Nutrition for a Healthy Mom and Baby

Nutrition for a Healthy Mom and Baby

Being pregnant should be a joyous time, but for many it’s a scary time with preeclampsia, pregnancy induced hypertension, toxemia, and other conditions. While you may not be able to avoid having a problem during your pregnancy, there are some nutritional things you can do to reduce your risk. Let’s have a look at some of those eating strategies.

* You should never be shy about dairy products because as a mother to be you need at least 4 servings or 1000-1300 mg of calcium daily. You also need at least 4000 IU’s of Vitamin D3 per day.

* Iron is very important during pregnancy. You need to get at least 27 mg a day. You can increase your iron by taking an iron supplement. In fact, your doctor may instruct you to do so. The top 10 foods for iron are:

o Artichokes

o Beans, chick peas, lentils and soybeans

o Dark, leafy greens (ie spinach, collards)

o Dried fruit (ie prunes, raisins)

o Egg yolks

o Iron-enriched cereals and grains

o Liver

o Mollusks (ie clams, oysters, scallops)

o Red meat

o Turkey or chicken giblets

* Pregnant women need at least 70 mg of Vitamin C daily. Vitamin C helps to fight off infection and keep you healthy. Some good sources of Vitamin C include:

o Oranges

o Strawberries

o Tomatoes

o Broccoli

o Dark Leafy Greens

* You likely will have huge cravings but at the same time, you should decrease your fat intake so that it is no more than 30 percent of your total daily calorie intake. Make sure to read labels.

* Omega 3s are important for the development of your baby’s vision and brain.

* Easy on the mayo or cheese limiting your cholesterol to 300 mg a day.

* Protein develops every cell of your baby. You need to eat 80 to

100 grams of protein a day. If you find that the smell of meat

makes you sick, keep in mind that you can get your protein from

drinking a whey protein shake.

Being pregnant isn’t easy and eating healthy can be a real challenge. Some days you’ll feel fantastic, while other days the idea of eating is the farthest thing from your mind. A healthy weight gain is generally 25 to 35 pounds. However, if you are underweight, you should gain 28 to 40 pounds and if you are overweight, you should gain15 to 25 pounds.

When your nutrient intake isn’t the best it could be, you increase your risk of developing pregnancy related conditions such as preeclampsia, pregnancy hypertension, toxemia, and HELLP syndrome.

Make Whole Food Vitamins

Make Whole Food Vitamins Part of Your Pregnancy Diet

When it comes to nutrition during pregnancy, pregnant women should think about adding whole food vitamins to their diet. This type of vitamin supplement is extracted from natural sources rather than being chemically engineered. That makes these a better choice during pregnancy and after childbirth as well.

Why Mothers-to-be Need to Take Vitamin Supplements as Part of

Pregnancy Nutrition

There’s no question – the human body is amazing and has an incredible ability to get what it needs through resources nature has to offer. When we eat a healthy diet, we can extract the right balance of vitamins, fats, minerals, and energy sources to keep

the body running optimally. During pregnancy, we must be even more vigilant to ensure we get the nutrients that the fetus requires to develop both mentally and physically into a healthy term baby.

Unfortunately, many of us aren’t eating a healthy well balanced diet and in no other time has the need for specialized pregnancy nutrition been necessary. There are a number of reasons why there has been such a change in the way we eat, which includes convenience, low cost, and availability of processed foods. Adding whole food vitamins makes it easier to ensure some of those essential compounds that are missing from processed foods are received by mother and baby on a daily basis. That’s important for the development of the child and the mother’s overall health.

Why Whole Food Vitamins are Better

Whole food vitamins don’t use synthesized compounds. Rather, they

use sources that can be found in nature. This type of vitamin is

better assimilated by the body. Sure the best way to get the

nutrients we need is by eating healthy – lots of fresh fruits and

vegetables, whole grains, etc.; however, most of us are not able

to maintain that on a daily basis. This is even more important

when you are pregnant, and so whole food vitamins do a better job

of filling that void.

The body can easily recognize these natural compounds and use them compared to synthetic vitamins where as much as 90% pass through never being used by the body. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to take these if you are only going to get 10% value. Instead, by making the whole food vitamins part of your daily nutrition you

can be sure the baby and you are getting the maximum nutritional value.