Diet For Pregnant Women

By: medicmagic

Vegetables, beans and side dishes rich in protein and which contains isoflavones like soy and eggs helps regulate the reproductive hormones.

Here are some healthy guidelines for pregnant women or those planning a pregnancy, according to ModernMom:

Nutrition

Folic acid is vital for pregnant women. Folic acid helps prevent neural tube defects, which can cause slow transmission of information from the brain. Folic acid works before pregnancy and during the first trimester.

You can get folic acid by eating fortified cereals, lentils, asparagus, spinach, black beans, peanuts, orange juice, broccoli, lettuce and whole wheat breads and pastsa. Folic acid can also be obtained from multivitamins with folic acid 400 mcg or more. Other nutrients that helps are vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc.

Bad habits to avoid

After knowing that you are pregnant, quit drinking alcohol, smoking and using drugs. Because some substance are left in the body for sometimes, you should stop the bad habits from when you planned a pregnancy.

If bad habits are still done until pregnancy, the fetus are at risk of miscarriage or born prematurely. Too much caffeine is also bad for the fetus, because caffeine absorbs iron which is needed by the baby and mother.

Choose fish menus

Increase intake of fish, especially salmon and tuna. But avoid fish which contains lots of mercury such as shark, swordfish, and king mackerel, because it will precipitate in the mother and fetus.

Avoid ‘junk foods’

Get rid of junk foods from the table. Potato chips, cookies, soda and fast food contains no nutrients for the mother and baby. Despite being pregnant, make sure the body mass index is between 20 to 30.

Normal weight gain of pregnancies are eight to 15 pounds. Excess weight during pregnancy are vulnerable to gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and reduces the chance of a normal birth.