Hello, this is Monica Reinagal, and you're listening to the nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

We're talking about gestational diabetes today. This is an

increasingly common complication during pregnancy, but these tips will be

great advice for anyone who's interested in managing their blood sugar levels.

And now let's jump into today's show.

If you're expecting a baby, you can also expect to be tested for gestational diabetes somewhere around your 24th week of pregnancy.

About one in five women develop high blood sugar during their pregnancies, and that's a complication that needs to be carefully managed both for your sake and for the babies.

Lily Nichols is a registered dietician who specializes in the treatment and prevention of

gestational diabetes. She's the author of a new book called Real Food for

Gestational Diabetes and I've asked her to join me today to share some of her tips on how to handle this increasingly common diagnosis and even how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Thank you so much for joining us, Lily. Thank you for having me. It's

pleasure to be here. So first, Lily, will you tell us what gestational diabetes means?

Well, gestational diabetes is usually defined as diabetes that either

develops or is first diagnosed during pregnancy. However, it can also be defined as

insulin resistance or

carbohydrate intolerance during pregnancy, which I actually prefer to use that

description because at the end of the day,

when you have gestational diabetes,

it's the result of insulin resistance, which means a woman is unable to

tolerate large amounts of carbohydrates without experiencing high blood sugar.

I know that this test causes a lot of anxiety for pregnant women, but I've heard you say that being diagnosed with gestational diabetes isn't necessarily cause for panic or despair.

Can you explain what you mean by that?

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