How to Manage (or Prevent!) Gestational Diabetes
DISCLAIMER: The information below is based on my personal experience and should not be regarded as medical advice. Consult with your physician before starting any nutritional or exercise program.
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Pregnancy can be a wonderful and exciting time. From hearing your baby’s heartbeat for the first time to holding your sweet little one in your arms, there are so many special and unique moments that happen during this phase. Unfortunately, pregnancy can also bring many challenges as well, including one that I have personal experience with- gestational diabetes.
According to the Mayo Clinic, gestational diabetes is a specific type of diabetes that is diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy. It causes high blood sugar, affecting your pregnancy and baby’s health. Gestational diabetes can cause a host of pregnancy complications including excessive birth weight, preterm labor, higher risk of medical interventions like cesarean section, and increased likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes.*
If you’re anything like me, you probably didn’t even know what gestational diabetes was until right before or after getting tested for it. In my case, I didn’t really fully understand it until I was diagnosed with it during my first pregnancy. I remember thinking, ‘Diabetes! How is this possible?’ and ‘I’m not THAT unhealthy!’ To say I was taken aback is an understatement!
It can definitely be shocking if you’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, but believe me, having it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to have an unhealthy pregnancy or experience complications! Regardless of if you’ve developed gestational diabetes or if you’re just curious to know how you can prevent it, know that it can be managed effectively through a balanced diet and exercise, and without medication in many cases.
In this post, I’ll discuss the steps I took to manage my gestational diabetes, including:
- Learning what foods spike blood sugar
- Increasing protein intake
- Getting consistent exercise
So if you’re struggling with gestational diabetes or just want to be more informed about how to prevent it, keep reading!
I was fairly petite most of my life- throughout my childhood, most of college, and even after college for the most part. I gained a little weight a few years after college and before my first pregnancy with my daughter, but it was never more than 10 or 15 pounds, and I was typically able to lose it quickly by cleaning up my diet some and getting in moderate exercise a few times a week. So, when I found I had gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy, I was completely shocked! I mean I never really considered myself a ‘healthy’ person pre-pregnancy, but I wasn’t guzzling soda and eating pizza and candy all the time either. Not only did I find it unfair to have gestational diabetes, I also didn’t understand how it was even possible. I naively thought that because of my size, that kind of kept health issues like this at bay for me. How wrong was I!
After the initial shock, I became really upset and sad about the diagnosis. Fortunately, my midwife advised me on ways to manage my gestational diabetes by monitoring my blood sugar levels, changing my diet, and incorporating exercise.
Between the advice of my midwife, my own research, and noting what my body responded to, I was able to manage my gestational diabetes. I had a healthy remainder of my pregnancy and went on to have a healthy bouncing baby girl. I’ll share with you the helpful things I did to achieve this below!
Learning what foods spike blood sugar
If you’re diagnosed with gestational diabetes, your doctor or midwife will likely tell you that the first thing you’ll need to do is start tracking your blood sugar levels four times a day: one fasting level (first thing in the morning), then one after each meal- breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What you’ll be looking for is blood sugar levels that are within normal limits which are typically considered to be between 70 to 100 mg/dl for fasting levels, below 140 mg/dl 2 hours after eating, but of course, you’ll want to discuss this with your healthcare provider for their specific recommendations.
Tracking your blood sugar four times a day may seem a daunting prospect, especially if you have a busy schedule, but this is the best way to see what foods specifically affect your blood sugar levels. This is super important, so don’t slack on this! In order to manage gestational diabetes effectively, you’ll need to know what foods are affecting you the most so that you can limit them and find substitutes that satisfy your appetite for them.
I began tracking my blood sugar levels using a food log I created, which helped me find out what foods were affecting me the most. I knew that sugary processed foods and bread were likely spiking my sugar levels, which my tracking confirmed; however, I was surprised to learn that potatoes- that is, russet potatoes- also were spiking my blood sugar just as much if not more than bread! This was an unfortunate shock because I love French fries, BUT without learning this, I never would have known and wouldn’t have modified my diet to reduce these or replace them with sweet potato fries.
