Eating well during pregnancy is crucial for the health of your unborn baby and also for yourself. Your body is engaged in doing one of the most important things in life, that is creating a new life, and your body will need good nutrition to support this important function.
During the first trimester, if you are having morning sickness you may have a hard time eating well. However, it is still very important to give your body good nutrition so you still need to eat. Your body will get nutrients even if you have morning sickness so continue to try at least. It is also important to eat healthy for your entire pregnancy, after all you are eating for the health of your baby also.
It is important to eat an assortment of healthy foods. Include a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and especially proteins. Do not eliminate any food group at this time and eat a variety of healthy foods at regular intervals. Eating a healthy variety will assure that your baby and you will be receiving the necessary nutrients to fuel your body during this important time and that your baby will also receive the nutrients he or she needs.
Balance and moderation is also important. You should eat enough but you need not eat in excess. In fact, if you eat excessively, you may end up gaining too much weight which could be detrimental also. However, never, never, never think of dieting during this time. You need to gain weight but keep it in moderation, it is not good to gain too much, but it is even worse to gain too little.
You can have a treat once in awhile but make sure you have room left for the healthy foods. The healthy foods are crucial for your developing baby and yourself. Try to balance out your meals with an adequate serving of carbohydrates, an adequate serving of protein and larger servings of vegetables. Go easy on the fruits, though, as they can have a high sugar content.
Healthy Pregnancy Diet
One way to be sure that you are getting the optimum nutrition that you need is to focus on colors in whole foods. Red tomatoes and peppers, purple grapes, orange squash and pumpkin, green spinach and more all indicate high nutritional value. Typically the deeper and brighter the color the higher the antioxidant content so get a variety of color in your diet.
Foods To Avoid During Pregnancy
Avoid “white” food, such as enriched bread and white rice and pasta as most of these products are devoid of nutrients as most of their nutritional value has been removed. If the white food is a vegetable, such as cauliflower or jicama, then you can and should eat it. Just avoid the processed white foods and set a colorful plate, high in nutrition. You might want look at this pregnancy diet menu at eatingwell.com.
Diet In Pregnancy
Never try to diet during pregnancy or avoid eating while you are pregnant. You and your baby require a steady stream of healthy calories and nutrition, throughout the entire 9 month pregnancy and longer. After your pregnancy, you will need to continue to eat a nutritious diet, especially if you are breastfeeding, which is absolutely the very best food for your baby. Man-made formulas have yet to and probably never will be able to duplicate the superior nutrition of mother’s milk. Breastfeeding is how nature intended for human babies to be fed.
Healthy Pregnancy Diet
Pregnancy can be a good time to expand your diet. You can try wonderful new things that are healthy and nutritious. You may have food cravings or food aversions, so you should work around them. Many healthy pregnant women find they crave healthy and nutritious fare more than junk food. That is definitely an advantage.
Enjoy your meals while you are pregnant. Eating healthy has never been and will never be quite as important as it is right now. Feed yourself and your unborn baby well.