Importance of Nutrition during pregnancy and tips for a healthy dietary plan for a pregnant woman

A Healthy nutrition during pregnancy can make your pregnancy better and give the best start for your upcoming baby.

So you are pregnant. Your life is changing, your feelings become more intense, you may have a lot of questions about what to eat, how to sleep, how much to walk and many other similar questions. Who can help you with your new diet? Who can give you the right advice? Of course, only a specialist in nutrition can do it.

According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist (ACOG), the diet for a pregnant woman should have a lot of variety and nutritional content. It should include- proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals fats, and fluids. The nutrition should be balanced and full of high-quality vitamins and minerals. Healthy nutrition during pregnancy is important for your baby’s growth and development. In order to get the nutrients you need, you must eat from a variety of food groups: fruits and vegetables, breads and grains, proteins and dairy products. Now, we will explain to you what products are in each group of food and what vitamins they contain.

Dairy Products. A Pregnant woman needs at least 1000mg of calcium daily.

This element is important for building strong teeth and bones of the baby, normal blood clotting, muscle, and nerve function – even heart can’t beat normal without calcium. If there is no normal amount of Calcium in your blood, your body will take it from your bones. We can get Calcium from milk, cheese, yogurt and other milk products. To get the daily amount of Calcium you should have 3-5 dairy servings. Your developing baby needs a lot of protein, B vitamins, and iron, especially in the second and third trimesters. Iron helps to carry oxygen to your growing baby and to your muscles. If there is the deficiency of iron the person can feel dizziness, fatigue, weakness, irritability and even depression. If the iron is too low, iron-deficit anemia can be proved by a blood test.

In which products can we find normal amounts of proteins and iron? Chicken, lamb, liver, turkey, veal, lean beef and other animal meat can help you in this question. Also, you can eat fish and seafood, but that should not contain mercury in big amount (it has a toxic effects to the nervous system: oily fish can’t be consumed in this case, because mercury is soluble in fat, and almost all oily fish today contain mercury, excepting maybe the ones from the Arctic and Antarctic). You can eat fish 8-12 times a week and have 3 servings of protein daily. Bread and Grains The main source of energy of our body is carbohydrates found in bread and grains. Grains also contain a big amount of iron, B group Vitamins, fiber, folic acid, etc. You should have 6-11 oz of bread and grains daily, depending on your weight. We should not forget that extra eating and extra weight are bad for your baby, especially eating sweets and fast foods.

Nutrition during pregnancy -Vegetables and Fruits

Fruits and Vegetables Fruits and vegetables give us many important elements like Vitamin C and Folic acid. A pregnant woman needs about 70 mg of Vitamin C daily that she can take it from oranges, grapefruits, broccoli, tomatoes, sprouts, lemons, onions, raspberry, and currant. We should take 0,4 mg of folic acid per day to avoid and prevent neutral tube defects in the embryo. It can be found in dark green leafy vegetables. A pregnant woman should have 2-4 servings of fruit and 4 servings of vegetables daily (you can find folic acid in green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans, citrus fruits and other).

Healthy Fats are:

Walnuts, avocado, pumpkin and sunflowers seeds, fish (but not fatty), olive oil – the healthy fats, that will help to develop your baby brain. Fluids & Drinks You should avoid caffeine drinks that increase your heart beating and blood pressure.

Also, try not to drink sweet soda water, only fresh distillate or pure boiled water should be used. If you like tea, natural green tea is more suitable during pregnancy. All dishes should be medium salt or even with only a small amount of salt. The pregnant woman should eat 6-7 times a day with not big portions of the meal. This is a rule and you should not eat more, so adequate eating is a must. It is important that you have the energy and nutritional requirements of your body completely satisfied.

American Pregnancy Association recommends

American Pregnancy Association recommends a pregnant woman to take additional 300 calories every day over the normal intake.

Pons Medical Group is a leading surrogacy agency in Georgia with expertise in ICSI fertility treatment through ICSI IVF / PICSI. As the saying goes: “We are what we eat” so “nutrition is the key” for a successful pregnancy and a successful surrogacy program. Here at Pons Medical, we are utmost conscious about the certainty of this old saying and we are experts in nutrition and dietary planning.