes mellitus, or GDM. Most experts consider this akin to Type 2 diabetes: in most cases the patient could use medications but with pregnant women their only weapon is a diabetic pregnancy diet.

Pregnancy diabetes

In this particular type of diabetes the woman experiences an increase in blood sugar during pregnancy. The good news is that more often than not the condition diminishes after the child is born; on the flip side, if you suffer gestational diabetes during pregnancy it increases your propensity to acquire diabetes after your pregnancy.  Just like the usual cause of diabetes, the cause of this kind of diabetes is the failure of the woman's insulin to function properly which in turn increases her blood sugar to higher than the normal level.

According to research, a woman who is suffering from gestational diabetes actually have heaps of insulin in her body. The only complication that occurs is that the hormones that are produced in her placenta tend to partly hinder the insulin in her body. This condition is known as "insulin resistance".

For women who are not suffering from diabetes, the pancreas is able to generate a good amount of insulin to ward off the occurrence of this particular insulin resistance. However it's possible that the pancreas is able to perform its tasks of creating the needed insulin but the insulin isn't able to surmount the hormones in the woman's placenta, in which case there is an onset of gestational diabetes.

Among the probable causes of gestational diabetes is the woman's obesity, her genetic background or the diabetes record within her family, or the birth of a child that has a defect. In a recently conducted study, the experts were able to draw a conclusion that women who are over 25 years of age are highly prone to this class of diabetes.

Sidebar: The next article in this series is about free diabetic diet plan.

The fact that a pregnant woman is bearing a child also has a contributory factor, because the fetus is demanding of glucose, which results in lowering of the glucose level and a sudden surge in blood sugar level after meals due to the so called insulin resistance.

The diabetic pregnancy diet

Utmost care should be taken by the pregnant woman before following a particular diet; if possible she should first consult a dietician beforehand. Of all the patients who are suffering from diabetes, it is with pregnant women that carbohydrate counting should be strictly observed for this will maintain her blood sugar at the normal phase. In terms of calorie consumption it is advised that she only limit her calorie intake to 300 additional calories a day during the last trimester of her pregnancy to be able to control weight gain.

For some patients, it may be possible to manage blood sugar without the supervision of a dietician, by simply having 3 meals a days along with 3 snacks. it has been advised though that pregnant women eat snack just before they sleep so as to be able to keep her blood sugar from dropping extremely low during her sleep.

Skipping meals is strictly prohibited - what is best done is to distribute evenly all the meals throughout each day. When in this state, the woman should also do away with drinking beverages that are rich in sugar or syrups.

Serving sizes of the diabetic pregnancy diet should also be meticulously monitored so as to consume only the food that is needed by you and your child. In some cases, dieticians advise eating fiber rich foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Exercising is also advised, but in the case of pregnancy, it is important to first seek the opinion of the doctor before implementing an exercise regimen.