Nourish your pregnancy

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Nourish your pregnancyby Vicki Koenig, MS, RD, CDN When you’re pregnant, every bite counts. It’s more important than ever to eat well. Be sure to get regular prenatal care, and try to follow these nutrition guidelines: Important nutrients to emphasize300 extra calories per day: You can do it with two nutrient-dense yogurts! There are 130 to 140 calories in each organic six-ounce serving. You’ll also get 500 to 600 mg more calcium and 12 to 14 more grams of protein. Choosing healthy foods can help you gain 25 to 35 pounds for a normal pregnancy. Protein: You need 60 to 75 grams of protein for new cell growth and blood

production. Eat three 3-ounce servings such as lean meat, fish and poultry. Include egg whites, dairy products, beans, nuts, nut butters and tofu. Carbohydrates: To keep your energy up, emphasize whole grains, colorful fruits and vegetables to add vitamins and fiber. Dairy products are also good carbs. Calcium: Each day you need to eat four servings of calcium-rich foods such as dairy to help grow the baby’s bones and maintain yours. You still need 1000 mg per day. Nine out of 10 women don’t meet their daily calcium needs, but pregnancy makes this vitally important. Most prenatal vitamins do not provide enough calcium. Read Calcium Absorption and Bone Density to learn about the best-absorbed forms of calcium. Iron: You need to double your iron intake, to 30 mg, when pregnant and even more if you’re anemic. Iron is needed for red blood cell production. It’s best absorbed from animal sources like lean meats, sardines, and cooked oysters. Good plant sources are enriched and whole grains, legumes, soyfoods, green leafy vegetables, seaweeds, nuts and seeds. Vitamin C also helps iron absorption. Try cooking iron-rich foods with a tomato sauce for the added vitamin C. Take an iron supplement with orange juice between meals. Iron competes with calcium supplements for absorption, so take them separately. Folate or Folic Acid: Pregnant women need 600 mcg of folic acid daily. A folic acid deficiency can cause neural tube defects, affecting brain and spinal cord development. It’s important to get enough before you’re pregnant. A 2004 study from Penn State suggests that folate absorption increased when women had at least three servings

of milk per day. Sources are green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans, and citrus fruits. Fiber and digestive health: Pregnant women need 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day for optimum health and to prevent constipation. Good sources are whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The inulin in Stonyfield Farm yogurt provides 2 to 3 grams of fiber per yogurt serving. Inulin also increases the growth of bifidobacteria, the primary probiotic in a baby’s gut. Lactobacillus reuteri is also found in a newborn baby and in mother’s milk. A prenatal supplement: Supplements should always be seen as a supplement to a healthy diet, not a replacement for one. Ask your doctor what’s right for you. Live “green” for now and evermore Being pregnant is a good time to look at lifestyle habits that affect a growing

baby. Choose organic: Developing babies inherit samples of their mother’s “body burden” or exposure to pesticides and other chemicals prior to birth. Children eating organic foods have been shown to have lower pesticide residue levels than children eating conventionally raised foods. Read more about this in Pesticides and Children and the O’Mama Report. Choose organic foods whenever possible. Check out our Shoppers’ Guide to Pesticides in Produce to know which produce may have high pesticide residues. Pesticides and Children and the O’Mama Report: Choose organic foods whenever possible. Check out our Shoppers’ Guide to Pesticides in Produce to know which produce may have high pesticide residues. Eat safer fish before, during and after pregnancy: For a comprehensive list of fish to emphasize and avoid, visit the Children's Health Environmental Coalition. Exposure to lead. Eating a diet high in calcium prevents your body from absorbing lead. Adequate calcium intake also prevents exposure to lead mobilized from the skeleton during regular bone turnover. Higher lead levels in children are

associated with cognitive deficits and learning disabilities. For some, being pregnant can be the best motivator to establishing better lifelong eating and lifestyle habits. It certainly is a means to a good end! Suzi What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. health/ http://suziesgoats.wholefoodfarmacy.com/

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