Tips for A Healthy Pregnancy Nutrition

* Talk to your health care provider about how much weight you should gain during your pregnancy.
* Eat foods rich in folate, iron, calcium, and protein, or get these nutrients through a prenatal supplement.
* Talk to your health care provider before taking any supplements.
* Eat breakfast every day.
* Eat high-fiber foods and drink plenty of water to avoid constipation.
* Avoid alcohol, raw fish, fish high in mercury, soft cheeses, and anything that is not food.
* Aim to do at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. Talk to your health care provider before you begin.
* After you deliver your baby, continue eating well. Return to a healthy weight gradually.
* Slowly get back to your routine of regular, moderate physical activity.
* Take pleasure in the miracles of pregnancy and birth.

What is a healthy eating plan for pregnancy?

A healthy eating plan contains a wide variety of foods from the five basic food groups.* Every day, you should try to eat:

* 6 or more servings of bread, cereal, rice, or pasta.
o One serving equals one slice of bread, 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal (about 1 cup of most cereals), or 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta.
o If you are physically active, you can eat more servings (up to 11 servings if you are very active).
* 3 to 5 servings of vegetables.
o One serving equals 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables such as spinach or lettuce, or 1/2 cup of chopped vegetables, cooked or raw.
* 2 to 4 servings of fruit.
o One serving equals one medium piece of fruit like an apple, banana, or orange; 1/2 cup of chopped fresh, cooked, or canned fruit; 1/4 cup dried fruit; or 3/4 cup of 100-percent fruit juice.
* 2 servings of milk, yogurt, or cheese
o One serving equals 1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese like cheddar or mozzarella, or 2 ounces of processed cheese like American.
o If you are 18 years or younger and pregnant, you need at least 3 servings of milk, yogurt, and cheese.
o Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products most often.
* 2 to 3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, or nuts.
o One serving equals 2 to 3 ounces of cooked meat, poultry, or fish-about the size of a deck of cards. Choose lean cuts and eat no more than 5 to 7 ounces of meat, poultry, or fish a day. One cup of cooked beans such as kidney beans or 2 eggs count as a serving.
o Four tablespoons of peanut butter or 2/3 cup of nuts also equals a serving.
* At least 8 glasses of water.
o Drinking milk, 100-percent juice, seltzer or other non-alcoholic beverages counts toward your amount of daily water.

* Adapted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Department of Health and Human Services Food Guide Pyramid.

It is not wise to drink water only to quench your thirst, but it should become your habit to drink water at frequent intervals throughout the day.

Your food contributes about 20% to your total water intake and apart from that, it is advisable to consume about 8 ounce glasses of water every day.

Your water intake also depends on the place where you are living and the climatic conditions over there. In hot humid weather, there arises a need to consume extra quantities of water, because there is a major loss of water through sweating that puts you at a risk of getting dehydrated. In cold season or at higher altitudes, you tend to urine more often, thus leading to a greater amount of fluid loss in the body.

Health conditions also determine your water intake. In case you are suffering from health problems like fever, vomiting and diarrhea, then it leads to excessive body fluid loss. Pregnant women also need to drink more water, as they are at a higher risk of getting dehydrated. So, drink loads of water throughout the day to keep fit and healthy.

Foods Not To Eat During Pregnancy

* Alcohol: Consumption of alcoholic beverages causes host of health problems in the baby, including low body weight, learning disabilities, visual problems, deformed organs and other abnormalities.

* Caffeine: Caffeine consumption can put the pregnant woman to the risk of miscarriage and premature birth. Hence, even beverages containing caffeine, like coffee, should be strictly avoided during the period.

* Raw Eggs: Raw eggs should not be eaten during pregnancy, because they contain Salmonella, a bacteria that causes food borne illness. Stay away from the dishes that contain raw eggs as well, including ceasar salad dressing, cookie batter and eggnog.

