The Key to Proper Gestational Diabetes Nutrition

Gestational diabetes nutrition is very important when it comes down to treating this disease. Do you know that nearly 4% of women that get pregnant develop a condition known as Gestational diabetes? This statistic comes from the American Diabetes Association. This disease is a unique condition in which the patient has high amounts of blood glucose levels during late pregnancy. The patient previously does not have any signs of diabetes. There are approximately 135,000 of these cases in the United States every year alone.

With the large majority of these cases, women who develop this illness do not develop the condition of Type II diabetes. The condition is caused by the pregnancy. When the condition is developed the mother is unable to use the proper amount of insulin that is being developed during the pregnancy. What this does is causes a resistance to insulin by the mother. As a result, the mother develops a high level of blood glucose. This condition is known as hyperglycemia.

The good news is you can treat gestational diabetes. One way to treat the condition is to use insulin injections. What these injections do is they regulate the blood glucose levels and keeps them at the right amount.

One of the best ways to avoid this condition prior to getting pregnant is to lose excess pounds. Additional weight put on after pregnancy can trigger this condition. This is why proper gestational diabetes nutrition is very important. What you eat also plays a role in proper gestational diabetes nutrition. Another tool that is very useful is called the Glycemic Index. If a woman is thinking of getting pregnant she can use this index to know what foods she should avoid. The Glycemic Index was created to provide guidance for proper gestational diabetes nutrition so diabetics can identify foods with carbohydrates that people suffering from diabetics can eat.

What Are the Best Foods to Eat?

One of the things you want to do is start reading package labels. It is important that you watch the number and the type of nutrients that each food that you eat contains. There are four key ingredients in foods that you need to monitor on a regular and consistent basis if you want to practice proper gestational diabetes nutrition. They are -

a) carbohydrates
b) fat
c) fiber
d) protein.

Protein Foods - What types of foods should you look for that has protein? Some foods that contain protein include different types of meats, poultry, fish, and different types of dairy products (like milk, yogurt, eggs and cheese), You should eat enough protein that is equal to the size of the typical deck of cards. Some of the best sources of protein are low-fat cheese, grilled fish, baked chicken and bean soup.

Carbohydrates Foods - Food that contains carbohydrates are typically consumed too much by most people. They contain a certain type of sugar that is needed but not needed as much as many people eat it. Some of the best types of carbohydrates to eat are found in cereal, toast, baked potatoes and boiled pasta. You should only eat about 40% of carbohydrates.

Fiber Foods - Food that contains fiber contains a specific type of carbohydrate. This carbohydrate provides a great form of gestational diabetes nutrition because of its nutritional attributes. Fiber also decreases constipation, which is vitally important for proper digestion. Some examples of good fiber based foods include hot cereals (oatmeal and oat bran), fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads, beans and corn tortillas.

Fat Foods - One type of food that you want to minimize is fat. You do need to have a certain amount of fat in your diet. However, what you don't want to do is have too much fat. Too much fat can be a hindrance to proper gestational diabetes nutrition. Therefore you want to stick to foods that have low-fat or focus on nonfat foods.