BLOOD SUGAR SERIES: Eating for Balanced Blood Sugar in Pregnancy

In order to prioritize blood sugar regulation, you do not immediately have to blacklist a meal that includes carbohydrates. While you should avoid processed carbs like white and refined flours and grains, more complex root vegetables and hearty squash don’t necessarily raise blood sugar as intensely as a slice of white bread would.

Turn to sweet potatoes, carrots, plantains, and winter squash for your carb fix, but pay attention to how they affect your blood-sugar levels. Gluten-free grains or “seeds” like quinoa, buckwheat and millet tend to contain more protein and fewer carbohydrates than cereal grains. Pasta made from lentils, beans, or chickpeas can replace grain pastas that raise blood sugar steeply.

Adding meat and extra non-starchy veggies to your pasta dishes can also help balance a normally high-carb meal in a way that your blood sugar will like. Choosing lettuce wraps (think romaine or chard) instead of traditional sandwiches can greatly reduce your empty carb intake. If it’s starchy white rice or white mashed potatoes you’re craving, try ricing or mashing cauliflower for a lower-carb option.

And don’t forget the FIBER! Fiber, particularly soluble fiber, plays a big role in slowing blood sugar absorption. Incorporate more whole food sources of both soluble (dissolves in water, such as nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils) and insoluble (as found in the seeds and skins of many fruits and vegetables, wheat bran, and brown rice) fiber into your diet (SOURCE).

This can be as simple as increasing non-starchy vegetable servings or adding chia or ground flaxseeds into your diet.

Remember: When increasing fiber intake, drink lots and lots of water.

Focus on nutrient-dense, high-fiber foods, such as avocados, lentils, chia seeds, cauliflower, and fruits like raspberries and blackberries. These are not only high in fiber, but lower in carbohydrates.

Whole grains typically contain some fiber, but their carb content is exponentially greater, making them not the best first choice. Aim for around 30 grams of fiber a day, if not more, during pregnancy. You can get 5 grams in a tablespoon of chia seeds and 7 in half an avocado, so it’s a very doable amount.

If you experience digestive distress with some of the healthier fiber recommendations, try these low-FODMAP fiber options:

• canned lentils

• chia seeds

• raspberries

• well-rinsed quinoa

Continue to experiment with what works best for your body and your blood sugar. Like I said before, every body is different and responds differently to different foods.