“We eat so that we may live”. This holds true for both, the expectant mother and the unborn baby. Unless the mother-to-be ensures herself of healthy nutrition, she cannot expect the growing fetus to develop properly to its full size and be delivered without any problems. Also, proper pregnancy nutrition ensures that the baby is born healthy with a correct birth weight.
Of course, a diet has to be adhered to; the pregnant woman cannot eat anything and everything that she wants to! The doctor is always there for guidance. In fact, the help of a qualified dietician can be taken to plan out a proper nutrition chart for the entire length of the pregnancy.
In general, proper pregnancy nutrition should include the following—
(1) Calcium is a very important mineral since it aids in the baby developing strong bones. So the expectant mother needs a daily dose of calcium. According to the US Recommended Daily Allowance for Calcium, the mother-to-be has to ingest 1000 mg of calcium per day. The same holds true even after delivery of the newborn since the mother will breast-feed the baby. Proper pregnancy nutrition demands that the expectant mother drink up to four glasses of milk per day. Some women get a feeling of nausea when trying to drink milk. In such cases, ordinary cheese, cottage cheese or yoghurt can be recommended as a substitute for milk.
(2) For proper pregnancy nutrition, it is vital to have an adequate intake of folic acid and iron. At least 400 mg of folic acid a day has to be consumed by the pregnant woman, if she wants to make sure that her baby is free from problems like spina bifida or even other forms of brain damage. Folic acid can be found in foods like nuts, leafy green vegetables, beans and certain breakfast cereals. Foods rich in iron such as—fish, whole grain breads, lean red meats and chicken or turkey—help in preventing anemia.
Eating habits do undergo a change during pregnancy. While some women experience severe bouts of nausea, some do not even know the meaning of morning sickness! Others develop deep cravings for unusual kinds of foods, which could be anything from pickles to ice cream! What has to be borne in mind is proper pregnancy nutrition and that every type of food eaten creates an impact on the expectant mother’s health as well as on her yet-to-be-born baby’s health.
A few words of warning are to be mentioned here. Proper pregnancy nutrition says “no” to any kind of dieting during this period, especially for those pregnant women who might have been overweight before or had nutritional problems prior to their pregnancies. The doctor’s instructions regarding weight gain or weight loss have to be followed very strictly. As a matter of fact, on an average, the expectant mother puts on 25 to 40 pounds of additional weight during the state of pregnancy.
Finally, to ensure proper pregnancy nutrition for herself and her unborn child, the mother-to-be has to avoid these at all costs—alcohol, sodium in large amounts, caffeine, milk products like eggnog that are not pasteurized and artificial sweeteners.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pregnancy-articles/proper-pregnancy-nutrition-2-tips-on-foods-to-take-and-avoid-753552.html
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