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 provides 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 carbohydrates, fat, fiber and protein.

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.

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.

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.

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.





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Diabetes describes a group of chronic metabolic diseases caused by either the body's inability to produce enough insulin or the cells not able to respond to the insulin. Insulin is the hormone that controls the conversion of the sugars in the food we eat into sufficient energy for the body to work properly. A lack of sufficient insulin results in an excess of sugar in the blood, causing general weakness.

There are essentially three main types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes.


Type 1, also known as diabetes mellitus and juvenile diabetes, has hitherto been the most prevalent form. It is an auto (self) immune disease that affects mainly children and adolescents.

Type 1, commonly referred to as just diabetes, is the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer. It affects over 150 million people worldwide. If unchecked, it can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and circulation problems which in turn can result in lower-extremity amputations.

The type 2 variety comes about due to the inability of the pancreatic cells of the body to respond to high blood glucose levels when insulin is produced. In other words, folk suffering from Type 2, or adult onset diabetes, do produce enough insulin, but their cells aren't able to recognize it and reaact accordingly.

Although type 2 used to be prevalent in people in their mid thirties or later, in the last few years it has been more and more prevalent in young obese children and adolescents to the point that it is being termed an epidemic.

The good news is that type 2 can be totally prevented through weight loss, cutting out junk food and sugarladen drinks, and getting plenty of exercise.

Gestational diabetes (GD) affects about 4 percent of all pregnant women. Having GD may increase the risk of redevelopment in future pregnancies and could possibly develop into type 2 later in life, if not checked carefully.

Diabetes may occur due to other factors as well, such as injury to or disease of the pancreas, certain medications (such as steroids), surgery, infections and malnutrition.

Then there is pre-diabetes. That means that either the cells are starting to become resistant to insulin or the pancreas is not producing as much insulin as required.

It’s important to be aware of any metabolic changes, such as the constant need to drink excessively and frequent urination, which these are mainly type 1 symptoms.

Other symptoms of the different types of diabetes often come on suddenly may include extreme fatigue, slow healing of wounds, and frequent infections that take a long time to cure.

Because type 2 is characterized by a gradual onset, the warning signs are not always very clearly defined. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to have medical checkups regularly. According to The National Institutes of Health, moderate exercise and a low-fat diet help reduce the chances of developing diabetes.

Complications of diabetes include eye problems and blindness, heart disease, stroke, neurological problems, amputation, and impotence.





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The food you eat is broken down in the digestive system and turned into glucose, which ultimately supplies energy to all the cells. However, glucose can only be absorbed in conjunction with insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas.

In the case of type 1, or juvenile, diabetes the pancreas is not able to produce sufficient insulin with the result that extra insulin needs to be administered medically.
If your glucose level tends to be higher than normal, you are considered to be pre-diabetic or insulin resistant. The symptoms of insulin resistance are very subtle and not as obvious as the other types.The one thing most pre-diabetics have in common is excess weight.


This condition has in the past several years been showing up even in children and adolescents. This is not caused by the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin but, rather, by an overabundance of glucose in the bloodstream.

Excess fat tissue is laden with glucose and this eventually causes insulin resistance. The pancreas increases insulin production in order to offset the glut of glucose. On the other hand the muscle, fat and liver cells get overwhelmed with the overabundance of both glucose and insulin. This explains why these folk have high levels of both glucose and insulin in their bloodstream.

Insulin resistance, if left unchecked, will develop into type 2 diabetes and resulting complications. But, the good news is that this can be avoided by losing on average 5 to 7 percent of body weight, or 10 to 15 pounds simply by making changes in diet and physical exercise.

Some natural dietary sources that are said to be highly effective in blood sugar metabolism are magnesium and zinc. Magnesium is present in green leafy vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds and zinc in oysters, ginger root, pecans, egg yolk, beef liver, sardines, almonds, and chicken.