In addition to checking blood sugar levels after each meal, it’s helpful to check your levels after snacks or eating specific foods with a higher sugar or carbohydrate content. This is especially helpful in the beginning when you’re still trying to figure out what affects you. This helps to isolate these foods better than meals, since meals tend to include more food groups, making it harder to determine what specifically is spiking your blood sugar levels.
Increasing protein intake
Another important step I took to manage my gestational diabetes was increasing my protein intake. Protein takes your body longer to digest and thus helps to keep you fuller for longer periods of time, which stabilizes your blood sugar. As such, making sure you’re getting enough protein is essential to helping you manage gestational diabetes.
I go into more depth about the role of nutrition during pregnancy and childbirth in my blog post How to have a comfortable and unmedicated childbirth.
At the beginning of my pregnancy with my daughter, I had a relatively small amount of nausea and vomiting in comparison to my most recent pregnancy with my son. What nausea I did have, however, was specific to chicken and eggs; I really couldn’t go near either until a little more than halfway through my pregnancy.
Unfortunately, chicken was my main source of protein at the time and when I stopped eating it, I didn’t replace it with another sufficient source. Instead, I just filled up on more carbs, which added to my body’s inability to process the glucose properly and increased my blood sugar levels.
When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and started learning the role that this lack of protein was having, I began increasing my intake by incorporating higher protein meals and snacks. I discovered new recipes and eventually was able to add chicken back into my diet.
During my second pregnancy, I still continued to monitor my blood sugar levels, but some days, it was difficult for me to get the recommended amount of protein in my diet. It was then that I added a protein powder into my diet by the brand Ritual. The Essential Protein powder from Ritual is a great option because it’s non-GMO, plant-based protein, and sugar-free! The sugar-free part was super important to me because, you know, diabetes… Also, it doesn’t contain any artificial flavors and it’s third-party tested. One of my favorite things about the Ritual protein powder is that it’s vanilla flavored so you can drink it by itself, or mix it in with smoothies. Of course, you always want to source most of your nutrients, including protein, from whole foods, but incorporating a protein powder like Ritual’s is a great way to help supplement anything you might be missing.
If you want to get more protein in your diet and have a healthier pregnancy and childbirth, click here!
Getting consistent exercise
Up until being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I really wasn’t exercising much- once a week max, if that! Getting consistent exercise helps to aid in digestion and break down glucose so it can be used as energy more effectively, which keeps your blood sugar in check.
The great thing is that you don’t have to run out and get a gym membership or do anything super complicated. It can be anything from yoga, to swimming, light resistance training, or even as simple as walking. In fact, walking was the main exercise I did during the end of my second and third trimesters. Walking is a great way to exercise because you can do it just about anywhere. I worked at a large facility when I was pregnant with my daughter, so in between meetings, I would walk around my building a couple of times, or skip the golf cart rides and walk in between buildings. You can walk indoors at your work or at home; even taking small steps like parking farther away from a building can be a great start. Also, I would walk if I had a heavy meal or a sugary treat to help my body start using the glucose in my blood right away; this helped tremendously with any potential after-meal sugar spikes!
Shoot for some moderate exercise for about 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. And of course, remember to consult with your healthcare provider before starting any exercise programs.
With consistent tracking of my blood sugar levels, increasing my protein intake, and getting regular exercise, I was able to manage my gestational diabetes without the use of medication. I also went on to have healthy pregnancies with both my daughter and my son by utilizing these steps. Moreover, by using these steps, I learned so much about what specifically affects my body and my health, and I’ve been able to use them to achieve my health goals at other times in my life, not just during pregnancy.
If you’re struggling with gestational diabetes or interested in preventing it, you absolutely can manage or avoid it altogether with these steps! Monitoring and increasing my protein intake was really a game changer for me and it can be for you too! If you’d like to increase your protein intake and take charge of your gestational diabetes and your overall health during pregnancy, click here to begin with The Essential Ritual Protein Powder!
If you’ve got your protein intake under control already and aren’t needing to supplement with the Essential Ritual Protein Powder at this time, you can still download the food log I used to monitor and track my food and blood sugar levels for FREE! Click the link below to get my FREE Blood Sugar Log Printable!
Free Blood Sugar Log Printable
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REFERENCES:
*Mayo Clinic: Gestational Diabetes
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gestational-diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20355339