What to eat before and during pregnancy?

Planning to get pregnant or already pregnant? This is a crucial time to not only pay attention to your health but also of the developing baby. Hopefully you are at an optimal healthy weight before becoming pregnant since dieting is not good during pregnancy. Eating healthy pre-pregnancy is very important to avoid birth defects. The nutrition guidelines below should be followed by all women of child bearing age.

As always have a conversation with your gynecologist if you are taking insulin to manage your diabetes or any other medications. If there are known pre-existing genetic conditions in your family, do consult a genetic counselor.

Vitamin B – body does not store it so need to eat folate rich foods daily

Folic Acid (synthetic form) – Fortified foods and supplements. Really critical to have this during early stages of pregnancy when the baby’s neural tube is forming. 

Lack of Folic Acid when neural tube is forming is the biggest known cause of neural tube defects like Spinabifida, Anencephaly, and Encephalocele.

With today’s technology, birth defects involving the spine or brain can be detected early-on and treatment including surgery performed even before the child birth!

Folate (natural; helps make red blood cells hence prevents anemia) – Green leafy vegetables, Avocado, Cereals, beans, lentils, meats.

Calcium

Recommended to have 1000 mg/day

Three servings of milk or dairy products (yogurt, cheese (watch the fat though; eat fresh cheese as opposed to aged or cured cheeses), and yes ice-cream also counts towards calcium, so long as you watch the sugar and fat intake.

Iron

Meat sources – beef, pork, lamb, liver and other organ meats, chicken, duck, turkey

Fish and shellfish including sardines, anchovies, clams, mussels and oysters; do watch the mercury content and avoid high mercury fish

Leafy greens like broccoli, kale, turnip greens, collards, mustard…

Beans, both fresh green beans and peas and dry beans like Lima, pinto, black eyed, garbanzo, and kidney beans

Whole-grain breads and cereals that have been iron enriched.

Caffeine

Too much (>200 mg per day) of it reduces fertility and increases chances of miscarriage

There is caffeine in soft drinks, chocolate, coffee, and some medications so read the labels.

Sugar

Watch daily dose of sugar – no need of added sugar. Many women are at risk of developing gestational diabetes and it can be avoided by following simple guidelines and reading nutrition labels.

Even fruit juices that say “no added sugar” have plenty of sugar; how? Each 200 ml (1 cup) of fruit juice requires 5-6 fruits to be juiced and filtered; so you are drinking juice from 6 fruits in one shot without the fiber that you would have got if you were eating the fruits. And you would not eat six fruits at a time anyhow.

Hydrate

Stay hydrated – plenty of fresh water; half of your body weight is essential; so if you are 136 pounds, then you need to drink 68 ounces of water which is like 9 glasses of water per day.

Do not use artificial sweeteners with your water.

A simple way to make the water flavored for those of you who do not like the taste of plain water is to cut a few slices of cucumber, or any other fruits like water melon, orange, lemon etc., and add it to a pitcher of water. You can also flavor it with mint leaves. And drink this water throughout the day. At the end of the day, eat the fruit. Vary the fruits to keep it exciting.

Exercise

Continue to be mobile unless otherwise advised by your doctor. Gentle exercises like walking, stretching, and swimming keep your body flexible and make the child-birth go smoother.

Rest

Yes, plenty of rest and recharge is a must-have. Catch up on your sleep and readings. Stay away from stressful thoughts, tasks and activities. Always have a positive frame of mind.

Here is to new life beginnings!