Can I eat breakfast if I have a sugar screen? What should I pay attention to?

When a pregnant woman is about 6 months pregnant, she will need to undergo a sugar screening test to ensure that she does not have gestational diabetes. When doing the sugar screening test, you need to participate on an empty stomach so that the diagnosis result will be more accurate. Therefore, you cannot eat before the sugar screening test. If the test is done early in the morning, you cannot eat breakfast. Expectant mothers who are doing the sugar screening for the first time should pay attention to this.

1. What is sugar screening

Sugar screening refers to the screening of pregnant women for gestational diabetes. The test requires fasting and is usually performed between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. Pregnant women with high-risk glucose screening results are generally recommended to undergo a glucose tolerance test to confirm whether they have gestational diabetes. It is best for pregnant mothers who have the conditions to do a sugar screening test to detect whether they have gestational diabetes and treat it as early as possible.

2. Precautions for sugar screening

1) Reduce the intake of starch and sugar two weeks before the examination:

Try to eat less staple food and pasta, and the amount of staple food such as rice and flour should not exceed half a pound a day. It is best not to drink rice porridge in the morning, you can use milk instead.

Do not eat high-fat foods and try not to eat sugary foods. Sugary foods here refer to sweets, beverages, and even fruits containing refined sugar that can be directly absorbed by the human body without any conversion, such as: chocolate, cola, lychees, sugar cane, large amounts of watermelons, etc.

The amount of fruit you eat should be limited, especially those with high sugar content. Don't eat eggs for dinner. Eat more vegetables, no less than 500 grams per day, to supplement vitamins and fiber. Drink plenty of water and exercise moderately. Take a walk after meals to burn off excess sugar.

2) The day before the sugar screening or glucose tolerance test, it is best to eat light vegetarian food and eat less rice.

3) Do not eat after 8 pm the night before the sugar screening and drink less water.

4) When doing the sugar screening, do not swallow the sugar water in big gulps, drink it little by little, but make sure to finish it within 3-5 minutes. It is best to walk more after drinking, so that the energy will be consumed within an hour, which will help lower blood sugar levels.

5) After drinking the sugar water, you should master the time of blood drawing, and draw blood one hour after drinking. If you start drinking at 7:10 and finish at 7:20, you will have to wait until 8:20 to have your blood drawn.

6) It is best for expectant mothers to prepare some food and eat it after the sugar screening to avoid prolonged hunger and causing physical discomfort.

3. Dietary principles for gestational diabetes

(1) Pay attention to calorie requirements

There is no need to increase calories in the early stages of pregnancy, but in the middle and late stages of pregnancy, the calorie intake must be increased by 300 calories per day based on the calorie requirement before pregnancy. Since weight loss may increase ketone bodies in the mother's body and cause adverse effects on the fetus, it is not advisable to lose weight during pregnancy.

(2) Pay attention to the distribution of meals

In order to maintain stable blood sugar levels and avoid the occurrence of ketoacidosis, meal distribution is very important. Because eating a large amount of food at one time will cause blood sugar to rise rapidly, and ketone bodies are easily produced when the mother is fasting for too long, it is recommended to eat small meals frequently and divide the daily food intake into 5 to 6 meals. In particular, avoid having too long a gap between dinner and breakfast the next day, so have a snack before going to bed.

(3) Consume the correct amount of sugar

The intake of carbohydrates is to provide calories, maintain normal metabolism, and avoid the production of ketone bodies. You should not mistakenly think that not eating starches can control blood sugar or weight and skip meals altogether; instead, you should try to avoid sugary drinks and sweets containing sucrose, granulated sugar, fructose, glucose, rock sugar, honey, and maltose to avoid a rapid increase in blood sugar after meals. If necessary, a small amount of sweetener can be added, but Acesulfame K, which is harmless to the fetus, should be used.

Expectant mothers should try to choose unrefined staple foods with high fiber content, which can be more conducive to blood sugar control, such as: replacing white rice with brown rice or whole grain rice, choosing whole grain bread or steamed buns, etc. Pregnant women with gestational diabetes have higher blood sugar levels in the morning, so breakfast must contain less starchy foods.