Gestational diabetes is a disorder that usually appears in the second half of pregnancy caused by the inability of some mothers to correctly regulate blood sugar levels due to the action of hormones. It affects one in ten pregnant women and not being treated properly can lead to serious complications such as premature birth, macrosomia, fetal damage such as malformations and even death.
To prevent it, it is important to have healthy habits during pregnancy, but also in the previous stage, since according to the study known as Nurses' HealthStudy II, the lifestyle you lead before pregnancy influences the development of gestational diabetes.
There are four key factors when it comes to preventing it: eating healthy, exercising, taking care of weight and not smoking. According to the results of the study, the participants who met those four factors of a healthy lifestyle before pregnancy were 80 percent less likely to develop the disease than those without any of those behaviors.
Maintaining a healthy weight during reproductive life provided maximum benefit. In fact, each of the four factors separately were related to a decreased risk of developing gestational diabetes, regardless of the other three. But together, the four were even more powerful.
Regarding the pre-pregnancy feeding, the study authors recommended increasing the consumption of vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, polyunsaturated fatty acids and long-chain omega 3 fatty acids, combined with a decrease in the consumption of red meat and processed, sweet drinks, after fat and sodium.
Along the same lines, gestational diabetes has also been linked to eating fast food, so it is very important to improve life habits if you plan to get pregnant. The importance of leading a healthy lifestyle is increasingly demonstrated both during and before pregnancy.
