If you’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus, it can feel like you have to give up eating dessert and sweet treats until your baby is born. However, that isn’t the case. With the right ingredients and balance, you can enjoy satisfying treats that don’t send your blood sugar soaring.
By focusing on whole foods, fiber-rich ingredients, and a good mix of protein and healthy fats, it’s possible to create desserts that are both delicious and supportive of your health. Whether you’re craving something creamy, fruity, or chocolatey, these gestational diabetes–friendly dessert recipes will help you enjoy a little sweetness while keeping your glucose levels steady and your body nourished.
Key Takeaways
- Balancing desserts with protein, fiber, and healthy fats helps prevent glucose spikes and keeps you satisfied longer.
- Including healthy fats in desserts can help regulate blood glucose levels within your target range by slowing sugar absorption.
- Managing gestational diabetes involves balancing dessert choices with other foods like protein and fiber to reduce the impact on blood sugar.
- Creating desserts with a balanced mix of macronutrients—protein, fats, and fiber—can help stabilize blood sugar levels and reduce food stress.
- Monitoring portion sizes of desserts is important to manage blood sugar levels effectively.
- Pairing desserts with a protein source, like Greek yogurt or nuts, can help stabilize post-meal blood sugar.
- Consulting a women’s health dietitian can help you personalize dessert choices that fit your taste, lifestyle, and gestational diabetes goals.
What is Gestational Diabetes?
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy and affects how your body processes sugar. While the exact cause isn’t fully understood, certain factors, such as a family history of diabetes or conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), may increase your risk. It’s most often diagnosed between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy through a routine prenatal screening.
During pregnancy, all women take a glucose tolerance test, which involves drinking a sugary drink and measuring your blood glucose levels between week 24 and 28 of pregnancy. In most cases, gestational diabetes goes away after delivery, though it can occasionally progress to type 2 diabetes.
What to Eat When You Have Gestational Diabetes
If you have gestational diabetes, it’s especially important to be aware of what you eat. Eating the way you did before you developed gestational diabetes can lead to hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia (high or low blood sugar, respectively), which can be dangerous for both you and the baby.
So, what do you eat if you have gestational diabetes?
Protein, fiber, and healthy fats are the most important food groups to focus on when you have diabetes, gestational or otherwise. That means foods like lean meats, eggs, tofu, non-starchy vegetables, leafy greens, citrus fruits and low-sugar fruits, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
You can still enjoy carbs or sugary foods if you have diabetes, but it’s important to enjoy them in moderation and to try to eat other high-protein or high-fiber foods that will help prevent your blood sugar levels from spiking.
10 Dessert Recipes for Gestational Diabetes
If you have a sweet tooth, dessert is an unskippable meal, but it may feel like you have to skip dessert if you’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Fortunately, that isn’t the case. In fact, most women with gestational diabetes can still eat dessert with some modifications, such as choosing lower-carb options and being mindful of portion sizes. You can enjoy desserts and satisfy your sweet cravings with the right recipes, making it possible to indulge without compromising your health. Sometimes, all you need is a sweet fix—a small, satisfying treat that curbs cravings while keeping your blood sugar in check. Here are ten different delicious desserts that are both satisfying and mindful of blood glucose levels, perfect for enjoying treats while managing gestational diabetes.
1. Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
Chocolate-dipped strawberries aren’t just for Valentine’s Day! Strawberries are a great berry to eat if you have diabetes because they’re full of fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and folate, an essential nutrient for pregnant women. To make this dessert, simply dip strawberries into melted dark chocolate with minimal added sugar for a luxurious and easy treat.
2. Chia Seed Pudding
Chia seed pudding is a super-easy dessert. All you do is mix three or four tablespoons of chia seeds to one cup of milk, stir, and wait a few hours for the seeds to absorb the liquid. It’s also very easy to customize. You can use any sort of milk substitute, like almond milk or oat milk, instead of cow’s milk, and you can also flavor it using cocoa powder, vanilla extract, honey, cinnamon, or whatever your favorite flavoring is. Feel free to top your chia pudding with fruit, nuts, or anything else that you enjoy.
3. Baked Apples
Baked apples are like apple pie without the pie. Take your favorite cooking apple, and cut it in half, then remove the core and seeds. Add rolled oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, and any other spices you may enjoy. Pumpkin pie spice can also be a good go-to if you don’t want to deal with individual spices. Then, bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes or until you can easily pierce the apple with a fork.
4. Tropical Nice Cream
If you’re an ice cream lover, nice cream is a low-sugar variety that you can make at home from frozen fruit. For tropical nice cream, add a 16-ounce package of frozen pineapple chunks, one cup of frozen mango chunks, and one tablespoon of lemon juice to a food processor, then process until smooth. You can eat it immediately or transfer it to another container and let it firm up in the freezer for an hour or two if you want it harder. You can choose any frozen fruit you like and customize your nice cream as much as you want!
5. Apple Slices With Peanut Butter
Apple slices with peanut butter are a classic treat beloved by children and adults alike. You get good fiber from the apples (especially if you leave the peel on), and protein from the peanut butter. Plus, there’s very little preparation required, making it a great choice for when you’re tired and don’t want to worry about mixing and measuring. You can also substitute the peanut butter for almond butter, sun butter, almond butter, or any other nut butter you like.