* Fish with Mercury: Consumption of mercury is related to the delay in the development of the brain of the baby. Therefore, fish with high levels of mercury, such as Tilefish, Shark, Swordfish and King Mackerel should be strictly avoided during pregnancy.

* Smoked Seafood: Smoked seafood available in the general stores may be contaminated with Listeria, a harmful bacteria. Therefore, smoked seafood, especially the refrigerated one, is a strict no-no for pregnant women.

* Fish Exposed to Industrial Pollutants: Do not eat fish from lakes and rivers, such as bluefish, striped bass, salmon, pike, trout and walleye, because they may be exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, a class of organic compounds that are harmful for health.

* Raw Shellfish: Uncooked shellfish is the source of a number of seafood-borne diseases. Hence, pregnant women should avoid raw shellfish.

* Soft Cheese: Soft cheese such as Feta, Gorgonzola, Queso Blanco, Queso Fresco, Brie and Camembert, contain Listeria, which may infect the baby. It may also lead to blood poisoning.

* Unwashed Vegetables: Vegetables should be thoroughly washed before consumption, because they may have been exposed to a parasitic disease ‘toxoplasmosis’, which might have affected the soil where the vegetables were grown.

* Unpasteurized Milk: Ensure that the milk you consume during pregnancy is pasteurized, because unpasteurized milk may contain a bacteria called Listeria, which may lead to miscarriage.

Janet Pope, PhD, an associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston believes that just as women have cravings during menstruation which are powered by hormones, the same thing can happen during pregnancy.

While these are all theories as of now, it is a common observation that the taste preferences of pregnant women change during this phase. Here are some scientific offerings from Valerie Duffy, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Allied Health at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, showing that women:

- Liked sour tastes more in the second and third trimesters than in the first trimester or before pregnancy. Like a preference for sweet tastes, a sour preference helps women get a more varied diet later in pregnancy so they can get enough calories, says Dr. Duffy. A yen for sour foods also seems to explain the classic pickle craving. And since fruit is typically a combination of sweet and sour tastes, it also explains why fruit is the most common pregnancy craving.

- Showed an increased preference for salty tastes — which would include foods like potato chips and pickles (again!) — as their pregnancy went along. During pregnancy, a woman’s blood volume increases, so this taste change may be tied to her greater need for sodium.

- Had an intensified perception of bitterness during the first trimester. Scientists suspect that being able to isolate bitter tastes during pregnancy is an evolutionary protection, because many toxic plants and fruits taste bitter. This taste change helps warn pregnant women against consuming poisons, such as alcohol, during critical phases of fetal development, agrees Dr. Duffy. Interestingly, the aversion to bitter tastes typically lessens by the third trimester, when the crucial phases of fetal development have ended.

There are the obvious choices to make such as alcohol and excessive caffeine. Alcohol has been linked in the past with birth defects. Excessive caffeine on the other hand can lead to miscarriages.

Other food which you should be careful are raw or mildly cooked food. Unpasteurized food such as soft cheese and certain milk and juices should be avoided as well as there is no guarantee that is not contaminated. Pasteurization is a process wherein germs are terminated. Salmonella is likely to be present in raw seafood so try to cut back on these as well.

The rule of thumb is to thoroughly clean all types of food which you will encounter. You don’t know the types of pesticides and bacteria which may be present in the foods you will encounter.

What makes this study interesting is that even pre-natal vitamin D supplements which are a key part of pregnancy nutrition have been found not to work against this deficiency.

Here are the findings according to Reuters Health:

“Anne Merewood, Director of the Breastfeeding Center at Boston Medical Center, and her associates measured vitamin D levels in 433 women and 376 newborns using blood samples obtained within 72 hours of birth. They also collected data from questionnaires completed by the mothers and from the mothers’ medical records.

The results showed that vitamin D deficiency was present in 36 percent of mothers and 58 percent of the babies. The deficiency was classified as severe in roughly two-thirds of the cases.

