Keeping your blood sugar stable by eating healthy is the purpose of gestation diabetes diet plan.
Eating a healthy and well-balanced diet can help control your blood glucose. Also, help achieve optimal weight gain, and give you and your baby the necessary nutrients you need for a healthy pregnancy.
Fortunately, a gestational diabetes meal plan is not different from a standard healthy diet. The American Diabetes Association recommends 25 percent protein, 25 percent grains, and starchy foods, and 50 percent non-starchy vegetables.
Gestational Meal Planning
For pregnancy women's with gestational diabetes can control their blood glucose with a diet plan if their postprandial plasma glucose is less than 120 mg/dl.
Healthy eating for gestational diabetes primarily involves a carbohydrate-controlled balanced meal plan that includes;
- Optimal nutrition for mother and fetal health
- Fulfill energy needs for correct gestational weight gain,
- Achievement and maintenance of healthy blood glucose level.
- Include protein with your every meal.
- Eat fruits and vegetables in your meal.
- Energy from carbohydrates should be less than half of your total calories requirements.
- Limit or avoid processed foods.
Carbohydrates
What will happen to the carbohydrates that you eat?
Carbohydrate foods once digested broken down to glucose and released into the bloodstream. Thus the type of carbohydrate, its quantity, and frequency of intake have a direct influence on your blood glucose level.
What is a glycemic index?
The glycemic index provides which foods release sugar quickly and which ones don't.
- High glycemic foods = release sugar quickly
- Low to moderate glycemic index = release sugar more slowly
A low glycemic index (GI) diet consisting of foods that are slowly digested and thus reduce insulin requirements. Also, the study found that adherence to the diet successfully reduced the number of women requiring insulin. Ref: Diabetes Care, 32(6), 996—1000.
What type of carbohydrate should you choose? Simple vs. Complex carbs
Some carbohydrates release sugar into the bloodstream faster than others and raise your blood sugar called simple carbs. Others release sugar more slowly and increase your blood sugar modestly called complex carbs.
Simple carbohydrates are sweet foods such as sugar, honey, refined white flour, and starchy vegetables. Cakes, chocolate, and cooking sauce contain sugar. These foods release blood sugar quickly in your bloodstream and cause a spike.
Choose complex carbohydrates instead of simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are whole grain cereals, pulses (beans & lentils), vegetables and fruits with skins.
Which are the best sources of carbohydrates?
Carbohydrate foods sources are cereals & its products (refined flour, bread, pasta, noodles, etc.), pulses (green gram, Bengal gram, black gram, etc.), starchy vegetables (potato, sweet potato, corn tapioca, etc.), and fruits & its juices.
The prudent dietary guideline is a higher intake of legumes, nuts & seeds, fruits & dried fruits, fish & poultry, and whole grains.
Avoiding sugary foods
Blood sugar rises when you eat sugary foods, particularly refined and processed. It is advisable to gestational diabetes women to avoid or limit sugary foods, as much as possible. Sugary foods to avoid include cakes, biscuits, sweets, puddings, soda, and fruit juice with added sugar.
Avoiding very starchy foods
Starchy foods are high in carbohydrates and raise your blood sugar. So it is best to avoid or limit starchy foods; this includes white potatoes, white bread, white rice, and white pasta.
Avoiding hidden sugars and carbohydrates
Some foods contain unhealthy levels of hidden sugars and carbohydrate. Examples include highly processed foods, some condiments (dressings & ketchup), fast foods, and alcohol.
How many carbs can you eat?
Eating a large number of carbohydrate foods per meal will lead to high blood glucose level and should be avoided. Spreading carbohydrate foods to the entire day over three meals and 2–3 snacks each day.
Carb counting helps mother’s to eat the right amount of carbohydrate. As a thumb rule, you can intake 2 to 3 servings of carbohydrate for every significant meal and 1 to 2 servings of carbohydrate for every snack. One serve is approximately 15 grams of carbohydrate.
Protein
Protein requirement during pregnancy is increased by an additional 23 g/d to help proper fetal growth. Three serving of protein foods is required per day to meet the increased demand. Sources of protein are milk and milk products, egg, fish, chicken, pulses, nuts, etc.
Protein is an essential macronutrient of a healthy diet. Vegetarian sources of protein are beans and legumes, which contains carbohydrates. Gestational diabetes requires 2 to 3 servings of protein per day. One serving of protein is equal to 1 egg, 1/2 cup of beans, 1 ounce of nuts, two tablespoons of nut butter, 1/2 cup of yogurt, or 3 ounces of cooked meat.
Foods high in protein are fish, chicken, meats, soy products, and cheese. However, you should know how much fat they contain, and for the vegetarian proteins, whether they have carbohydrate.
Fat
Fats will not raise your blood sugar because of no carbohydrates; but, concentrated source of calories. Healthy fats are essential such as nuts, seeds, avocado, olive and canola oil, and flax seeds. Trans fats are harmful and primarily in processed foods.
Fiber
High fiber foods are especially soluble fiber delay gastric emptying, thus help control blood sugar. The fiber delays the glucose release into the bloodstream and lessening the postprandial blood glucose rise. Sources of soluble fibers are flaxseed, psyllium husk, oat bran, legumes, and pectin (in fruit, such as apples).
Water
Drink plenty of water
Drinking water helps stabilize your blood sugar levels by flushing out the excess sugar. Drink plenty of water between meals and sip a lot of water with every meal. Water also keeps you hydrated.