Gestational Diabetes: Prevention and Natural Treatment

 

“You have an entirely different body now,” my midwife said at a routine prenatal visit during my second trimester. While that’s not completely true – I would jump at the chance to trade in the bulging disc in my lumbar spine for a new, healthy one – it is partially accurate. The pregnancy hormones that drive the growth and development of a baby can alter the environment inside the mother’s body in unpredictable and unwanted ways. Among these, the body may change how it makes and utilizes insulin, which creates problems controlling blood sugar levels. Approximately one in ten pregnant women develop gestational diabetes and it’s becoming increasingly common.