Diet and Exercise: The Most Important Parts of Your Gestational Diabetes Treatment Plan If you have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, your doctor will help you create a gestational diabetes treatment plan. The plan will include a combination of watching your blood sugar levels, eating a healthy diet, exercising, and possibly medication. To ensure the health of your baby, you will need to follow this plan closely. It is important that you monitor your blood sugar levels as part of your gestational diabetes treatment plan. You may need to check it up to five times per day. You will do this by putting a drop of blood from your finger onto a blood glucose meter. Your doctor will continue to check your blood sugar levels during labor and delivery. If your levels are too high during birth, your baby’s body will release insulin to combat those levels. That can cause him or her to be born with low blood sugar levels. Checking your blood sugar level is only half of the battle. You will also need to eat the right things to ensure that your blood sugar levels stay within a healthy range. Eating the right food will ensure that you do not gain too much weight over the course of your pregnancy. Gaining too much weight too quickly can be a catalyst for gestational diabetes. You will need to work with an expert to ensure that your diet is effective, such as a Registered Dietitian. However, your diet should focus on fruit, veggies, and whole grains, especially foods that are high in fiber and unprocessed. Any foods that are high in nutritional value and fiber but are low in fat and calories are good to include in your diet. You should avoid foods that have a lot of refined carbohydrates. That includes everything from cheap white bread to most sweet junk food. And balancing your intake throughout the day goes a long way towards helping your blood sugars stay within the normal range. To continue reading the rest of this article, please click here http://www.healthydietmenusforyou.com/index.php/diet-and-exercise-the-mostimportant-parts-of-your-gestational-diabetes-treatment-plan.html Š Healthy Diet Menus For You, LLC 2011