A Healthy Pregnancy Diet For A Healthy Baby

It's the old belief that you should eat twice while pregnant. Pregnancy is certainly not an excuse for you to embrace food. The essence of the saying is that you should eat for two in terms of the amount of nutrients you need to give your child.

Zinc and calcium intake should increase by 50%, and folic acid and iron should be doubled. A healthy pregnancy diet is different from a non-pregnant woman's diet because a pregnant woman is required to increase her intake by 150 calories during the first trimester, and up to 250-300 calories starting daily.

Pregnancy diet plan

Your diet during pregnancy must be well rounded - that is, it should include representative foods from all food groups. Use the USDA food pyramid as your guide in planning your daily diet.

An ideal pregnancy diet should contain 4 or more servings of protein, vegetables, and dairy; 2-4 your favorite fruit dishes; 6-11 meal cereals; and at least 3 servings of protein. Take high fiber foods and are rich in minerals such as iron and zinc.

You can still use salt and sugar but you should use it with caution. Avoid foods rich in preservatives. They won't do you and the baby either. The importance of folic acid, likewise, cannot be overemphasized.

Folate deficiency in the pregnancy diet has been linked to impaired neural tube such as spina bifida. The most critical stage is the first week after conception. Women planning to get pregnant are advised to take 800 micrograms of folate daily.

If you are a vegetarian, have a specific health problem, or have used weight loss pills, your folic acid reserve may be depleted - it may require supplementation. Vegetarians, in particular, should consult with a specialist to review their entire diet.

What to avoid

To stay safe, avoid foods that are known to cause harm to you or your baby from your pregnancy diet. Raw seafood such as sushi, sashimi, oysters, squid, and the like should be avoided. Raw meat should also be avoided, so make sure steak and meats are rarely cooked.

Healthy pregnancy diets also include milk that has not undergone a pasteurization process, as well as soft cheese. You can include fish in the sea like tuna in your pregnancy diet, but these are not edible every day. One important rule is to eat everything in moderation.

Alcohol and caffeine should be avoided from the earliest possible time until several months after giving birth. If you need caffeine correction, then one cup of coffee a day will suffice.

It goes without saying that illicit drugs are a no-no for all pregnant women. There have been hundreds of studies showing how much damage these drugs can cause to both their mother and baby. In many cases, the consumption of this dangerous substance has led to death.

Cravings

Although there is no definitive scientific explanation for the craving, researchers claim that they are a natural way of our bodies to extract the materials our system needs at the time. If those who crave you are good for your pregnancy diet, then that's fine.

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