Foods to Eat with Gestational Diabetes - Part One

What are the best foods to eat with gestational diabetes? Your doctor and dietician will help you decide what is best for you, but here are some guidelines.

What Happens to the Food You Eat

As people eat their body metabolizes the food into simple sugars which are transported into the cells using insulin. The cells use the sugars for energy.

For those with gestational diabetes, the body has become resistant to insulin and the extra sugar floats around the blood stream and causes complications to both the mother and the developing baby.

Your diet and the foods to eat with gestational diabetes is part of the treatment.  What you eat determines how high your blood sugar rises.

The higher your blood sugar the more insulin is needed to assist the increase in simple sugars. Rest, exercise, injected insulin if needed, and the foods to eat with gestational diabetes are all factors in treatment.

Carbohydrates and Gestational Diabetes

Carbohydrates are one of the largest contributors to simple sugars in the metabolism of food, and include rice, bread, pasta, potatoes and other starchy foods. Carbohydrates are also found in sweets, dairy, fruits and some vegetables.

The quality of carbohydrate does make a difference – so those carbohydrates that originate from fruits or vegetables are more easily supported in the body than breads, pastas, and other processed foods.

Balance is Important

In order to adequately nourish the new baby you need an appropriate amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats. This must be balanced with the correct amount of exercise and insulin to manage your blood sugar.

Although it sounds complex, once you’ve begun managing your gestational diabetes you’ll find that it can be accomplished with just a little bit of learning.

The next post will list some basic guidelines to follow, as well as serving sizes and more.