In an Australian study, women with gestational diabetes who ate a low-glycemic-index diet while pregnant were less likely to need insulin for blood glucose control than those on a high-fiber/low-sugar diet. Foods with a low glycemic index, like spaghetti and steel-cut oatmeal, release their glucose slowly, which keeps blood glucose from spiking after a meal. The women on the high-fiber/low-sugar diet were encouraged by their doctors to eat potatoes, whole wheat bread, and certain breakfast cereals. After an average of 32 weeks, only 29 percent of the women on the low-glycemic-index diet required insulin, compared with 59 percent of those on the high-fiber/low-sugar diet.
Source: Diabetes Care, June 2009