Are you confused at all about which foods pregnant women can eat (what to eat and what to avoid)? It’s not surprising with all of the mixed information that circulates. Everyone seems to have suggestions, but which ones should you believe?
The foods that you eat during pregnancy are extremely important to your health and the development of your baby. The old saying “you are what you eat” has never been more true. Your baby gets all of its nutrients directly from you, through the umbilical cord, so it’s vitally important that you eat the right foods. Anything less could put your baby at risk.
The good news is that following a healthy pregnancy diet can be fairly easy, once you get past the cravings. In fact, certain foods will actually help you avoid cravings. The foods pregnant women can eat are really very similar to what would be included in a normal healthy diet.
Foods Pregnant Women Can Eat
- Whole fruit. It’s packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber.
- Vegetables are also very important and should be a big part of your daily diet.
- Natural protein found in foods such as eggs, nuts, certain fish and lean meat is essential for you and your baby. It contains the basic building blocks of life, such as amino acids. It also helps rid the body of toxins.
- Foods with Omega 3 Fatty Acid, such as fish. You may need to take a supplement to get an adequate amount.
- Water is absolutely essential to good health for you and your baby. The benefits of drinking plenty of water are too numerous to list in this article. Just know that every glass of water you drink is important. Do yourself and your baby a favor: throw away any soda or other sugary drinks that you have in your house and drink water.
- Carbohydrates: Some carbohydrates can be a good source of vitamins and fiber. They include potatoes, some rice, oats, and sweet potatoes (very good). However, these foods should be eaten in moderation because they can cause your body to store unnecessary fat.
- Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt can be a good source of calcium.
The foods listed above will provide a good source of many of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that you need. But I would caution you to get them from good quality organic sources whenever possible. Many food products grown and raised on commercial farms are full of pesticides and growth hormones. While the FDA has not yet determined that most of these are harmful, I would not want to find out after-the-fact that the foods I provided to my unborn baby were, in fact, endangering its health. I believe that natural is always better.
Foods To Avoid
Mostly, you should avoid sugary foods and drinks, and all packaged snack foods. Sugar does terrible things to your body. And artificial sweeteners are far worse. If you have a craving for something sweet, eat some whole fruit. But make sure it’s “whole” fruit – skin and all when possible (that’s where most of the fiber is stored). And there’s absolutely nothing good to say about packaged snack foods. They’re full of salt, empty carbohydrates and preservatives. They should be avoided at all cost.
As you can see, you don’t need to go on a special diet for a healthy pregnancy, but it’s important to eat a variety of different foods every day in order to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby need.
One of the biggest problems that pregnant women seem to have is not knowing specifically what to eat. Sure, their doctors will usually give them a few standard food recommendations, but that’s hardly a plan that they can follow. Left on their own, they’re likely to just eat what seems healthy with some not-so-healthy foods mixed in.
To have the best pregnancy experience and provide your baby with every advantage possible for healthy development and growth, you really need a complete program that you can follow every day; a program that lays out in detail a full menu of foods to eat and how to prepare them. With that, you could be sure that you’re providing the absolute best for your baby.
