Gestational Diabetes – South Indian meal plan with recipes

Pregnancy is a wonderful experience for all women . Pregnancy is a happy phase in any woman’s life where she eats without worrying about calories as it is popularly believed that “a pregnant woman eats for two”. And we all love to pamper ourselves by eating all that you really desire to eat ! Well, tempting as it may sound, but for some women the same phase turns in to a more serious one if they get diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Diabetes in pregnancy may come in any 3 stages of pregnancy first trimester, second trimester or third trimester. Some women get pregnant with diabetes, but some women get diabetes after they get pregnant. So there are different reasons and underlying problem to get diabetes. Mainly the lifestyle changes. Don’t worry ! This Indian diet plan for gestational diabetes will help you enjoy your eating during pregnancy while taking care of the nourishment and growth of your fetus.

If the pregnant woman is diagnosed with diabetes during pregnancy, this same happy phase turns out to be more serious and troublesome. With changing lifestyles, gestational diabetes or high glucose during pregnancy is becoming more common. Nowadays about 6 to 8 percent of pregnant women are diagnosed with diabetes during pregnancy. Experts predict that this will increase to 8 to 10 percent in the near future. We all know that a proper diet plays a major role in managing diabetes. Women with diabetes during pregnancy need to check her sugar level consistently and have a look on her diet. This ensures she gets proper nutrition for herself and the baby growing inside her. Don’t forget, nutrition deficiency can bring about many complications during pregnancy than pregnancy with diabetes.

Things to know :

Low glycemic index

The glycemic index (GI) indicates a number. It shows how fast your body changes the carbs in that food into glucose. An interesting fact is that two foods with the same amount of carbohydrates can have a different glycemic index. Smaller the number, lesser will be the impact of that food on your blood sugar. Lower the index, slower the digestion takes place, therefore, the blood sugar levels will increase slowly and steadily. The food with glycemic index:

55 or less is considered as low (good)
56- 69 is considered as medium
70 or higher is considered as high (bad)

Therefore, before buying any food or drink, look for the glycemic index on the label.

Low Glycemic load

The glycemic load (GL) of food is a number that tells how much a particular food item when consumed will spike a person’s blood glucose levels. We have to multiply the GI of the food by the number of carbohydrate grams in a single serving and then divide the given number by 100.

Glycemic Load between 1 and 10 is low
A GL between 11 to 19 is considered moderate
Glycemic Load which is 20 or higher is considered high

For those with diabetes, you want your diet to have low values of GL.

Insulin index: The insulin index refers to the capacity of the food to raise the level of insulin after 2 hours of intake

Things to keep in mind :

Carbs are not only found in food with processed sugars like soft drinks, but also in food containing natural sugars like milk, fruits, yogurt, etc.
Preferably have Greek yogurt, which is all the rage right now for all good reasons. Greek yogurt is a natural cultured yogurt, which is high in protein, lower in carbs than regular yogurt and rich in calcium and has probiotics, the good bacteria that can help in digestion during pregnancy
If you eat high carb food in one meal and then avoid it in other meals, it will still raise your blood sugar level. Therefore, always stick to recommended carbs in your diet
Never skip a meal as skipping a meal can make you feel very hungry and you tend to eat more in the next meal
Eat small meals, preferably every 2 to 3 hours. You can have a healthy snack, salad, fruits in between. However, make sure at least one and a half to two hours of gap is maintained between snack and the next meal
Prefer sweet potato to potato as sweet potato has a low GI
If you are a rice eater, always prefer brown rice to white rice due to its low GI
If you feel uncomfortable after eating any food item or have developed red rashes, stop consuming that food item and speak to your doctor about it
Have salt in moderation as consuming more salt can lead to water retention and further increase swelling during pregnancy and can also lead to gestational hypertension, which along with gestational diabetes can be very risky for both the mother and the baby
Try to consume home cooked food as much as possible
If you are buying ready to eat packaged meals or drinks, make sure to check the date of manufacture and expiry and also the list of ingredients and make sure it has not added sugar in them

Sample meal plan – South Indian

Early morning (6:30 to 7am)
- Start the day with a 250 ml glass of milk (without sugar). If you prefer flavored one, you can add cardamom, cinnamon or kesar
- You can also have dry carbs like whole grain rusk or digestive biscuits (sugar free). Limit it to just one piece
- Soaked almonds 4 or 5 will provide protein and omega 3 for a good head start
Breakfast (8:30 to 9am)
- Any of these – Vegetable upma/ three idlis/ two plain dosa/ two vegetable stuffed chapatti
- A bowl of sambar/ mint chutney/ curd as accompaniment
- One boiled egg (optional)

Some Breakfast ideas – Gestational Diabetes

Rava Idly

Paruppu adai dosai

Sambha Rava upma

Gujarati masala Roti

Mixed vegetables Rava Kichadi

Mid morning (11am)
- One medium sized fruit, pear, guava, musambi, pomegranate, etc. are perfect to have during this time
- You can have tender coconut water or a glass of lemonade. You can also try spiced butter milk with fresh curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Lunch (12:30 to 1pm)
- Small bowl of vegetable salad
- Two plain chapattis and three tablespoons of pulao made out of brown rice or just three plain chapattis
- Dal/ fish curry/ chicken curry/ sambar/ rasam
- Stir fried vegetable/ egg bhurji/ paneer
- One teaspoon ghee

Some lunch ideas – sidedish for rice – veg curry

Including lot of vegetables in your diet is very very important thing. Reduce the amount of rice in your daily meal plan and include roti and more veg curry. Having same vegetables daily makes you bore. try out all these kind of vegetables, mainly green leaves good for health it gives you iron content naturally. eating vegetables with more watery content is also good during pregnancy. It reduces the swollen hand and feet. Moreover eating mixed veg salad with carrots and cucumber is also good. But most of us like cooked vegetables rather than salad kind of stuffs. South Indians prefer and like to have lots of poriyal during their meal. Try to cook and eat all these varieties of poriyal to keep your taste buds happy.

Purple Cabbage Poriyal

Combo lunch with carrot beans poriyal

Agathi keerai poriyal

Plantain flower poriyal

Snake gourd curry / Pudalangai poriyal

Manathakali keerai poriyal

Poosanikai poriyal / pumpkin curry

Murungaikeerai poriyal

Mid afternoon (2:30 pm)
- Butter milk/lassi
- Fruits or salad
Evening (4 to 4:30pm)
- One glass of milk
- Snacks – cheese sandwich/ multi grain french toast / cheese corn sandwich
- Salted nuts (6 numbers)
- sprouts salad
- sundal varieties (brown chickpeas, white chickpeas etc)
Late evening (6 to 6:30pm)
- A bowl of cereal with milk. muesli, wheat flakes, oat flakes without sugar etc./ a bowl of sprouts
- Ulundhu kanji / health mix kanji

Ulundhu kanji rich in iron, calcium and good for bones. reduce back pain during pregnancy. Ulundhu kanji or urad dal porridge can be had during breakfast or early morning drink. black urad dal porridge is also good.

Pre-dinner (7:30 to 8pm)
- Vegetable soup/ chicken soup / Egg drop soup

Egg drop soup

Dinner (8 to 8:30pm)
- Two medium size multigrain chapattis/ 3 idlis/ three table spoons of brown rice
- Paneer mutter/ sambar/ mixed vegetable curry/ moong dal/ palak paneer
- One teaspoon ghee
Bedtime (at least one and half hour after dinner)
- A glass of warm milk/ almond milk
- Kashayam like cumin water for better digestion.

Mr and Mrs Senthilkumar's Kitchen

Cooked to your taste