In August 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced findings resulting from a number of studies that cinnamon increased glucose metabolism in people with type 2 diabetes 20-fold!
In Pakistan there was an independent study of 60 type 2 diabetics who had been treated for several years with anti-diabetic drugs, but not insulin. According to the journal Diabetes Care, the subjects received about two teaspoons of a day for 40 days.

The results greatly surprised the scientists. The cinnamon reduced the blood sugar levels, increased insulin production, and lowered the blood cholesterol in all the patients! These benefits lasted even 20 days after the end of the study. Furthermore, their LDL, or bad, blood cholesterol levels were lowered between 10 to 26 percent, but the HDL, or good cholesterol, levels were not reduced!
These great findings for type 2 diabetics give much hope for the many millions of both type 2 and insulin resistant sufferers in the world.

With the right nutrition, you can lower your blood sugar levels, improve your cholesterol ratios, reverse your insulin resistance (also referred to as Metabolic Syndrome), and prevent type 2 diabetes altogether. An added side benefit of cinnamon (as if the above isn’t exciting enough) is that it will help you lose weight!





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growing trend in society is to eat more, move less, and get heavier. As a result, diabetes is developing in an epidemic number of people. Diabetes occurs when the body doesn't make enough insulin or becomes resistant to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps glucose, a sugar in the foods that we eat, to enter cells. When glucose enters cells, it is broken down and used for energy. When glucose is not able to enter cells, due to a problem with insulin, it builds up in the blood and causes damage to the body. Because of the staggering rise in new cases of diabetes every year, prevention of diabetes is making its way into the medical spotlight.

Following are 10 tips to prevent diabetes:

1-See a doctor
Factors that increase the risk of developing diabetes include: obesity, lack of exercise, family history, race (black, hispanic, American Indian, and Asian-American), gestational diabetes, and high cholesterol. An exam by a physician can identify risk factors. If warranted, screening can then be scheduled for pre-diabetes, a condition that can develop into diabetes if changes in lifestyle are not made. Prevention is best started early to avoid damage to the body.

2-Get moving
Exercise seems to have a recurring reputation of promoting health and preventing disease, diabetes included. By lowering blood sugar and increasing the body's responsiveness to insulin, regular exercise can significantly decrease the risk of diabetes.

3-Enjoy a healthy diet
Eating well should be simple. Variety and portion size should be the main attributes of a healthy diet. Minimizing sugary and fatty foods should also be a goal. Fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, fish, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products are all excellent choices to mix and match in moderate portions.

4- lose weight
Through the combination of exercise and a healthy diet, weight loss should happen. The loss of pounds equals increased insulin sensitivity and a subsequent decrease in the risk of diabetes.

5-Eat nuts
The consumption of nuts and peanut butter has been shown to help regulate blood glucose levels and promote weight control resulting in a decreased incidence of diabetes.

6-Choose whole grains
Whole grains are digested slower than refined grains and, consequently, cause a slower rise in blood sugar. Eating more whole grains has been shown to decrease blood sugar levels and body mass index, both of which are key in preventing diabetes.

7-Increase intake of magnesium
Magnesium deficiency has been linked to an increased risk for developing diabetes. Eating foods that are rich in magnesium, such as halibut, spinach, 100% bran cereal, almonds, cashews, and soy beans, has been shown to lower this risk.

8-Don’t smoke
It is believed that smoking causes insulin resistance that can develop into diabetes. It has also been shown that smokers have higher blood sugar levels after smoking, which could be another contributing factor in the link between smoking and diabetes.

9-Ask a doctor about preventative medications
There are medications available to help prevent diabetes, such as metformin, acarbose, and ACE inhibitors. However, these medications have also been shown to be less effective than diet and exercise.

10-Learn about herbal medicines
Although not conclusive, there have been studies that have implied that certain herbal medicines, especially in conjunction with other measures, could help to prevent diabetes. A few examples are gymnema, stevia, bitter melon, cinnamon, and ginseng. Consult a physician before taking herbal medicines.





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