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Pregnancy and food

Pregnancy

9 months of pregnancy
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Pregnancy and food
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GOOD FOOD FOR HEALTHY PREGNANCY

A mother's nourishment during pregnancy is vitally important for her and for her baby at all stages of foetal development. Research has shown that diet and healthy lifestyle is directly related to the baby's weight at birth, his health in childhood and even after he has grown up. Therefore eating well and being aware of any deficiencies in your diet can have long-term effects. You don't have to go on a special diet. All you have to do is to make sure that you eat a variety of different foods in order to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby require. You should also avoid certain foods to be on the safer side.

Your diet should include the following four basic food groups:

A] Starchy Foods
Starchy foods like bread, potatoes, rice, chapatis, pasta, oatmeal, and breakfast cereals are an important part of any diet and should, with vegetables, form the main part of your meal. They are satisfying without containing too many calories and are an important source of vitamins, protein, minerals and fibre. Try eating wholemeal bread and wholegrain cereals when you can.

B] Dairy Product
Dairy foods like milk, cheese, yoghurt are important as they contain calcium and other nutrients essential for your baby's development. Choose low-fat varieties whenever possible. They also provide other minerals such as zinc, iodine and magnesium (essential for growth), as well as protein and fat-soluble vitamins A and D.

C] Meat, fish and alternatives
Meat, fish, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, pulses and other vegetarian products are all good source of nutrients. These protein rich food combined with protein from starchy foods and dairy products provide the building blocks for baby's growth and tissue repair. They also contain iron, zinc, vitamin A and B. Vitamin B12 which is essential for healthy blood, occurs naturally in meat products but can also be found in fortified vegetarian foods.

D] Fruits and vegetables
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables as these provide the vitamins and a mineral, as well as fibre which helps digestion and prevents constipation. Eat them lightly cooked in a little water or raw to get the most out of them. Frozen, tinned and dried food and vegetables are good too. These provide vitamin A in vegetable form, vitamin C and D including folic acid, minerals such as iron and potassium and fibre.

Following foods you should avoid during pregnancy:

• Try to avoid as far as possible on sugar and sugary foods like sweets, biscuits and cakes and sugary drinks like cola. Sugar contains calories without providing any other nutrients the body needs. It also adds to the risk of tooth decay.
   

• Avoid fat and fatty foods as well. Fat is very high in calories and too much can cause excess weight gain and increase the risk of heart disease. Avoid fatty foods, trim the fat off meat, use spreads sparingly and go easy on foods like pastry, chocolate and chips.
   

• Don't eat liver or liver products as they contain a lot of vitamin A. Too much vitamin A can harm your baby.
   

• Avoid eating peanuts and foods containing peanut products (e.g., peanut butter, unrefined groundnut oil etc) if you and your baby's father have a previous history of asthma, eczema or other allergies.

Foods that need special care while eating:

Besides eating a wide variety of foods, there are certain precautions you should take in order to safeguard your baby's well-being as well as your own.

• Cook all meat and poultry thoroughly so that there is no trace of pink or blood and wash all surfaces and utensils after preparing raw meat. This will help to avoid infection with Toxoplasma, which may cause toxoplasmosis and can harm your baby.
   

• Wash fruit and vegetables and salads to remove all traces of soil which may contain Toxoplasma.
   

• Make sure eggs are throurouhly cooked untill the whites and yolks are solid to prevent the risk of food poisoning and avoid foods containing raw and undercooked eggs like home-made mayonnaise, ice-cream, cheesecake etc.

PREGNANCY AND WEIGHT CONTROL

During pregnancy you tend to put on a lot of weight because you have to eat more than your normal quota to support another life. But whatever you eat should be nutritious and healthy. You have to eat the right kind of food. Thus gaining weight is normal but you need to know how much weight you should gain. During your first visit to your doctor, you will probably be told how much weight to gain during the nine months of your pregnancy. It's recommended that most healthy women gain 25 to 35 pounds, but this can vary depending on whether you're overweight or underweight. Try for a slow and steady weight gain, but remember that all women gain at different rates.

During the first trimester, you'll gain only about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds each month.

During the second trimester, you'll gain about 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound a week.

During the third trimester, you'll gain about 1 pound a week!

Though weight gain is normal but it's important to follow your doctor's recommendation for weight gain because gaining either too little or too much can lead to problems. Therefore eating the right kind of food is necessary because its the quality of the food that's important and not the quantity.

If you are overweight you will have to face lots of complications which are as under.
 

• You put extra stress on your heart, which is already working overtime to pump your increased blood volume.
   

• You add stress to your joints, leading to pain in the joints which might continue even after delivery.
   

• You'll be more likely to develop backaches

• Once you put on so much weight it will be very difficult to loose the extra weight you have put on leading to several health problems
  
   

If you are underweight then your baby is at risk of having a low birth weight. Low-birth-weight babies have a harder time thriving and are more vulnerable to health problems.

Therefore it is necessary that you follow your doctor's weight-gain guidelines and gain the right amount of weight for a healthy delivery and healthy baby.

FOOD CRAVINGS: WHAT THEY MEAN

It is a known fact that during pregnancy women have cravings for specific foods. Some pregnant women crave for chocolate, spicy foods, ice-cream, pizzas and comfort foods, such as mashed potatoes, cereals, and sandwiches. Other women crave for non-food items, such as clay and cornstarch. What causes these food cravings is still a very debatable topic and even the experts have difficultly agreeing about what causes them. While hard facts about food cravings can be a little difficult to pin down, there have been a few studies done over the years about food cravings and food aversions during pregnancy.

Says Dr. Himanshu Batra that food craving might be the result of extreme hormonal changes that women go through during pregnancy. Because of this they can have a powerful impact on taste and smell. They can either crave for a specific food or be averse to it. But the bottom line, says Dr Batra, is that no one really knows for sure.

Study suggests that women are more likely to crave sweet foods during the second trimester than at any other point in pregnancy. Pregnant women normally crave for ice cream, sweets, candy (especially chocolate), fruit and fish. Some believe that pregnant women develop food cravings because they think they're supposed to develop them. They might have heard and read or seen their sister’s, friends develop food cravings and thus they psychologically hold it as the important factor.

Sometimes pregnant vegetarian women find they get uncontrollable cravings for meat. This might be a signal that you body needs protein but there is no such explanation. Some women give in to the craving over the short-term and revert to strict vegetarianism after the birth. Others believe that including fish or pulses and grains in their diet boosts their protein intake. Including more eggs, milk or cheese in your diet is another way to provide good protein.

Some women crave for chocolate. Dark chocolate can be a useful source of magnesium and iron. So if you are craving chocolate, you may be slightly anaemic. Less sugary sources of these minerals include nuts, seeds, dates and figs (for magnesium) and red meat, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans and oatmeal (for iron). Also it is believed that eating chocolate may help a woman who is tired or depressed to feel better.

Dr Batra says that whatever food craving you have, it is important that pregnant women keep a check on their cravings. Craving for healthy food is good but you definitely have to stop yourself from craving for all the un-healthy food. Also some women crave for non-food items, such as clay and cornstarch. The craving and eating of non-food items is known as pica. Consumption of things that are not food can be dangerous to both you and your baby. If you have urges to eat non-food items, notify your doctor.

Dr Batra says. "A healthful diet should be one that meets your nutritional and your emotional needs, as well as your preferences." He recommends that pregnant women should humour their cravings rather than fight them by, substituting non-fat frozen yogurt for ice cream.

Other ways to curb unhealthy cravings: