Blood Sugar Management for Fertility and Beyond…

 Here’s a good new/bad news situation. The bad news is that more women are likely to receive a diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) in the coming months.  The good news is that if you’re in the trying to conceive process and eating a fertility-friendly diet like the one we use at Pulling Down the Moon you are well on your way to preventing this condition which can be dangerous to mother and baby. 

Previously, a diagnosis of GDM was based on blood sugar measurements that identified women at higher risk for developing diabetes later in life.  The new standards take into consideration risks to the mother and baby, including overweight babies, early delivery, c-section delivery and pre-eclampsia (a life threatening rise in blood pressure that endangers health of mom and baby).  When these outcomes were added to the equation, experts found they needed to make the diagnostic criteria more stringent. With the new guidelines, it’s estimated 16% of pregnant women will be found to have GDM instead of the 4-6% who currently get diagnosed.

Just in case you needed a bit more motivation to either get started or keep going with your fertility-friendly diet, do it for diabetes prevention and the health of your future child!