Eating When Pregnant Should Make both Baby and Mother Happy
The best thing you can do while eating when pregnant is make sure both you and your baby get everything you need, nutritionally
. If you have already switched to a diet rich in whole foods, such as that supported by the Diet Solution Program, you are probably not far from where you need to be. If you eat the standard American fare you have a long way to go and many changes to make.How to Assess Your Eating When Pregnant
The process of determining what you need to add to your diet starts with assessing what you already eat. Does your pantry contain many prepackaged meals? Do you have bags of sugar, white flour, white rice and boxes of sugar laden cereals lining the shelves? What about sodium loaded soups, artificial sweeteners and sodas? If that is the case then you have a lot of work to do.
On the other hand if your pantry is filled with brown rice, buckwheat and pin-head oats, sea salt, quinoa and baskets of sweet potatoes and winter squash you are ahead of the game. In fact, the fewer prepared foods you have, the more likely that you are already eating pretty well.
How to Make Gradualt Changes Eating When Pregnant
Even if you are pregnant it is never too late to make changes. Start by doing something as simple as buying quick cooking steel cut oats and use those for your breakfasts instead of the sugary cereals you have gotten used to.
If you aren't an oatmeal person, perhaps switching from white rice to brown rice is a better way to start. Baby steps can be much more manageable, as long as you keep taking them.
Stop Drinking Soda!
Another simple, but challenging, step is dumping the soda habit. Regular soda is loaded with sugar while diet soda contains artificial sweeteners that have side effects. Some of them are particularly harmful to the growing baby.
If you want to keep your weight gain in check, diet soda is actually worse than regular soda. Why? Because the conflict between the message of the sweet taste and the lack of caloric input confuses your metabolism, often leading to overeating.
Of course you must drink plenty of water while pregnant. Water is essential not only for hydration but also for keeping up amniotic fluid levels. Water keeps your spinal discs flexible and healthy too. During your pregnancy you put additional strain on those as well as the rest of your body. Water is the perfect drink any time; it's vital when you're pregnant.
200-300 Calories
All you need to feed your growing baby is 200-300 calories per day. It's an easy increase to make while eating when pregnant. If you stick to this number, though, you will be able to give your baby everything it needs and avoid excessive weight gain. Note we said excessive--you need to gain some weight to have a healthy baby.
What does 300 calories look like? One large egg (75 calories), one medium apple (75 calories), half a cup chopped chicken breast (115 calories), 1 square of dark chocolate (45 calories) all come up to 310 calories. See how little extra food you require each day?
Of course, you can get the same caloric input from a small order of fast food fries. You don't need me to tell you which choice is better for both of you.
Eating when pregnant does put a bit of an additional emotional burden on the expectant mother. Everything that goes into her body also affects the baby, and that means more attention to diet. Never the less, this transition can be an opportunity to develop excellent eating habits that can last a lifetime.
Eating When Pregnant Should Make both Baby and Mother Happy
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