Healthy Pregnancy Diet

Eating nutrition rich food is vital for each and every person. However, eating healthy when you are pregnant is even more important! A balanced diet that contains all the essential nutrients, is crucial for the health of both you and your unborn baby. The reason why this fact is emphasized and reemphasized on you, is because the eating habits that you follow during pregnancy, automatically become eating habits of the baby. If you are also a pregnant woman, then you must have already heard a lot about healthy pregnancy diet and its effects on a healthy childbirth by now. But creating a pregnancy diet on your own seems almost impossible, especially when you don't know what is healthy and what is unhealthy for the baby. In the following section of the article, we will gather information about creating a diet plan for a healthy pregnancy.

Creating a Healthy Pregnancy Diet

If you have always been following a healthy diet routine, then you don't need to do any special alterations in that diet. But if you have not, then you may need to learn the basics of having a healthy diet during pregnancy. Planning a healthy diet in the first trimester of the pregnancy can be challenging since it is the phase of all the troubling pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness, nausea and food cravings. However, you need to maintain the healthy intake of foods that are essential for your health.

Foods to Include
There are a few healthy foods that must be a part of your daily diet. Diet for a healthy pregnancy should contain plenty of calcium rich foods like milk, yogurt, buttermilk and cheese. Along with calcium, you should also follow a protein rich diet. Vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid, iron and vitamin C. In order to attain all these nutrients, you need to consume a lot of fruits, vegetables and mercury free fishes. Another essential nutrient that you should include in your healthy pregnancy diet is fiber. You need to follow a high fiber diet to avoid any health related issues like indigestion and constipation that are caused during pregnancy. Fiber rich foods are also crucial for the overall healthy growth of the unborn baby.

To get enough amount of fibers, you can always consume whole grains, whole wheat breads, cereals, rice, green and leafy vegetables, raw fruits and cooked beans. In fact, your daily diet should consist around 5 to 8 fiber servings. Now about the food servings. Rather than the routine 3 straight meals, you should evenly distribute them into 5 to 6 small but healthy and filling meals. A pregnant woman should consume at least 5 to 6 servings of dairy products, 27 mg of high iron foods, 1200 mg of calcium, less than 1000 IU (international units) of vitamin D and 70 mg of vitamin C. All this food should be accompanied by at least 6 to 8 glasses of clean water.

Foods to Avoid
Now that you are aware of the foods to include in a healthy pregnancy diet, it is the time to learn about the foods to avoid during pregnancy. The reasons behind avoiding these foods are quite obvious too! Foods that you should try and avoid during pregnancy include, mercury rich fish (shark, swordfish, tuna, tilefish, king mackerel, etc.), raw meat, raw dairy products and raw eggs, deli meat, unpasteurized milk and products made using it, etc. The biggest reason behind avoiding these foods is the chances of food poisoning during pregnancy. You should also avoid all types of soft cheese, including blue-veined cheeses, Feta, Queso Fresco, Camembert cheeses, Queso Blanco, Panela, etc. Foods like smoked sea food, canned food, fast food and deep fried foods should be completely avoided. You should also refrain from the foods that you are personally allergic to.

Along with the things to do to have a balanced diet, you should also get to know about other things that you should avoid during pregnancy for a healthy baby and a healthy you. These things are basically wrong eating habits that you must have picked like skipping breakfast and/or meals, alcohol abuse, excessive intake of caffeine rich drinks like tea, coffee and various other energy drinks and soft drinks, excessive intake of chocolates, etc. All these things may individually or collectively lead to various pregnancy complications like miscarriage, premature childbirth, birth defects in babies low weight or excessive weight of the baby during childbirth. You should also stop smoking. You need to get determined about the health of your baby and avoid all the things that are not healthy for you and your unborn baby.

Healthy Pregnancy Diet Plan

To make a healthy diet for pregnancy, you need to learn to make some healthy recipes for pregnant women. Your healthy pregnancy diet recipes should revolve around healthy and fresh vegetables salads, wheat bread sandwiches and basically a high fiber, high protein diet should be a part of your regular pregnancy diet. Plus, if you are suffering with a specific medical condition like anemia, diabetes, etc. then you should create the diet plan accordingly. If you are overweight, then you must follow the pregnancy diet for overweight women. The best thing that you can do is to consult your ob-gyn and dietitian to plan the best diet that emphasizes on healthy recipes for pregnant women. Here is a sample pregnancy diet plan for you.

Criteria	Proteins	Grains	Vegetables	Fruits	Milk
Servings	Around 6 oz a day	6 to 11 servings a day	3 to 5 servings a day	2 to 4 servings a day	3 or more servings a day
Foods	Cooked beans, nuts, peanut butter, red meats, fish and skinless poultry	Oatmeal, high fiber cereal, whole grain breads and pasta, brown rice, whole wheat crackers	Broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, pumpkin, tomatoes, carrots, green peas, all the green and leafy vegetables	Apple, banana, grapefruit, mango, melon, orange, strawberries, tangerine	Low fat yogurt, milk, hard cheese, etc.
Size	½ cup cooked beans, 1 ½ Tablespoon peanut butter, 1 egg, or 1 oz meat	1 oz of cereal, 1 slice of bread, 2 oz cooked pasta, ½ bagel, ½ cup of cooked grains, 5-6 whole wheat crackers	½ cup of all the vegetables and 1 cup of the leafy vegetables	1 medium apple, 1 medium banana, 1 medium orange, ½ diced fruits or ¾ cup of sugarless fruit juice	1 cup milk, 1 cup yogurt, 1 ½ oz cheese

Along with a balanced and healthy pregnancy diet plan, what you need is peace of mind and some good, stress free sleep. You can try meditation and indulge in the activities that can bring you peace of mind and cheer up your mood! Always remember that the unborn baby is your first priority while you are pregnant and you should do all the possible things required to make her journey to the world, pleasant and untroubled! Take care!