Among women who took the vitamin D prenatally five or more times a week during the third trimester, more than 30 percent were still deficient at the time they gave birth.

Women who were vitamin D deficient at the time they gave birth were more than five times as likely to have an infant with vitamin D deficiency as women who were not vitamin D deficient.

Other risk factors for vitamin D deficiency in infants included winter birth versus summer birth, African American race, and severe maternal obesity.”

- Fruits and vegetables (of course). Focus on dark green and yellow vegetables because they are good sources of beta carotene and vitamin A. As for fruits, vitamin C and fibers are the most important resources your child can get from them.

Here is a rundown of fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin A and beta-carotene: carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, butternut, broccoli, yellow peaches, paw-paw, and mangoes Vitamin C: oranges, grapefruit, naartjies, lemons, guavas, strawberries, kiwi fruit, paw-paw, mangoes, the cabbage family, sweet green peppers.

- Cereals and grains are also crucial in order to supplement the dietary fiber needs of your child. Choose from breakfast cereals, brown or wholewheat bread and rolls, maize meal or oats porridge, brown rice and pasta.

- Milk and diary products for large doses of calcium, protein and riboflavin. Examples are whole or low-fat or skimmed milk, yoghurt, cottage cheese, other cheeses and maas (South African sour milk beverage) - use the low-fat varieties if you are scared of gaining weight

- Although fats and oils are normally a no-no, when consumed sparingly, they can provide energy and essential fatty acids. The best option would be olive oil.

You don’t have to be obsessive-compulsive with the food you eat and chart everything in a notebook like a bulemic. But you have to be aware of what you eat. You can’t just keep on eating junk foods. A great starting point for diet modifications is referring to the food pyramid. This will be a good way to check your nutrition balance.

Variety is important though. One of the complaints with a duly-monitored diet is how eating food can become boring eventually. By mixing up the serving of various dishes, it helps preventing diet boredom.

Do not forget to always be hydrated. That part in your pregnant belly called water bag is called as such for a reason. But more seriously, if you are more particular with satisfying your hydration requirements then you can have an easier time when delivering your baby. Isn’t that an attractive incentive?

Protein. This nutrient is very important in the development of humans because they are thew building blocks of each and every cell. Naturall in the development of your baby in your womb, you should increase your consumption of food rich in protein. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 25 grams more than you need in a day. Usually that number is in the range of 70 grams.

The equivalent of 70 grams of protein can be three servings of eight ounces of milk or about seven ounces of cooked meat.

Iron. Once you are pregnany, you will need 50% of your normal iron requirement. This nutrient is important for the creation of hemoglobin in your baby. Hemoglobin is a special type of protein which carries oxygen in red blood cells. Your need for hemoglobin will shoot up once the pregnancy reaches its second and third trimesters.

Lack of iron may result in anemia which will be very detrimental to the development of the baby and the safety of the mom. It can cause low birth weights and a congenital iron deficiency in babies.

Calcium. If protein is for the muscles, then calcium has always been about the bones. Calcium is the primary component in bone mass density and a lack of it can lead to osteoporosis not only for the child but also for the mother.

1. Load Up on Grains
Carbohydrates (and not the one typically brandished by junk foods) are essential because they give you more energy and heat to burn. The best sources of carbs remain in whole-grain products such as brown rice and oatmeal.

2. Iron and Folic Acid are Essential
It cannot be emphasized enough the value of having the sufficient amount of folic acid and iron in your body system. These are important because they help produce additional blood levels which is crucial for your pregnancy. Folic and iron are available in whole grains, leafy greens, citrus fruits and dried fruits.

3. Don’t Forget Your Fruits and Vegetables
Our own parents have been conditioning as to eat fruits and vegetables when we were young. Now never is this more important than for pregnant mothers to adopt in their own diet regimen. The wide array of vitamins and nutrients in multivitamin capsules can be easily supplied by these trusted healthy food. But be sure to be vigilant against pesticide-infested crops.

