According to the American Diabetes Association, gestational diabetes affects 4 percent of expecting mothers. If you don't have this condition and want to reduce your chances of getting it, sticking to a pregnancy diet plan that eliminates sugar, regulates carbohydrates and promotes sensible exercise will help.
The cause of gestational diabetes is not known, but experts believe that during pregnancy, the hormones in the placenta interfere with the mother's ability to use insulin properly. When insulin production gets out of whack, it causes blood-glucose levels to rise and can eventually lead to this condition.
When you have pregnancy-related diabetes, extra blood-glucose can cross the placenta and force your youngster's pancreas to work harder to produce more insulin. This will cause your baby to make more energy than he needs and the excess gets stored in his body as fat. This causes him to grow too big in the womb.
An oversized fetus can increase your risk of preterm labor, preeclampsia and a cesarean birth. Babies who are born overweight are at risk for low blood sugar and breathing problems. These infants also have a higher risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes when they get older.
Gestational diabetes can happen to anyone who is pregnant. However, these factors heighten your risk for this condition:
• being overweight
• family history and genetics
• being African American, American Indian, Asian or Hispanic
• past history of miscarriages
• being over 30
• too much weight gain during pregnancy
• past pregnancy with gestational diabetes
• smoking
• a history of chronic urinary tract infections
• suffering with hypertension
• previous birth of an infant weighing more than 9 lbs
If you have any of the above risk factors, it is especially important for you to modify your pregnancy diet plan and exercise regularly to lower your likelihood of developing gestational diabetes.
Monitor Your Carbohydrate Intake
When you have gestational diabetes, monitoring your carbohydrate intake is important to help regulate your blood-sugar levels. When your diet is full of unhealthy carbs, it increases the amount of glucose in your blood and your pancreas will have a tough time keeping up with your insulin needs.
Your body uses carbs for energy, so they are vital to any healthy diet. However, all carbs are not beneficial to the body. Eliminate refined carbohydrates such as white bread, flour and pasta from your diet. These types of carbohydrates digest quickly in the body and raise your blood-glucose levels.
Complex carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts are more appropriate choices when you are trying to prevent gestational diabetes. These foods digest slowly and they do a better job of keeping your blood-sugar levels in check. Complex carbs also keep you full longer, so they reduce excess weight gain during pregnancy.
Eliminate Sugar from Your Diet
Booting sugar from your diet can improve your overall health and minimize the risk of pregnancy-related diabetes. Sugar increases your risk of weight gain and high blood-glucose levels. If you have sugar-cravings during pregnancy, sweeten a cup of organic tea with Stevia or grab a piece of fruit.
Get Plenty of Exercise
Unless you suffer with pregnancy-related health problems, daily exercise is recommended when you are expecting. Exercise keeps you from gaining too much weight during pregnancy and enables your body to use insulin more efficiently.
Safe exercises include walking, swimming, riding a stationary bike and low-impact aerobics. To make sure exercise is safe for your individual situation, talk to your doctor before you begin.
There is no guarantee you won't get gestational diabetes while you're pregnant. However, if you exercise regularly and control the amount of simple carbohydrates in your diet, you may reduce your risk of developing this condition.
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