Women s Health| Pregnancy Diet| Foods to be Avoided during Pregnancy

FOODS DURING PREGNANCY

All of us know that eating healthy is very important for staying fit and fine but now when you are pregnant; there is great need of taking healthy food. You should also have no Vitamin or mineral deficiencies prior to pregnancy. When pregnant, you need to always think about the two of you and this applies most clearly to nutrition. For your own use, only about 100 calories per day would be needed but for the growing foetus, much more nutrition is needed. They need to choose those food groups that are rich in nutrition. An optimum balance between the important nutrients – carbohydrates, protein and fats is important for providing enough nutrition during pregnancy to the foetus and the mother.

Here are some of the foods that you must eat to maintain pregnancy health:

Avocados

Loaded with folic acid (vital to forming your baby’s brain and nervous system), potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin B6 (which not only helps baby’s tissue and brain growth, but may also help with your morning sickness), avocados are a delicious way to get your vitamins.

Beans

Add black beans, white beans, pinto beans, lentils, black-eyed peas, and kidney, garbanzo, or soy beans to your diet. Try them in chili and soups, salads, and pasta dishes. Besides providing protein and fiber, they are also good sources of key nutrients, such as iron, folate, calcium, and zinc.

Berries

Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are delicious snacks and taste great in pancakes and on top of cereal. Berries are packed with vitamin C, potassium, folate, and fiber.

Broccoli

It is packed with plenty of vitamins A and C, with a calcium bonus (better to build those baby bones with), as well as baby-friendly folic acid.

Eggs

Eggs are versatile and a good source of protein that provides amino acids you and your baby need. They contain more than a dozen vitamins and minerals, including choline, which is good for baby’s brain development. Science now lets us scramble, fry, or boil better eggs, naturally loaded with DHA, one type of omega-3 fatty acid (the “good fat”) that is a primary component of the brain and retina.

Fluids

Drink lots of fluids, especially water and fresh fruit juices. Make sure you drink clean boiled or filtered water. Carry your own water when out of the house, or buy bottled water from a reputed brand. Most diseases are caused by waterborne viruses. Go easy on packaged juices as they have very high sugar content.

Fruits

Fruits are best friends of a pregnant mother and her baby. Fruits contain more vitamins and these are also packed with minerals like potassium, is especially versatile. You can blend it into smoothies or soups, chop it up in salsas or relishes, simply scoop and enjoy.

Nuts

Nuts are chock-full of important minerals (copper, manganese, magnesium, selenium, zinc, potassium, and even calcium) and vitamin E. And even though they’re high in fat, it’s mainly the good-for-you kind — especially baby- brain-boosting DHA, which is found in walnuts.

Spinach

Rich in folic acid, iron (which you need for all those blood cells, Baby!), vitamin A, and calcium, spinach now comes completely ready to eat in prewashed bags (free of sand). Eat it raw, in a salad (especially one with almonds and mandarin oranges), or as a wilted bed for fish or chicken, or layered in lasagna.

Whole grains

Enriched, whole-grain breads and cereals are fortified with folic acid and iron and have more fiber than white bread and rice. Work whole grains into your day: oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich on whole-grain bread at lunch, and whole-wheat pasta or brown rice for dinner. These are good sources of protein if you do not eat meat. Vegetarians need about 45 grams of nuts and 2/3 of a cup of legumes for protein each day.

Yogurt

One cup of plain, low-fat yogurt has more calcium than milk, is high in protein, and doesn’t have the added sugar of flavored yogurts. Dress it up with fruit or crunchy, whole-grain cereal. The active cultures in yogurt (also known as good bacteria) can prevent stomach upset, as well as yeast infections.

Conclusion

It is very important that expecting mothers should change their personal habits like smoking, alcohol, caffeine, using certain medications and street drugs as soon as they know they are pregnant or even when they are planning to conceive. All these can affect the development of the organs like brain, which happen in early stages of pregnancy. They can cause irreparable damage to the growing foetus. The expecting mothers should be very calm and peaceful, also focused on what they should do for a healthy pregnancy. Regulation and attention to the diet should begin before pregnancy. It is essential that you be at an optimal weight – neither under nor over weight – before you become pregnant. One of the most important determinants of the baby’s health and development is the mother’s diet. So eat healthy and have a healthy pregnancy!


Source: Allegiance