Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that only occurs during a woman's pregnancy. Just like all other types of diabetes, it deals with the body's inability to use sugar properly, which is your body's energy to perform day to day activities. The only positive of gestational diabetes is that generally after the pregnancy is over, the diabetes goes away.

There is a couple of reasons why some women receive gestational diabetes, while others do not.

During pregnancy, the woman's placenta is responsible for producing hormones to help with the hormones during the pregnancy. The hormones work to ensure your cells are more apt to take in insulin. As the placenta grows larger in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, it lets out more hormones, which makes it much harder for the pancreas to do its job.

Normally, your pancreas responds by producing enough extra insulin to overcome this resistance. But sometimes your pancreas can't keep up. When this occurs, not enough glucose gets into the cells and way too much stays in your blood. This is gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes usually develops during the second trimester - sometimes as early as the 20th week, but often not until later in the pregnancy.

Below is a list of the top symptoms for women that may have gestational diabetes:

• Many women experience no symptoms at all
• Thirst
• Hunger
• Urination increase
• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Bladder infection
• Vaginal infection

The symptoms above should be used as a resource to diagnose yourself with diabetes, it should simply be a resource to pre-diagnose yourself. The only way to truly know if you have diabetes or not is to visit the doctor and be tested. If you have any slight assumption in your mind that you may have diabetes, then visit the doctor immediately.

In order to prevent gestational diabetes you should:

Eat healthier foods - It's really key to have a healthy diet. Choose foods that are low in fat content and be sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in your day to day diet.

Lose weight - Weight loss during pregnancy is not usually recommended, but if you're planning ahead, losing weight may help you to have a much more healthy and successful pregnancy. Be sure to work on permanent changes to your exercise and nutritional habits. You can motivate yourself by thinking about the benefits of losing weight, such as a better heart, increased energy and better self-esteem.

Be more physical - Physical activity has so many benefits that you should be working on it every day of your life. Before pregnancy, be sure to get plenty of physical activity in. Aerobic exercise is known to have amazing benefits for your overall cardiovascular health and heart. Once you are in the middle of your pregnancy, talk with your doctor to determine what type of physical activity you are allowed to participate in.

Gestational diabetes is becoming more and more common in pregnancies by the day. Live a healthy lifestyle and you should be able to prevent or significantly reduce the effects of gestational diabetes.