What To Eat When Pregnant
What to eat when pregnant is important to ensure that you are keeping yourself healthy and you are providing the vital vitamins, minarets and nutrients needed for a healthy baby. Healthy eating when pregnant can help you to keep well during pregnancy. Foods are where you will get all the vitamins and nutrients you need for you and your unborn baby. Following a well-balanced, low-fat, high-fiber diet is important for the healthy development of your baby as well as essential for your heath during pregnancy.
What to eat when pregnant – What foods to eat when you are pregnant?
What to eat during pregnancy is important to know. Start watching what you eat when you are pregnant so you know that you are eating the proper diet which is providing you proper nutrition during pregnancy. You should always try to eat healthy diets for pregnant women. Remember if your diet is balanced and not leaden with sugar or fat, you don’t need to change the way you eat.
The USDA Food Guide Pyramid is your excellent source on general guidelines for proportions of servings you should eat in each group when you are pregnant. The USDA Food Guide Pyramid includes the following food groups:
Vegetable Group (choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried)
- Carrots
- Sweet potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Spinach
- Cooked greens (such as kale, collards, turnip greens, and beet greens)
- Winter squash
- Tomatoes and tomato sauces
- Red sweet peppers
These vegetables all have both vitamin A and potassium. When choosing canned vegetables, look for “low-sodium” or “no-salt-added” on the label.
Green leafy vegetables are also good foods to eat while pregnant. They are also packed with vitamins, minerals and nutrients. You can also add beans, peas, asparagus and other green vegetables to this food group
Fruit Group (choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried)
- Cantaloupe
- Honeydew melon
- Mangoes
- Prunes
- Bananas
- Apricots
- Oranges
- Red or pink grapefruit
- 100% prune juice or orange juice
These fruits all provide potassium, and many also provide vitamin A. When choosing canned fruit, look for those canned in 100% fruit juice or water instead of syrup.
Fresh fruits are a good choice of foods to eat when pregnant. Load up on fresh fruits. Fresh fruits have important vitamins, minerals and fibre, which helps digestion and prevents constipation.Bananas, melons, berries and oranges are good choices of fresh fruits.
Dairy Group
- Fat-free or low-fat yogurt
- Fat-free milk (skim milk)
- Low-fat milk (1% milk)
- Calcium-fortified soymilk (soy beverage)
These all provide the calcium and potassium you need. Make sure that your choices are fortified with vitamins A and D.
Dairy foods should be taken in your pregnancy diet plan. Milk, cheese and yogurt are just a few of good dairy foods. These foods are packed with calcium and help the growth of strong bones and teeth of your unborn baby. Calcium is also good for an expectant mother. Eat two or three parts a day, using low-fat varieties whenever you can – for example, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt and half-fat hard cheese.
Grain Group
- Fortified ready-to-eat cereals
- Fortified cooked cereals
When buying ready-to-eat and cooked cereals, choose those made from whole grains most often. Look for cereals that are fortified with iron and folic acid.
Protein Foods Group
- Beans and peas (such as pinto beans, soybeans, white beans, lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas) Nuts and seeds (such as sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter)
- Lean beef, lamb, and pork
- Oysters, mussels, crab
- Salmon, trout, herring, sardines, and Pollock
Lean red meat, chicken and turkey are important to eat while you are pregnant. These meats have iron that you and your baby needs.
Even with careful pregnancy diet plan, you might not get all the vital vitamins, minerals and nutrients you will need for you and your developing baby. You also need to eat foods that have folic acid. Folic acid will help prevent birth defects. Folic acid will also help your baby to have a good weight when the baby is born. Some of the foods that have folic acid in it are Spinach, asparagus and oranges and are good healthy pregnancy diet foods.
These are the foods that are good to eat while pregnant. You want to make sure to eat these foods each day. Each type of food has all the different vitamins, minerals and nutrients that you need to have during your pregnancy. You don’t have to only worry about the health and development of your unborn baby, but you should also want to make sure you keep yourself healthy. Eating healthy is not only good for you, but also good for your baby. You need to have a healthy pregnancy diet in your pregnancy life for the health and growth of your baby.
What to eat when pregnant – What food not to eat when pregnant
Thou what to eat when pregnant is important, but what foods not to eat when pregnant is also important. There are certain foods to avoid during pregnancy.
Rare, raw or undercooked meat:
One of these foods is uncooked seafood. You also want to avoid any meats that are rare, raw or undercooked. Beef or chicken are foods that are very unsafe rare or raw and can also contain bacteria that can be deadly for you and your unborn baby.
Deli meats:
You also need to stay away from any deli meats that you see at your local grocery. Deli meats can contain listeria and can cause pregnancy miscarriages. It also can cause blood poisoning. You also need to stay away from foods that have raw eggs in them such as Caesar salad dressing.
Liver or Liver products:
Liver or liver products such liver sausage, contains extremely high amounts of Vitamin A. Liver consumed in early pregnancy can harm your baby and may lead to birth defects.
Certain types of fish
What fish can you eat when pregnant? Is a common question pregnant woman asks. Don’t eat shark, marlin and swordfish. Can I eat tuna when pregnant? Is also often ask question by pregnant women. You can eat tuna but limit the amount of tuna you eat to no more than two tuna steaks a week. These types of fish contain high levels of mercury, which can damage your baby’s developing nervous system. Don’t eat more than two portions of oily fish per week. Oily fish includes fresh tuna (but not canned tuna), salmon, mackerel, sardines and trout. So take care while eating seafood when pregnant.
Unpasteurized Cheeses:
Cheeses that are soft you should avoid while you are pregnant. Cheeses such as feta, brie and Mexican style cheeses are soft so avoid these during your pregnancy. Any cheeses that are not pasteurized should be avoided. The soft cheeses can contain bacteria which could possibly cause pregnancy complications like premature labor or pregnancy miscarriage.
These are foods you should not eat while you are pregnant and what to eat when pregnant. Try to stay away from the foods that you shouldn’t eat. It can be very harmful for your baby and the growth of your baby. There are many other choices of foods that you can choose from that is healthy and safe for you and your baby .For more information on what to eat when pregnant, then take a few minutes and read our interesting article on pregnancy diet plan, healthy pregnancy diet, nutrition in pregnancy and pregnancy diabetes diet.