What it is and how to test?
Gestational Diabetes is a condition characterized by higher than normal blood sugar levels during pregnancy.
Before I talk about GD, I think it is important to say that pregnancy is a insulin resistance stage. In simple terms, this means that the body of a pregnant woman (as well as the placenta) is programmed to destroy some of the circulating insulin. Insulin is the hormone that carries glucose away from the blood stream and into the tissue. During pregnancy, certain hormones produced by the mother, and certain hormones produced by the placenta inactivate insulin so that more glucose is available to the fetus for growth.
This is a natural physiological state. Remember that our species has evolved during some 77,000 generations going through famines and food scarcity, interrupted by times of feast following a kill. We used to be hunter and gatherers, we definitely did not have supermarket to go buy pickles and ice cream to feed our pregnant tribe members J
Fortunately, many of us nowadays have not that issue, but our bodies are still hardwire to function the same way as they did hundreds of thousands of years. Therefore, our bodies are kind of working against us when we eat day in and day out & when we eat the wrong food.
Let’s talk about testing for a moment. In my opinion, the conventional GD test is flawed. Think about this: how many times do you ingest 75 grams of pure high fructose corn syrup plus additives, and plus colorings in your daily life? Hopefully never! Some women’s body can handle the test just fine, but others are extremely sensitive to sugar, especially if they restrict sugar intake in their diet. I, personally, follow a no grain diet, and while I passed the Gestational Diabetes test with flying colors, I felt dizzy, I felt nauseous, and I felt shaky. My body is not used to handle that much sugar…
If you are working with an open-minded health care provider, there are some options you can discuss with them. Hopefully your OBGYN or midwife has already run a HA1C test. Usually it is done in the first trimester. This test gives a measure of how your body is metabolizing sugars for the past 3 months. Usually, if the numbers are abnormal (a number above 5.5 indicates pre-diabetic state, above 5.7 indicates diabetic state), an open minder health care provider can recommend that women start measuring their blood glucose levels fasting, and one hour after each meal.
Of course you can choose to have the test done. I actually did have it done because my provider did not offer an alternative.
Now you know a little bit about Gestational Diabetes, what it is and how to test for it.
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