Diabetes and Pregnancy

If you have diabetes and you become pregnant you need to see your doctor right away. He will probably take you off of and switch you from as many of your drugs as necessary to make it safe for your fetus. Your doctor will also check the health of your kidneys and eyes. You absolutely must not smoke or drink alcohol while pregnant.

When you become pregnant you will be required to undertake a stricter glucose control regimen. The good news is that your fetus will be extracting some of the glucose from your bloodstream. The problem with that is that your medications will have to be constantly monitored and adjusted. Your body will also be digesting more of your fat to make extra fuel. This can be a bit dangerous for the fetus, as it produces ketones that can cause harm.

When you're pregnant, proper nutrition is very important. When you're diabetic and you become pregnant, proper nutrition is essential to maintain the health of your fetus. Lets take a look at some of the special nutritional requirements:

1. Your fat consumption should make up less than 30% of your daily consumption of calories. Keep in mind that one gram of sugar or protein has 4 calories, but one gram of fat has 9 calories. Don't even consider consuming alcohol while pregnant.

2. Your protein consumption should be at a ratio of about 8 calories of protein per kilogram of your ideal body weight on the metric system. If your ideal body weight is 50 kilograms, then you should be eating about 100 grams of protein per day while pregnant.

3. Your complex carbohydrate consumption should be at least half of your daily consumption of calories. Do not confuse complex carbohydrates for processed sugars. You need to keep your processed sugar consumption as low as possible.

4. Eat regular meals on schedule. You cannot afford to leave your body and your fetus guessing about when the next meal will come. This is more true than ever if you're a diabetic on a diabetic treatment regimen. You must remember that diabetes is a disease process and you cannot afford to take a careless approach to meals during pregnancy.