6. Dark Chocolate Bark
Dark chocolate bark can be a satisfying dessert option when made with nuts and seeds for added nutrition. To make dark chocolate bark, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then melt down dark chocolate chips and pour the melted chocolate onto the baking sheet. While it’s still melted, add toppings such as nuts, seeds, dried fruit, desiccated coconut, pretzels, or whatever you like before it sets. Adding nuts and seeds provides extra protein, healthy fats, and fiber, which can help in managing blood glucose levels. Once the chocolate has hardened again, break the sheet into small pieces and store them in an air-tight container.
Chocolate bark is a fun treat to keep around the house, and you can personalize it however you want.
7. Meringues
To make meringues, whip three large egg whites to stiff peaks with a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar. As you’re whipping, slowly add three-quarters cup of sugar and a half teaspoon of vanilla. When the batter is stiff and glossy, pipe meringue shapes onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 200°F for about 90 minutes.
While meringues do have sugar in them, they don’t have flour or other ingredients that are known to commonly cause blood sugar spikes, making them a better option for when you’re craving a crunchy cookie. Meringues are also lower in saturated fat compared to many traditional desserts like cakes, puddings, pies, and ice cream, which is important for managing gestational diabetes and supporting healthier blood glucose levels.
8. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Love Reese’s but don’t love how much added sugar there is in prepackaged candy? Fortunately, it’s easy to make your own at home.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners, then melt down one cup of dark chocolate chips, then add in a quarter cup of coconut oil and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Use half of the chocolate mixture to line the cupcake liners, using a spoon to make sure it gets on the sides and not just the bottom. Then, spoon as much peanut butter as desired into the divots created in the chocolate, and top with the rest of the melted dark chocolate.
You can also add chopped nuts, dried fruit, unsweetened coconut flakes, or anything else that you think would go well in a homemade Reese’s cup.
9. Watermelon Sherbet
Sherbet is similar to nice cream, but instead of being a sorbet, it has dairy in it.
To make watermelon sherbet, take six to seven cups of frozen cubed watermelon and combine in a food processor with one 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and a third cup of lime juice. Once it’s fully combined and smooth, either serve immediately or transfer to another container to allow it to firm up in the freezer for a few hours.
10. Tofu Chocolate Pudding
If you aren’t well-versed in tofu, it might sound odd to use tofu as a dessert. However, there are many traditional Asian desserts that utilize tofu. Tofu chocolate pudding is a dairy free dessert option, making it suitable for those with lactose intolerance or dairy allergies. While tofu chocolate pudding might not be very traditional, it’s still a great choice for a diabetic dessert.
All you have to do is blend 16 ounces of silken tofu with one cup of melted dark chocolate and three tablespoons of cocoa powder. Add a quarter cup of maple syrup if desired or to thin out the mixture. Then, all you have to do is let it chill and serve. For portion control and presentation, serve the pudding in a small bowl. Top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings for extra flavor and visual appeal.
Another surprisingly delicious dessert that can satisfy sweet cravings is avocado chocolate mousse. Simply blend avocado with cocoa powder and a sweetener of your choice to create a creamy, satisfying treat.
Enjoy Delicious Dessert Even With Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes can feel like it changes everything about how you eat, but it doesn’t have to take away the simple joy of eating dessert. You can enjoy desserts in moderation while managing gestational diabetes, especially when you use a balanced and personalized approach. Intuitive eating can help you listen to your body’s cues and make mindful dessert choices, supporting blood sugar control without feeling deprived. Managing gestational diabetes is unique for everyone, so it’s important to find what works best for you. A gestational diabetes dietitian can help you create a dessert plan that fits your needs and preferences. If you’d like help building a plan that fits your lifestyle, your health goals, and your sweet tooth, sign up to talk with a registered dietitian at no cost to you. Together, we can create a plan that makes eating well feel easy again.
Frequently Asked Questions About Gestational Diabetes Desserts
What are Good Ingredients to Use in Dessert Recipes for Gestational Diabetes?
Focus on ingredients like Greek yogurt, nuts, seeds, almond flour, oats, unsweetened cocoa powder, and fresh or frozen fruit. Including whole grains and complex carbohydrates, such as whole wheat flour or quinoa, can help regulate blood sugar by providing a slower release of glucose and supporting blood sugar stability. Adding ingredients that provide extra protein, like nuts and seeds, also helps balance desserts by offering healthy fats, fiber, and protein, which are beneficial for managing blood glucose levels. These are commonly used ingredients among diabetic recipes that are known to give you the flavor you’re craving while helping keep your blood glucose levels balanced.
Can Sugar From Fruit Cause Blood Sugar Spikes?
In some cases, yes. It depends on how much sugar is in the fruit. The sugar from most fruits, especially fresh berries, is evened out by the natural fiber also contained in the fruit. However, some fruits, like very ripe bananas, are high in natural sugars that can potentially cause a blood sugar spike if not eaten with additional foods that will help balance it out.
What is the Best Type of Chocolate to Eat?
It’s recommended to eat dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa. The higher ratio of cocoa means less added sugar and more antioxidants that can help improve your health. Of course, even if you’re eating extremely dark chocolate, you should still do so in moderation.
