Pregnancy And Diet: What To Eat And What Not?

If you are pregnant, then your first concern is to what to eat and what not. During pregnancy, you have to eat nutritious foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein, and dairy products. It suggested that take a half plate of fruits and vegetable, a quarter of whole grains and a quarter of lean protein, and dairy product.

Food To Eat

Fruits and vegetables:

Pregnant women have to eat fruits and vegetables, especially in the second and third trimesters. Get 5 to 10 small bowl of colorful foods. They are low in calories, filled with vitamins, fiber, and minerals.

Lean protein:

Lean protein includes poultry, meat, fish, beans, eggs, tofu, cheese, nuts, milk, and seeds. Include protein in each meal as it is good for the baby’s growth.

Whole grains:

Whole grains are an essential source of energy in the daily diet. They provide fiber, vitamin-B, and iron. Half of a pregnant woman’s carbohydrate come from whole grains like whole-wheat pasta, oatmeal, bread, and brown rice.

Dairy:

Dairy food like milk, yogurt, and cheese has dietary sources of protein, vitamin D and calcium. Take three to four servings a day of dairy product. In addition to the dairy product, take a daily prenatal vitamin like iron, and folic acid.

Foods to limit

Caffeine:

Consume less than 200 mg of caffeine in a day which is equivalent to a 12-ounce cup of coffee. It is said that moderate caffeine consumption during pregnancy does not contribute to premature birth or miscarriage.

Fish:

Fish like salmon and sardines is a good source of lean protein. It also contains omega-3 fatty acids that are good for the heart. Per week 8 to 12 ounces of cooked fish and seafood is safe for pregnant women. Limit in eating albacore or “white” tuna, which has a high level of mercury. Canned light tuna has less mercury which is safe to eat during pregnancy.  

Foods to avoid

Alcohol:

During pregnancy, avoid alcohol. Through the umbilical cord, alcohol in the mother’s blood can pass directly to the baby. Heavy consumption of alcohol during pregnancy linked with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, physical problems, learning, and behavioral difficulties in babies as well as children.

Fish with high levels of mercury:

Seafood like a shark, swordfish, marlin, orange roughy, and tilefish have high levels of methylmercury, which should avoid during pregnancy.

Unpasteurized food:

Pregnant women are at high risk of getting sick from two different types of food poisoning: listeriosis, and toxoplasmosis.  Listeria infection cause miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm labor, and illness or death in newborns.

To avoid listeriosis, avoid unpasteurized (raw) milk and foods like Brie, feta, Camembert, queso blanco, blue-veined cheeses, and queso fresco.

Raw meat:

Raw meat can pass a Toxoplasma infection to the baby and cause the problems like mental disability and blindness in life. To avoid Toxoplasma, do not eat raw or undercooked meats, and poultry, raw fish like sashimi, sushi, ceviches, and carpaccio, raw and undercooked shellfish, like mussels, clams, oysters, and scallops.