4. Moderate Dairy Product Intake
Dairy products, all hailing from milk, are a good source of protein and calcium. These are crucial in bone development, not only of the baby but also for you. Be biased towards low or non-fat varieties of these dairy products.

5. Never Take Water for Granted.
As simple as water is, it is one of the most important elements in your pregnancy because it helps in carrying nutrients and building new tissue. And of course, you have to stay hydrated all the time so as to keep you healthy. The recommended eight glasses of water never gets old.

Compensate for the food intake. Remember that it’s a two-person game now with your child inside you. Thus everything you must do should take into consideration his/her presence. This is especially true for pregnancy nutrition.

This does not mean however that one should eat like no tomorrow. There’s a difference between gluttony and making sure there are more than enough nutrients for the two of you. Tailor your nutrient count to include an uptick in your consumption of iron and calcium.

Another necessary nutrient which your child should have is folic acid. Neural tube defects (including spina bifida) can be avoided by a healthy dose of folic acid in the baby’s system. You can make sure you have enough folic acid by takin a properly prescribed multivitamin.  As for natural sources, look for cereals, breads, rice and pasta.

Multivitams can also help reduce the occurrence of pre-eclampsia which results in elevated blood pressure levels. This can be huge as this conditon can cause premature delivery and even death of the baby.

Just be sure to report the different kinds of diet supplements which you may be taking to your gynecologist. This includes the herbal ones.

Findings of studies are showing what many mothers have long believed to be true: fit mothers are more comfortable during pregnancy, experience shorter second stage labor, and have healthier babies.This was supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in 2002 when they sent out new guidelines for pregnancy exercise. Moderate activity during pregnancy has positive health outcomes for the mother and baby, and has no negative outcomes in a normal pregnancy.

Elizabeth Noble, an expert on women’s health and author of Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year, compares childbirth to throwing a party. She says you underestimate how much work it is to plan and prepare, then the party flies by and there is a lot more work to get the house back in order afterwards. Noble raises concerns that while the hormonal and physical changes of pregnancy happen over 9 months, reversal of changes only happen in a matter of weeks. The post-partum mother needs her strength and stamina back in a short time, and proper exercise can help achieve that.

The physical and hormonal changes happening suring pregnancy create additional challenges for women who desire to increase or maintain fitness. These challenges can be overcome with regular exercise.

During pregnancy, your body must adjust to the many physical changes to carry the load of your body and your baby. As your uterus grows, your center of gravity is changed. In addition, your pelvic floor is under increased stress to support the growing weight of the uterus. This is why moderate and targeted exercise on joints would by highly helpful to loosen the impact of hormones. It can also contribute to better posture.

Your pregnancy fitness routine should address the issue of posture and support for the changing abdomen. Perform exercises which strengthen the abdominal muscles without adding excessive pressure. In addition, include pelvic floor exercises to keep the pelvic floor strong and tone. Moreover, you should complement these exercises with a diet suitable for pregnancy nutrition.

Now, if your diet is still poor and mismanaged, it should be your responsibility to eat the right types of food for child development. Eat nutritious, well-balanced meals and avoid junk foods altogether. Your body becomes more efficient at processing food when you’re expecting a baby and makes even better use of the energy you obtain from the food you eat. The average woman does not need any extra calories for the first six months of pregnancy. But this increases during the last three months where an extra 200 calories per day are very essential.

Determining where to get this additional yet healthy 200 calories. An example diet can be had using two slices of wholemeal toast and margarine/butter, a jacket potato with an ounce of cheese and one slice of cheese on toast.

Your own appetite is the best indication of how much food you need to eat. You may find your appetite fluctuates during the course of your pregnancy. In the first few weeks your appetite may fall away dramatically and you may not feel like eating proper meals, especially if you suffer from nausea or sickness. Towards the end of your pregnancy, appetite will likely increase but if you suffer from heartburn or a full feeling after eating you may find it helpful to have small frequent meals.

