BIRTH STORY | Carmen. Two pregnancies. Gestational diabetes. Caesarean section.

What happens if you do everything "right" during your pregnancy, but end up with prediabetes?

This happened to Carmen.

I worked with Carmen for 12 weeks during her second pregnancy while she was navigating gestational diabetes.

She followed my meal plans, which gave her a really good balance of nutrients, she stayed active every day, gained an appropriate amount of weight within the guidelines, and did her best to live a generally healthy lifestyle.

And yet, when she went to her 6 week follow-up appointment, she was diagnosed with prediabetes.

What does this mean?

Prediabetes is basically blood sugar that is higher than it should be, but not high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes.

It's diagnosed the same way as gestational diabetes, by doing the oral glucose tolerance test.

Unfortunately, there is a really high risk that if you have gestational diabetes that you will develop prediabetes.

And there is a further risk that you will go on to develop type 2 diabetes from there.

Though on a positive note, making changes to your lifestyle goes a really long way to improving these markers and preventing it from progressing.

So what if you, like Carmen, put so much effort into managing your blood sugar during your gestational diabetes journey, only to wind up with prediabetes anyway?

Does it mean you didn't "try hard enough" while you had gestational diabetes?

Does it make you a failure?

No.

What it actually means, is that you have a very clear warning sign about what could potentially be in your future, and the opportunity to do something about it.

The earlier you start paying attention to what you're eating and the lifestyle you lead, the better chance you have of getting on top of this.

As Carmen talks about, because she made such positive changes during her pregnancy and got support around her nutrition, she knows how to move forward with confidence in her ability to fuel her body, and reduce her risk of a lifetime of blood sugar checks and health complications.

The earlier you can get onto this, the better.

So in some way, the diagnosis of gestational diabetes can be a blessing, because it gives you a real head start into managing something that you might not have known about until it was too late to do much.

So stay positive, and think about one small thing you can do every day to improve your health.

Small, consistent actions really do build up into big results.

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Disclaimer:

The information in this podcast is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for individualised medical and nutrition advice. Please speak to your healthcare team before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle. Helena (and any guests) do not accept liability for any harm or damages that occur from following suggestions in these podcast episodes.