Gestational diabetes: Eat this not that

If you have gestational diabetes, follow this food diary and know what is appropriate to eat and what is not to keep yourself and your baby healthy. Keep checking your blood sugar levels at regular intervals.

Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Updated: July 19, 2018 6:38 pm

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is the new scare among expecting mums with around 4 million pregnant women being affected with the same in India at any given point, shows a study conducted by National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). GDM occurs when a woman’s body cannot produce adequate insulin during her pregnancy, to be more specific during gestation. While it brings in possibilities of a wide range of complications in pregnancy, it can be tackled if the expecting moms follow a suitable, healthy diet. Now, this is where you got to hold your horses.

During pregnancy every woman needs to follow an appropriate diet that will benefit both the mother and the baby. But when you are diabetic, you got to keep quite a couple of things in mind before you consume almost anything. Here we are with a guideline to help you know what is right and what is not to eat during pregnancy when you are suffering from gestational diabetes. Keep this food diary in hand.

Monitor your carbohydrate consumption: While eating too much of carbohydrates at one go might not be wise, skipping them too isn’t good during pregnancy. You got to tactfully space carbohydrate rich meals and snacks evenly throughout the day. That helps in avoiding sudden shoot ups of blood sugar. Also, do not eat a meal that combines carbohydrates, proteins and fat and avoid complex carbohydrates rich in fibre.

Have low glycaemic index foods: Keeping low glycemic load in your meals helps in keeping your blood sugar in control. Food with glycemic load of 10 and below is best. These include complete wholegrain breads and cereals, non-starchy veggies leaving peas and carrots, fruits like apples, oranges, grapes, peaches and pears, beans, lentils and chickpeas.

Include more protein in diet: A diet with perfect balance between carbohydrate and protein content helps in maintaining blood sugar level. You should eat protein rich foods like fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, tofu, beans, nuts, legumes and more.

Go for unsaturated fats: Eating unsaturated fats is helpful as well. Have more of olive oil, peanut oil, avocado, most nuts and seeds, salmon, sardines, tuna, chia seeds.

Stay away from these foods
In case you are following a gestational diabetes diet, it is essential to avoid eating these. You must keep away from sugary foods like cakes, biscuits, pudding, sweets, soda and fruit juice with added sugar. Starchy foods like white potatoes, white bread, white rice and white pasta are must no. Also, keep a watch on hidden sugars and carbohydrates. Hence, it is wise to avoid highly processed foods, some condiments like dressings and ketchup, fast foods and alcohol.

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Published: July 19, 2018 4:51 pm | Updated:July 19, 2018 6:38 pm

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