The best rule to remember is to eat when you are hungry. Don’t worry about your changing appetite as long as you are following the advice given about the type of food you need to eat. Also, never forget to do a regular visit with the gynecologist.

Ask any pregnant woman who is in her first or third trimester how they are feeling and the answer will almost always be “tired”.  One of the first clues that many women have that they may be expecting a visit from the stork is the fact that they find themselves droopy eyed in the middle of the day for no reason.

You may find that doing a simply task as walking around the block leaves your desperate for an afternoon nap. The energy you use to have is now faced with the challenge of growing a baby and your body is hard at work. You are also producing more blood, using more water and nutrients and have a higher heart rate and metabolism when you are pregnant. While the best defensive against the tiredness you will face is to get more sleep. There are also some healthy foods choices you can make that will help you get through your day if you do not have the opportunities to take naps.

First, adjust the size of your meals.  Anyone who eats a large meal is going to feel tired afterwards regardless of if they are pregnant or not.  Being pregnant is going to make the effect of a big meal that much worse.   Most of your energy is going to be used towards digesting the meal so of course you will feel sluggish and drained.  Eat smaller meals and eat more often.  Eating six small meals a day will help you combat fatigue.

Eating a good breakfast is the best way to start your day.  You are refueling your body after a long foodless night with a good breakfast.  A good breakfast is not a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. You want to stick to complex carbs and protein.  Whole grain cereal and a banana for example.  These foods will stay with you and keep your blood sugar and energy level up for quiet a while.

Do not skip lunch.  There are many people who skip lunch thinking they will make up for it by having a big dinner.  This is bad when you are not pregnant but it’s even worse when you are pregnant. You need that midday meal to help refuel your body.  As with your breakfast, you should keep it filled with whole grains and protein.  Have a whole grain pita and stuff it with chicken salad and add a side of grapes or an apple.

Plan to eat most of your calories during the day. A pregnant woman needs an extra 300 calories a day throughout their second and third trimester.  The first trimester those are not needed yet. You should eat these extra calories through out the day in the form of healthy snacks such as nuts, cheese, veggies and dip.  Do not save your biggest meal until the end of the day.  Your body needs these calories to help you get through your day.  Steer clear of the quick sugar fixes like candy and soda.  In the end these will only make you more tired.

Lastly, make sure you are getting enough iron. Eat iron fortified food such as spinach and lean red meat to keep your energy up.  There are times when extreme fatigue could be the symptom of an iron deficiency and you might need an iron supplement also.

Besides eating well, make sure you get plenty of rest even if this means pushing your bedtime up and giving up those late night TV talk shows.  As any parents of newborns will tell you, get your rest while you still can.

In your third trimester, your baby was old enough to start getting a taste of the foods his or her mommy likes.   Now that your baby is here and you’re breast feeding, your baby will get an even better taste of your favorite food.

Typically if you are nursing your baby you should produce anywhere from 23 to 27 ounces of milk a day. In order to do this, you need to increase your calorie intake by about 500 more a day.

You also have to increase your water consumption to at least 2 1/2 to 3 quarts of water a day.  You may notice that you are thirstier during nursing session.  This is because the water you drink goes right to milk production.    Try not to drink more than 3 quarts of water a day.  Anything more than 3 quarts can reduce the amount of milk your body produces.

As stated earlier, you need to up your calorie intake. Plan to take in about 2500 calories a day or more if you are planning to nurse for longer than three months. These extra calories should not come from junk food. Junk food and sweets are just empty calories and offer no nutritional value to you or your baby. Eat more protein.  A good rule of thumb is to eat 1 gram of protein each day for every pound you weigh. If you weigh 150, aim to eat 150grams of protein a day.

If you were not doing so during pregnancy, adopt the six meals a day program. Eat breakfast, a midday snack, lunch, a mid afternoon snack, dinner and a night time snack. Your body is going to be making milk continually so it is a good idea to keep it charged with calories through out the day.

