How to Manage Gestational Diabetes with Lifestyle
You received the dreaded phone call that you’ve “failed” your glucose tolerance test and you’re wondering; “Now what!?”
If you’re like many women, you’ve probably been provided with very little information about what to do until you’re (hopefully) connected with a dietitian.
That waiting time between your diagnosis and getting individualized help can feel like an eternity. So can be really tempting to hop on Google to search for answers, leading down dark rabbit holes of restrictive eating, frustration and fear.
With gestational diabetes, it can also feel like there’s not a lot in your control, so let's focus on what is, with ideas on how to manage gestational diabetes with lifestyle, rather than a restrictive diet.
What is Gestational Diabetes?
Gestational diabetes mellitus, aka gestational diabetes or GDM, is a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.
Generally your body secretes insulin, a hormone, which controls the amount of glucose in your blood. However, in pregnancy the metabolic adaptations that occur can make insulin less effective. In addition, the placenta is now secreting its own hormones, also contributing to insulin resistance and higher blood glucose levels (aka elevated blood sugar). All pregnant women experience a degree of this. With gestational diabetes however, blood sugar has risen to levels that we correlate with potential pregnancy complications, if left untreated.
Gestational diabetes affects between 2% and 10% of women who are pregnant in the United States each year. So no, it wasn’t the ice cream and it wasn’t all of the carbs you ate in your first trimester that caused it!
What does ‘lifestyle management’ of gestational diabetes mean?
A common belief is that food is the only thing that affects our blood sugar. So, the obvious solution to manage gestational diabetes is to focus in on diet. This is a myth and food contributes to one piece of the puzzle.
While diet does play a role, we also know that looking at movement, stress and sleep can also help to lower blood sugars nicely.
Let’s explore how you can tackle these lifestyle factors in more detail.
Food and Eating
Be consistent with meals and snacks
Aim to eat a meal or snack every 3-4 hours. Consistent eating will help balance blood sugar and will prevent you from being overly-hungry which can send our blood sugar swinging from one extreme to the other. Grab my free guide to breakfast for an easy jumpstart.
Pair all of your meals and snacks with protein or fat
Protein and fat help to slow digestion which will give your body a chance to also slow the absorption of any carbohydrate you are eating, leaving you with less of a blood sugar spike.
Protein and fat are also in higher demand in pregnancy and will help you feel satisfied for a longer period of time.
Examples of higher protein foods include:
Meat
Poultry
Fish
Eggs
Cheese
Greek yogurt
Cottage cheese
Nut butter
Nuts and seeds
Examples of fats to add:
Nuts and seeds
Nut butter
Avocado
Oils (olive etc.)
Increase your fiber intake
No, you don’t have to eliminate carbs! We actually encourage complex carbohydrate sources because they are rich in fiber which helps to balance blood sugar.
Examples of higher fiber carbs include:
Whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat products, quinoa, bulgur, barley)
Beans and lentils
Whole fruit
Starchy vegetables such as winter squash, sweet potato and peas
All veggies, nuts and seeds and avocado are also great sources
Movement
Regular gentle movement lowers blood sugar. Your muscles use up glucose, the sugar in your bloodstream, as the main fuel source for any movement. Consistent daily movement also makes the insulin in your body work better by lowering insulin resistance.
The key here is to find the type of movement that you enjoy and makes your body feel good. When we enjoy the movement we are doing we will spend more time doing it, and we also get the mental health benefits.
Experiment with different forms of moving including walking, dancing, aerobics classes, yoga, weight training, swimming, or biking. Even walking 10 minutes after a couple meals each day can help. It all counts!
Sleep
Lack of sleep and quality rest affects your blood sugar, both directly and indirectly.
Directly, lack of sleep is thought to increase the hormones that negatively impact insulin resistance as well as increase mobilization of glucose which overall raises blood sugar.
Indirectly, lack of sleep increases our hunger hormones and a desire for high carbohydrate foods (energy), in turn potentially raising blood sugar.
With poor sleep, it’s also harder to feel energized for regular movement.
So, do what you can to promote regular, adequate sleep and your blood glucose management will likely benefit.
This might be through creating a wind-down routine for yourself at the end of the day, reducing screen time or setting an intention of getting into bed an hour earlier each night.
Stress
Stress can be experienced in the form of physical stress such as an illness or injury, as well as significant emotional stress.
When stressed, the body alters our hormones in order to mobilize sugar as energy for quick use in our muscles. These stress hormones that circulate in the body have the ability to raise our blood sugar.
So, finding ways to reduce and manage stress can positively impact our blood glucose levels.
Clearly, we can’t control if we are ill or injured, but what we can do is take a look at our emotional stress levels, noticing how we cope, and how we react to big stressors in our life.
We can begin to utilize coping strategies to lower our stress levels on a more regular basis.
Or we can even alter our view of our stress; actively choosing a brighter outlook on the situation can improve the effects of stress on the body. We can begin to set clear boundaries with our time to ensure we are taking time for ourselves.
If stress management feels overwhelming ask for help. Approximately 6% of pregnant women develop anxiety and depression. Click here for more information.
Extra tips for managing gestational diabetes
In addition to the lifestyle ideas above, you might also like to consider the following tips for managing gestational diabetes.
Approach this part of your pregnancy with compassion and curiosity
If you happen to be checking your blood sugars at home with a glucometer, adopting a curious mind as you notice patterns in your numbers based on your activity levels, sleep quality or stress levels can help you to not be judgmental or critical towards yourself.
It can be helpful to remind yourself of these other factors that play a role in what those numbers look like, instead of just focusing on the food aspect of diabetes management.
Holding an awareness that each day will be a little different than the next can help in having some compassion for yourself while you navigate this part of your pregnancy.
Be your own advocate
Gestational diabetes can stir up a lot of feelings, especially guilt. And for some women can trigger past restrictive diets or disordered eating.
If you notice your mood is impacted or you are having increasing thoughts about dietary restriction or diets, please let your care team know.
You may also like to seek emotional support through a social worker or therapist.
Get support
Lastly, we’d encourage you to connect with a dietitian for individualized counseling to best fuel yourself through pregnancy while navigating diabetes. At Halve your Cake we offer individual nutrition counseling and coaching services.
Many times your OB will provide a team of diabetes educators and dietitians to help you manage the condition. If you aren’t connected with anyone, let us help, as nobody should have to go through gestational diabetes alone!
Or, you may like to check out our course we designed especially for you. Eat for Two with Gestational Diabetes is a go-at-your-own-pace nutrition course all about gestational diabetes, balancing your blood sugar, and supporting your changing body.
The bottom line
As you can see, your blood glucose is influenced by many different factors during pregnancy and so there are many different lifestyle strategies that play a role in blood sugar management.
The best way to move forward is to pick an area or two that feels approachable for you and figure out how you can tweak or modify what you’re currently doing in your daily routine to feel better in your body.
You’ve got this, mama!
