… Continued …
| Blood sugar targets | Time of day |
|---|---|
| Not higher than (140 mg /dL) or (7.8 mmol /L) | 1 hour after meal |
| Not higher than (120 mg /dL) or (6.7 mmol /L) | 2 hours after meal |
| Not higher than (95 mg /dL) or (5.3 mmol /L) | Fasting (when you wake up or before the first meal of the day) |
*Source: the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Disease.
If your blood sugar level is higher than these recommendations, take appropriate steps to lower it. Fortunately, some lifestyle measures do help a lot to cope with gestational diabetes (GD).
How to lower high blood sugar?
The main goal of GD treatment is to control the blood sugar as close to normal as possible. This is very important to eliminate pregnancy complications associated with GD.
Noticing fasting blood sugar 105 and 110 mg /dL may signal that something goes awry and you need to fix it. Remember that your target is 95 mg /dL or lower.
There are lots of things you can do to cope with gestational diabetes. But you have to pay more attention on these 3 basic components; your diet (eating right), physical activity (exercise), and monitoring your blood sugar levels!
For summary, here are things to remember:
- Check your blood glucose at particular times of day recommended by your doctor to make sure that it is always well controlled during pregnancy.
- Your diet plays a key role to control blood sugar. Fortunately, diet for diabetes is also good for pregnancy. For a comprehensive guide about what you should eat and what you should avoid to cope with diabetes, see this section!
- It’s normal to have weight gain when pregnant. But it’s also important that you gain weight not too far. How much weight you should safely gain during pregnancy? It’s dependent on your weight before pregnant (see more in here).
- Do exercise regularly – make it a habit! Exercise is good for your insulin and overall health. Aim for at least 30-45 minutes of moderate exercise and do that on most days of the week. And make sure that your exercise is safe for your pregnancy, too. Avoid high impact exercise! For instance, swimming and walking are excellent choices to initiate when pregnant.
In some cases, diabetic medications (including insulin treatment) are prescribed. If you need to take diabetic medication, take it as well as prescribed!
