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Hello! My name is Jennifer. I am a proud mom to one beautiful little boy and am dedicated to helping women like you live your best mom life!
What is Gestational Diabetes and How Can it Affect Pregnancy?
Gestational diabetes is raised blood sugar levels that develop during pregnancy due to your body being unable to produce enough insulin to meet your extra needs.
Insulin is the hormone required to balance and control your blood sugar levels and energy levels.
It usually occurs during the second or third trimester of your pregnancy and has the potential to cause some issues both pre and post-birth.
However, the risks of developing issues such as premature birth, pre-eclampsia, polyhydramnios, induced labor, cesarean sections, or the baby developing jaundice, can be reduced through better management of diet.
Gestational Diabetes Log Book
If you are concerned about how to alter your diet to cope with gestational diabetes, follow this gestational diabetes nutrition guide and gestational diabetes meal plan for guidance and reassurance.
Do not hesitate to contact a healthcare professional if you have severe concerns.
Top Nutrition Tips for Eating Well With Gestational Diabetes
When managing gestational diabetes, it is important to focus on your nutrition. Aim to eat more fresh foods, healthy fats, fibers, and proteins, and limit your intake of processed foods.
It is understandable that when cravings hit you might want to reach for processed or fast foods, so keep healthy alternatives to these available around the house.
For example, keep ready cut carrot sticks with dips in your fridge, create your own healthier homemade chips, or buy some dried fruit and nuts to keep in your cupboard.
Choose Healthier Carbohydrates
The carbohydrates that we choose to eat have a large impact on our nutrition and health.
More processed and low fiber carbohydrates such as white bread, highly processed cereals, and white rice should be avoided and replaced with healthier alternatives such as whole-grain foods (brown bread, seeded loaves, brown rice, whole-grain pasta, etc.), fruit and veg, pulses (chickpeas, lentils, and beans). or unsweetened dairy products.
Be Aware of What You Snack On
It is easy to fall into the trap of eating healthy meals but ignoring your snacking habits.
Aim to keep your snacks low carb and in small portions with a wide range of options so you don’t get bored! Keep yogurts, unsalted nuts or seeds, and fruit and veg available for replacing chips, biscuits, or chocolate.
Understand the Glycaemic Index
One of the best ways to monitor your nutrition is to understand the glycemic index. The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly carbohydrates can impact your blood sugar levels.
Foods with a high glycemic index affect blood sugar levels more rapidly, such as foods high in sugars.
Other foods have a lower glycemic index. These take longer to affect your blood sugar levels, giving the body more time to process the carbohydrates.
It is advised that you should adopt a low glycemic index diet.
Meal Plan for Gestational Diabetes for 2 weeks with grocery list
The following meal plan offers ideas for 14 different breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, so you can still keep a good sense of variety in what you eat, even when you are having to be more conscious of your nutrition.
Breakfasts
There are many different options for a lower carb, lower glycemic index breakfast that is both healthy and delicious.
One food to make a staple is eggs, as you can cook them in a variety of different ways.
Also use unsweetened yogurts, natural muesli, and brown whole-grain bread to fill up in the morning.
Week 1 Breakfasts:
DAY 1:
2 poached eggs on sourdough or whole-grain toast
Fresh juice or a piece of fruit
DAY 2:
Low-fat yogurt topped with natural muesli and sliced fruit
Apple juice or chilled water
DAY 3:
Banana and oat pancakes with fresh fruit
Fresh juice
DAY 4:
Red bell pepper and ham omelet
Apple juice or fresh fruit
DAY 5:
Scrambled eggs on whole-grain toast with tomato and avocado
Orange juice or chilled water
DAY 6:
Muesli with milk or yogurt and fresh or canned fruit
Fresh juice
DAY 7:
Breakfast burrito (1 wholemeal tortilla wrap, avocado, cherry tomato, kale)
Orange juice or chilled water
Week 2 Breakfasts:
DAY 1:
Fried eggs on whole-grain toast with iceberg lettuce
Fresh juice or chilled water
DAY 2:
Cooked mushrooms, tomato, and avocado with scrambled eggs
Orange juice
DAY 3:
Breakfast muffins (made using eggs, banana, wholemeal flour, honey, yogurt, and oats)
Fruit juice
DAY 4:
Breakfast smoothie, made with fresh berries, fruit juice, and bananas
DAY 5:
Low sugar granola with oats, flaxseeds, and milk
Fresh fruit
DAY 6:
Poached eggs and avocado whole-grain bread sandwiches
Fruit juice or chilled water
DAY 7:
Low-fat yogurt topped with fresh fruit and low sugar granola
Apple juice
Essential Ingredients list:
- Eggs
- Whole-grain bread
- Avocado
- Mushrooms
- Oats
- Low-fat yogurt
- Low sugar granola
- Muesli
- Fresh fruit
- Bananas
- Wholemeal flour
- Red bell peppers
- Ham
Lunches
Week 1 Lunches:
Light lunches can be delicious, and still very filling, as long as you pay attention to the foods that you are using.
