Doctors aren’t positive as to why 5-7% of women gets this disease unexpectedly, but the potential dangers of gestational diabetes cannot be ignored.

A gestational diabetes menu can help diabetic mothers because it consists of foods that will have very little effect on blood glucose levels, but that will provide the necessary nutrients for the mother and growing child.

Gestational Diabetes Menu Items Consist Of:

- lean meats like turkey and fish

- low fat dairy products like cheese and yogurt (sugar free)

- lots of fresh vegetables

- healthy fats like olive oil, nuts and grains

The key to these foods that make up the gestational diabetes menu plan is high protein, moderate amount of healthy fats, and generous amounts of vegetables.

In this article we’ll go over the three main types of diabetes. They are Type 1, Type 2, Gestational diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes

This type of diabetes has also been called insulin-dependent and immune-mediated diabetes. It occurs when your body can’t produce insulin. The immune system attacks insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This type of diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes increases the risk of other serious complications such as heart disease, nerve damage, blindness, and kidney damage.

Some of the symptoms include increased thirst, increased urination, weight loss even with increased appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, and absence of menstruation

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type that fails to be diagnosed. It progress slowly and causes symptoms such as skin infections, poor healing, kidney problems, and vision problems. It is ordinary that neither these complications nor the diabetes is diagnosed after years of mild symptoms.

The problem is usually that people have no severe symptoms and do not seek medical care at all. They just think of the symptoms as simply getting older. For this reason it is important to get regularly tested for diabetes in the most common age group (over 40′s). Less commonly a doctor may treat other diseases, without realizing to test for diabetes.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes occurs during a woman’s pregnancy. Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy are said to have it. It affects 4 percent of all women during pregnancy.

Symptoms include Increased thirst Increased urination Weight loss in spite of increased appetite Fatigue Nausea and vomiting Frequent infections including those of the bladder, vagina, and skin Blurred vision.

Gestational diabetes can be missed in pregnancy. It usually starts with mild symptoms that often can be attributed to other things. It’s important to get tested during pregnancy because the high blood sugars from gestational diabetes can do harm to the baby and sometimes lead to other complications.

Even if you’re not pregnant, you should make it a priority to get tested. Many women have gestational diabetes and think about their symptoms as being usual during pregnancy. You never know, maybe it is, but it’s always a good idea to get tested.

If you’re having any of the symptoms for diabetes, it’s important to see your doctor. Even if you think it’s absolutely nothing. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Gestational diabetes impacts almost 4 percent of all pregnant women though it is normally disappears after delivering the child. Untreated gestational diabetes may contribute to troubles for both the mother and the unborn child. Though insulin doesn’t cross through the placenta to the child, sugar and additional nutrients do.

Unneeded blood glucose goes through the placenta, giving the baby high blood glucose levels. This induces the child’s pancreas to create excessive insulin to eliminate the blood glucose, which may result in microsomatia or a fat baby syndrome. Microsomatia arises when additional blood glucose and insulin force the child’s body to create additional fat.

Babies with microsomatia are susceptible to other health troubles including harm to their shoulder joint* when giving birth. Because of the excessive insulin newborns could possess really low blood glucose levels at delivery and might also result in a greater chance of breathing troubles.

The handling of gestational diabetes should begin rapidly to prevent harmful consequences to the mother and the child. It had better take aim in maintaining blood glucose level comparable to those of pregnant women who don’t have gestational diabetes. Treatment includes special meals and regular physical exercise in addition to as regular blood glucose screening, in order as to keep it in check.

So what gestational diabetes symptoms can you look for? 

Since pregnancy itself is causing numerous changes in the female body simultaneously, catching these two symptoms can be difficult.

Symptom #1:  Constant Thirst

If feel thirsty all of the time, you may have this form of diabetes.  Now thirst itself is normal (especially for a pregnant woman).  But if you still feel thirsty even after you have drank plenty of fluids, you may want to ask your doctor to perform tests to see if you have diabetes.

Symptom #2:  Frequent Urination

Here again, this symptom is very tough to catch.  Since you are drinking much more fluids (to satisfy your constant thirst), you will of course being urinating more often.  And being pregnant affects this as well.  As the pregnancy progresses and the child gets bigger (squishing down on the bladder), you will naturally have to go to the bathroom more often.

There’s a good reason why some people call diabetes the “silent killer”.  The early warning signs are often very hard to catch, and with gestational diabetes, this could be deadly for the unborn child.

The good news is that because gestational diabetes symptoms are so hard to catch, most doctors routinely check for diabetes through the pregnancy.

Luckily, most pregnant women go to the doctor regularly, and a quick blood test will reveal whether or not this unusual type of diabetes exists.  And since such a large percentage of pregnant women get this disease, regularly testing these women is the norm.

And for good reason: gestational diabetes can be very harmful to the unborn child (and mother for that matter) if proper treatment and care are not done. 

You see, when a soon-to-be mother gets diabetes, the amount of insulin that should be going into the cells to break down glucose for energy stays in the bloodstream.  This can spell disaster for the child who gets 100% of his nutrients from the mother.  The only gestational diabetes symptoms that do occur (rarely) are a constant thirst and abnormally frequent urination. 

Thankfully most responsible mothers get plenty of checkups throughout their pregnancy, and the blood tests will show the results even if the mother shows no outward signs of having this type of diabetes.