If you have gestational diabetes, it's important that you work with a physician or registered dietitian to put together a healthy diet plan. The food you eat, and when you need it, has a profound effect on both your blood sugar and your chance of experiencing gestational diabetes complications. By creating a gestational diabetes diet plan and sticking to it, you can maximize your ability to have a healthy, happy pregnancy for you and your baby.

Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan: When to Eat

If you have gestational diabetes, when you eat is almost as important as what you eat. If you condense all your food into one or two large daily meals, you put much more stress on your body and pancreas. This can cause your blood sugar to rise far higher than it needs to, making you more likely to experience health problems.

Most gestational diabetes diet plans recommend eating three small main meals a day; e.g. a modest lunch, breakfast, dinner. In between meals, you should eat snacks another 3 times a day. Regular snacks not only keep you from getting too hungry, they also help prevent your blood sugar from dropping.

If you suffer from morning sickness, your physician may also suggest you start your day by munching on a light, whole grain snack like crackers. This will gently boost your blood sugar and calm your stomach, making it easier to hold down food for the rest of the day.

Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan: What to Eat

If you have gestational diabetes, you're going to need to pay special attention to what you eat. Choosing food wisely means you'll get the maximum vitamins and minerals out of your meals. Picking diabetic friendly meal choices also means you'll be putting less strain on your blood sugar, helping you to avoid dangerously high glucose levels.

Here are a few important vitamins and minerals you should aim to include in your gestational diabetes diet plan:

• Iron: Women are more likely to become anemic during pregnancy, but eating plenty of iron rich foods offers protection. Diabetic friendly, iron rich foods include lentils, shellfish, tofu, eggs, and lean cuts of red meat.
• Vitamin C: Your body uses vitamin C to make collagen, repair tissue, absorb iron, and fight infection. Citrus fruits, like oranges, are a great source of vitamin C. However, they can also raise your blood sugar quickly, so eat them with care. You can also get vitamin C from vegetables like green peppers, mustard greens, cauliflower, and broccoli.
• Folic Acid: Found primarily in leafy green vegetables, folic acid is a B vitamin that helps develop your baby's brain and spinal cord. It can even help reduce neural tube defects, like spina bifida and anencephaly. Diabetic friendly foods heavy in folic acid include most beans, asparagus, beets, almonds, liver, kale, collard greens, spinach, avocado, and sunflower seeds.
• Calcium: No gestational diabetes diet plan would be complete without calcium rich foods. Calcium helps your baby develop strong bones, a healthy cardiovascular system, and muscles. Dairy products, like cheese and milk, are excellent source of calcium. However, whole milk products can spike blood sugars, so opt for reduced fat milk choices instead. If you don't enjoy dairy products, you can still get plenty of calcium from salmon, almonds, peanuts, sardines, scallops, leeks, and mustard or turnip greens.

Many of these foods may be things you're not used to eating regularly, and there's nothing wrong with that. What's important is that you take the time to change your diet now, so that you can remain as healthy as possible during your pregnancy. Sticking to a gestational diabetes diet plan not only helps ensure your health, but the health of your unborn child.