Look at different types of soups and salads that you can eat, and don’t shy away from experimenting with rice bowls and pasta.
DAY 1:
Celery soup with chunks of whole-grain bread
Fresh fruit
DAY 2:
Mixed Mediterranean salad (made with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, olives, and sprouts)
Fresh fruit
DAY 3:
Minestrone soup with whole-grain bread
Fresh fruit
DAY 4:
Avocado and sliced tomato with lettuce and rice
Fresh fruit
DAY 5:
Salmon omelet with whole-grain bread, lettuce, and sliced cucumber
DAY 6:
Sardines on toast with lettuce and sliced cucumber
Fresh fruit
DAY 7:
Chargrilled vegetables with whole-grain pasta and mixed green salad
Week 2 Lunches:
DAY 1:
Whole-grain toast with smoked salmon, light cream cheese, and avocado
Fresh fruit
DAY 2:
Roast beef and lettuce sandwich with carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, and hummus
DAY 3:
whole-grain pasta with fresh tomato sauce and a Mediterranean side salad
Fresh fruit
DAY 4:
Mushroom soup with crusty sourdough or whole-grain bread
DAY 5:
Chicken hummus bowl with avocado, onion, spinach, olives, and almonds
DAY 6:
Healthy burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, kale, tomato, and onion
DAY 7:
Chicken noodle salad – made with onion, wholemeal noodles. sugar snap peas. shredded carrots, unsalted cashews, and chicken
Essential Ingredients List:
- Chicken
- Whole grain pasta
- Wholemeal noodles
- Whole-grain rice
- Whole-grain bread
- Onion
- Tomato
- Avocado
- Sugar snap peas
- Carrots
- Cashew nuts
- Almond nuts
- Spinach
- Tomato sauce
- Mushrooms
- Smoked salmon
- Light cream cheese
- Lettuce
- Cucumber
- Olives
- Roast beef slices
Dinners
There are many healthy, protein-based dinners out there for you to try.
For an extra healthy touch, serve some of your meals with a green salad, with ingredients such as lettuce, kale, cucumber, carrot, or olives for a Mediterranean touch.
Week 1 Dinners:
DAY 1:
Grilled chicken breast with sweet potato, spinach, and sugar snap peas
DAY 2:
Vegetable stir fry with whole-grain noodles
DAY 3:
Lamb roast with chargrilled garlic, sweet potato mash, and seasonal roast vegetables
DAY 4:
Pork fillet with roasted pears and Whole-grain rice and fresh vegetables
DAY 5:
Lasagne with a green side salad
DAY 6:
Cauliflower base pizza with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese
DAY 7:
Whole-grain spaghetti with bolognese sauce
Week 2 Dinners:
DAY 1:
Coconut and squash Indian dhansak, made with butternut squash, onions, tomato, coconut milk, lentils, and coconut yogurt
DAY 2:
Chicken pasta bake with a green salad
DAY 3:
Healthy katsu chicken, made with chicken coated in finely chopped flaked almonds and oven-baked as opposed to fried, served with a green salad.
DAY 4:
Feta and kale loaded sweet potato topped with pumpkin seeds
DAY 5:
Chicken and lemon skewers in whole-grain flatbreads
DAY 6:
Healthy chili con carne, made with chunks of stewing beef and served with whole-grain rice
DAY 7:
Miso wholemeal noodles with vegetables and fried eggs
Essential Ingredients List:
- Chicken
- Stewing beef
- Lamb
- Butternut squash
- Eggs
- Whole-grain rice
- Whole-grain noodles
- Whole grain pasta
- Whole-grain lasagne sheets
- Onions
- Tomato
- Lentils
- Coconut milk
- Whole-grain flatbreads
- Spinach
- Sugar snap peas
- Flaked almonds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Seasonal vegetables
- Feta cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
Snacks
Some ideas for healthy snack replacements are:
- Carrot or cucumber sticks and low-fat content hummus
- Low-fat yogurt topped with fresh fruit
- Sugar snap peas
- Toasted whole-grain pita bread slices with low-fat content hummus or yogurt dip
- Rice cakes with low-fat cream cheese and cucumber slices
- Boiled eggs
- Oat pancakes served with fresh fruit
These meals and snacks are in many cases more protein-based – this is due to the fact that proteins have little to no carb content, meaning that they will not affect your blood sugar levels in the same way as carbohydrates.
The carbohydrates that are included in these meals and snacks are largely whole-grain carbs, which have a lower glycemic index.
This means that the effect that they have on blood sugar levels is more gradual rather than sudden, allowing your body more time to cope with the carbohydrates as they enter the body.
Try some of these recipes and find out which suit your lifestyle and eating habits best.
Do not feel pressured to eat food that you do not enjoy – there are many different food options available to you, and there will always be something that you can enjoy.
