What's Inside
Most of us like to eat fast food. It is tasty and easily available. But the high amount of carbs, sodium, fats, high protein in fast foods make it unhealthy and risky, especially for ladies suffering from Gestational diabetes. Well, there are exceptions too. However, it is important to notice the amount of fat, carbs, and protein included in the dish. In this article, you will be provided with some important pieces of information to choose the best dish suitable for Gestational diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes: What It Is And How To Prevent It?
Nowadays more healthy and suitable fast food online menus are available in many restaurants. You can select your ingredients and customize your food and also check for the nutritional info of your entire meal. You can even search and filter foods that are more suitable for your health.
Gestational diabetes is a condition in which pregnant women are diagnosed with high blood sugar levels. The condition is not common, and it can affect women without any prior diabetic condition. To ensure the safety and health of both child and mother, it is recommended to eat a sugar-free diet.
The causes for the condition might be overweight, genetics, PCOS, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.
Can I eat fast food?
Pregnancy might evoke your desire for foods, especially fast foods. But fast foods contain a large number of fats, carbs, sugars, etc. However, there are some choices that might satisfy your desire.
You can try to make your desired dish at home with the recommended ingredients. But, things may change when you are outside the home. You can either bring packed foods along with your journey or you can visit a good restaurant. When you eat outside, ask them about the nutritional value of the dish or you can simply ask for a custom-made meal.
Fast foods you should be careful of:
❌ Sauces: Normal sauces available in the restaurant might contain a high amount of sugar. Make sure to use sauces that are healthy and have no hidden sugar.
❌Bread and fried foods: Avoid breaded and deep-fried fish, chicken, and other dishes.
❌Carbs: Rice, tortillas, and chips contain a huge amount of carbs, Make sure to remove them from your menu.
❌sushi and raw fish: Avoid eating sushi and raw fish. Sushi contains sweetened vinegar.
❌Indian food: If you are craving Indian food, make sure to avoid Chapatti, lentils, Potato, rice, yogurt, Dhal, since it contains carbs.
❌Vegetable: You can balance carbohydrate foods with non-starchy vegetables.
❌Dumplings: Pay attention to the thick dumpling wrapper.
❌ Rice: Since rice contains more carbs, if you are an Asian you can try using steamed brown rice and be aware of the portion size.
❌Asian food: Avoid eating fried noodles, fried rice, and batter-coated foods.
❌Pasta: Pasta contains a large number of carbs. The portion size of pasta should be considered.
Other fast foods:
- Choose lean grilled meat, thin-crust pizza, and plain small hamburger.
- Side dishes like fried fries can be replaced by healthy salads.
- Ketchup can be replaced by mustard or light mayonnaise
- Be hydrated with water, and avoid other artificial drinks.
It is better to customize your food than to order pre-made fast foods from restaurants. You can customize by adding healthy vegetables, low carb meals, avoiding pieces of bread, etc.
Healthy diet to follow in your home.
- Candies, ice creams, cookies can be replaced by natural sweets like carrots and raisins.
- A saturated diet in your daily diet plan should be less than 10% of the total calories you intake. Whereas total fat should be less than 40% of the total calories.
- Eat 20-35 grams of fiber per day. You can add vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc to maintain the goal.
- Three meals along with two snacks on a regular basis is a good option.
Eating healthy, losing weight, and being active will help you to avoid the chance of getting Gestational diabetes. However, maintaining a healthy meal and avoiding the above food items will help you to stay healthy in Gestational diabetic time.
A healthy body for a healthy baby
Gestational diabetic women can eat fast foods after choosing the safe ingredients. However, a good diet is not all that matters. You should follow the prescribed treatments and also check the blood sugar level more than three times a day.
Testing urine for ketones and other chemicals is also necessary. Keeping exercises as part of daily routine and eating a healthy diet is more beneficial. Although exercise is beneficial, you should ask the opinion of a doctor whether it is ok to exercise. If yes, that is a good thing. You can go swimming, running and walking.
Exercises will help you to reduce the problems like fatigue and back pain. Exercise can also drop your blood sugar level. Make sure to keep glucose tablets or candy with you.
Final words:
Fast foods are considered unhealthy due to their high fat, high carbs, and sugary nature, especially for Gestational diabetic women. However, fast foods can be eaten if some factors are taken into consideration.
Foods that are high in carbs, especially bread and rice should be paid attention to. Reducing the portion size and increasing the amount of healthy nonstarchy vegetables will help to keep the food balanced.
Try to keep hydrated and always eat carefully after checking the nutritional values. Avoid what should be avoided after checking the ingredients. Try to eat homemade foods and pack them when going out. Order customized foods including more vegetables to make them healthy and safe.