The Importance Of Maintaining A Nutrient-Rich Diet During Pregnancy

The Importance Of Maintaining A Nutrient-Rich Diet During Pregnancy

Begin eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals before you're pregnant and take the time to really understand the five food groups. Learn about eating a balanced meal. After you become pregnant, it's essential that good nutrition becomes a priority, for both your babies health and your own. Ask your doctor about specific foods that will provide important nutrients to your baby that keep you strong and healthy enough to continue carrying your child.

You'll notice that your nutritional needs, tolerance for food and cravings will change often during your pregnancy but it's important to follow a basic set of guidelines for the entire nine months. The most important thing is that you eat balanced meals, drink a lot of water, eliminate caffeine and alcohol from your diet and never skip a meal.

One mineral that you should be getting a lot more of when you're pregnant is calcium. The recommended dose of calcium is 1,200 mg, 400 mg more than usual. In order to get the extra calcium you can take supplements or increase the amount of dairy products, such as cheese, skim milk, yogurt and pudding, in your diet. You can also look up other, non-dairy sources of calcium and think of ways to introduce them into your diet. A few examples are salmon, kale, broccoli, beans and calcium-fortified orange juice.

If you're trying to get pregnant, you should make sure there's an increase of folic acid in your diet. Essential for a healthy baby and helpful in the development of the fetal brain and spine, folic acid is most important early in the pregnancy, when most women don't even realize they're expecting. Becoming accustomed to the foods or vitamins that provide folic acid before you're pregnant will ensure that your baby receives the important nutrient.

Throughout pregnancy, women need to take at least 400 micrograms of folic acid everyday. Some great sources of folic acid include dried beans, tofu, peanuts, peanut butter, fortified cereals, fortified breads, dark green vegetables, corn, cantaloupe, squash and beets. You may need to take a multi-vitamin or prenatal vitamin to make sure you're getting the necessary folic acid on a daily basis.

Essential for the proper nerve and brain functioning of both you and your baby, B12 is a vitamin that is often found in animal products and is a special concern for women who are vegetarians. If you don't eat meat or dairy products, B12 can be found in fortified soy milk and meat replacements or there are many vitamin supplements available that will ensure the right amount of daily intake is met.

Another nutrient of concern for vegetarian women is protein, which should be increased by at least 10 grams a day during pregnancy. Found in meat, eggs, milk and some plant foods, protein is essential to your diet as it keeps both you and your baby strong. If you do not eat meat or dairy products, protein can be found in legumes, seeds, and cereal grains and it is most beneficial if you combine protein products to ensure the maximum amount of protein intake.

Robyn Rae is an author for all-maternity-clothes.com and is passionate aboutfashion, fitness and studying nutritional needs for women who are pregnant.

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