Handling Gestational Diabetes

What foods should you eat?

If you’ve got gestational diabetes, maintaining a healthy, diet may facilitate you to manage your symptoms with no need for medication. In general, your diet should include protein plus the correct mixture of carbohydrates and fats. Aim to base your meals around protein. Include lots of fresh foods and limit your intake of carbohydrates and processed foods. As an example, each meal should be 25 percent protein, 25 percent starch, and 50 percent nonstarchy foods, like vegetables or salad.

Here are few healthy choices for snacks and meals if you’ve got gestational diabetes:

fresh or frozen vegetables
eggs or egg whites
fresh fruit
skinless chicken breasts
baked fish
steamed vegetables
unsweetened Greek yogurt

What foods should you avoid?

You’ll want to avoid highly processed foods, like white bread, and, in general, anything that incorporates a lot of sugar. As an example, you’ll want to make certain to avoid foods such as:

fast food
alcoholic beverages, which you should avoid anyway if you’re pregnant
baked goods, such as muffins, donuts, or cakes
fried food
sugary drinks, such as soda, juice, and sweetened beverages
candy
very starchy foods, such as white potatoes and white rice

Important Tips

Distribute your foods between three meals and two or three snacks each day
Eat reasonable portions of starch- about one cup of total starch per meal, or two pieces of bread.
Drink one cup of milk at a time to avoid raising your blood sugar. Cold Milk is naturally sweet, avoid adding sugar
Limit fruit portions , You may eat one to three portions of fruit per day, but only eat one at a time. Avoid fruit juice
Breakfast matters – A breakfast that consists of starch plus protein is usually tolerated the best.
Strictly limit sweets, sugar sweetened beverages and desserts
Use artificial sweeteners instead of added sugars , Stevia is one of the safest sweeteners
Keep food records