Its quite obvious that when a woman is pregnant, what to eat and avoid becomes one of the first thing to learn. Most foods and drinks are safe to have during pregnancy, but there are some you should be careful with or avoid. For a healthy pregnancy, you need to ensure that your diet provides enough nutrients and energy for the baby to develop and grow properly. You also need to make sure that your baby is healthy enough to deal with the changes that are occurring.
During pregnancy, eating nutritious foods is essential. There are even more to eat than what to avoid when pregnant. Certain foods and beverages should only be consumed rarely, while others should be avoided completely. So, You’ll have to pay close attention to what you eat and drink to stay healthy.
In this article, we emphasized on foods and beverages to eat, while growing your little one to give them the best start to life; so you won’t stress yourself out wondering, what food to eat during pregnancy? or What nutritious foods to eat?.
When building your healthy diet plan, you’ll need to focus on foods that give you higher amounts of the good stuff you’d need when not pregnant such as, protein, vitamins and minerals, complex carbohydrates, healthy types of fat, fiber and fluids.
Here are super nutritious foods to eat when you are pregnant to help make sure you are hitting those nutrient goals.
Dairy Products
Dairy products are highly recommend during pregnancy, as they are excellent sources of essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients (calcium, protein, zinc, vitamin D, E and phosphorus). Consumption of these nutrients are important for your baby’s developing bones, teeth, muscles, heart, nerves, and for blood clotting. However, it is best to consult a doctor about the recommended amount and types of dairy products to be included in the diet during pregnancy.
Eggs
Eggs are usually a great food to include in people’s diet. It contains amino acid known as choline, and Omega 3 fatty acids, which has been proven to aid brain development, enhance memory and helps prevent developmental abnormalities of the spine. They’re good source of protein and calories, especially boiled eggs. They help prevent neural tube defects in vitro.
Eggs are low in carbohydrates. If you have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes or as pre-diabetic, they can help stabilize your blood sugars. since you’ll want to primarily eat foods with a low glycemic index
However, ensure that you avoid unpasteurised eggs since they contain bacteria which may lead to complications.
Green Leafy Vegetables
Eating green leafy vegetables is important during pregnancy as it helps to protect your baby’s brain from tissue damage. Leafy greens are rich in folic acid. The folic acid in vegetables is also known for reducing the risk of various heart defects, eliminating cleft lip and neural tube defects in babies. During pregnancy, you can also reduce the risk of preeclampsia when you ensure to maintain your intake of foods or supplements rich in folic acid.
Almonds
Almonds form one such food item packed with great nutrients essential for the growth and development of the baby, it also helps in maintaining the body weight of the mother too. The nutritional value in every 100g of raw almonds contain the following nutrients; Protein (21.15g), Carbohydrate (19.74g), Fiber (11.8g), Sugars (4.8g), Calcium (248mg), Iron (4.3mg), Magnesium (270mg), Phosphorus (481mg), Sodium (1mg), Zinc (3.12mg), Thiamin (0.205mg), Niacin (3.618mg), Riboflavin (1.138mg), Vitamin B6 (0.137mg), Folate (44mcg), Vitamin E (25.63mg).
With the above listed nutritional value of almonds, it shows that almonds has a lot of health benefits, it improves metabolism, prevents excessive weight gain, prevents allergies later in life, prevents anemia, help decrease the hunger hormone, ghrelin, and help increase the appetite-reducing hormone, leptin.
Recent studies has shown that consumption of almond helps in increasing the amount of alpha-tocopherol (a compound present in blood that regulates the blood pressure).
Avocados
Consumption of avocado during pregnancy may help keep you and your baby healthy. They may actually help reduce the chances of excessive weight gain because they’re so high in fiber. This fruit is packed full of healthy fats, and have been shown to have a powerful impact on health as it contain twice as much potassium as bananas, and a hearty helping of a recommended daily intake of folate, fiber, vitamin C, B5, B6, K, and E. They also contain a little amount of magnesium, manganese, protein, copper, iron, zinc, phosphorus, vitamin A, B1, B2, and B3. During pregnancy. The large amount of vitamins in avocado is important for the mother’s health and that of her baby development. Iron is very important for the development of a baby. The presence of potassium and calcium help pregnant women who often have problems with cramps in the legs. It has been also proven that potassium positively affects the reduction of blood pressure.
Blueberries
Blueberries are endowed with nutrients that are required during pregnancy. It’s a good antioxidant foods, which help in reducing stress during pregnancy and aids in baby’s cognitive development. Blueberries and its alternative such as strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are high in vitamin C, fiber, potassium, folate and antioxidants too. Being a good source of fibre, it helps in digestion and prevent haemorrhoids and constipation during pregnancy.
The vitamin C present in the fruit helps in strengthening immunity, prevents infection during pregnancy and therefore helps the body to absorb iron which reduces the risk of low birth weight in newborns. Blueberries, during pregnancy helps women to keep weight gain in check.
Beans
Besides been rich in protein and fiber, beans are also good sources of key nutrients, such as iron, folate, calcium, and zinc. Beans are a “must-eat” food for pregnant women, according to the WebMD website. During this period, the body needs iron for transporting oxygen to nerve cells in the baby’s brain. Beans contain adequate amount of iron, which is why pregnant mothers are recommended to increase the intake of this food item in their diets.
During the early stages of pregnancy, B-vitamin is needed for the development of an embryo’s nervous system and the production of red blood cells. Even when a supplement of folic acid (the synthetic form of the vitamin) during pregnancy is prescribe by health providers, it’s virtal to eat a diet rich in natural folate.