There are some foods you might want to avoid during pregnancy. Pretty much everything passes through breast milk and to the baby. This is why the first thing pediatricians advise nursing moms to do when their baby has colic is to look at what they are eating. Chocolate has been blamed in many cases of colic and can cause an upset tummy for most babies.  f you have a baby with a tummy ache think back to see if you had a candy bar or even a cookie in the hours before you nursed. The best advice is to stay away from chocolate while you are nursing.

Stay away from greasy and spicy foods while you are breastfeeding. Greasy foods sometimes upset adults stomachs, imagine what it  would do to your baby’s immature stomach?  Wait until your baby is older and no longer nursing before you start making trips back to McDonalds.

You may also want to stay away from garlic and onions while you are breast feeding. Both of these can flavor the breast milk and you may find that your little one  will not nurse if you have eaten these. Your little one may be just a tad too young to appreciate the taste of garlic and onions anyway. Remember it takes a few hours for the food you eat to make its way into your breast milk. You may have eaten one of these foods right before you nurse and see your baby is fine but by either the following nursing session or the one after you might find your baby having a reaction then.

Your breast milk does not only taste like what you eat, but also what you drink. Just as with pregnancy, you should stay away from a lot of caffeine while breastfeeding. You might need some coffee or caffeine filled soda to keep you functioning and a cup or two will not hurt you or your baby, but too much could have disastrous effects. Just as we experience the jitters and shakes from too much caffeine, your baby does also. Keep your caffeine down to a minimum.

You have made an excellent choice breastfeeding your baby.  Keep it up by making good choices as to what you eat.

One of the first things most of us women prepare to say goodbye to once we see those two pink lines on our pregnancy tests is caffeine. Many women will stop their caffeine habit cold turkey out of the sheer fear of doing some sort of damage to the new life growing inside of them. These women will swear off anything that has caffeine in it from coffee, and soda to even chocolate.  Then there are some of us who will still drink caffeine but cut back.  Instead of drinking five cups of coffee a day, we might cut back to at least one cup of coffee to get us through the day.

Our mothers and grandmothers will probably tell us that they drank the same amount of caffeine pregnant as they did when they were not pregnant and their children turned out fine.  However a lot more research has been done since their time and studies are showing that too much caffeine can cause some complications such as preterm labor and/or low birth weight.

So how much caffeine is too much caffeine? Doctors are telling their patients that a moderate amount of caffeine will not harm their babies.  Even though caffeine does cross the placenta, anything less than 300 milligrams a day (an 8 ounce cup of strong coffee) will not do any harm.  Anything over 300 milligrams puts your baby at risk and studies have also shown that women who drink more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day during their first trimester have a slightly higher risk of a miscarriage.

Studies have also shown that women who had over 500 milligrams of caffeine a day had babies who had faster heart rates and faster breathing rates.  These babies also spent more time awake in their first few days of life rather than peacefully sleeping after their long journey.

There are a number of other reasons why we women might want to cut back on the amount of caffeine we drink during pregnancy.  For starters, it has no nutritional value.  If there is ever a time for us to be aware of our nutritional needs it is when we are pregnant.  Second, caffeine is a stimulant which will increase your heart rate and can cause insomnia and headaches which can put some stress on your growing little one.  Third,  caffeine can cause heartburn.  If you have been pregnant before you know that heartburn can be a burden to begin with,  and caffeine just makes it worse.  Lastly it is a diuretic which means it can cause you to lose fluids which can put you at a risk of becoming dehydrated.

While it is not necessary for you to give up all caffeine through out the duration of your pregnancy, you should learn how to drink it in moderation or don’t drink it at all.  If you can not handle having only one cup of coffee a day,  then you might be better off drinking no coffee at all.  Stick with caffeine free sodas and even decaf coffee.  Remember though that decaf  coffee still contains small traces of caffeine so make sure you take that into consideration.