You can often hear that a woman in a position should eat for two. However, this is not true. It is true that during pregnancy a woman should provide proper nutrition for two people. In other words, she should not eat twice as much, but twice as much. A woman can think over her nutrition with pregnancy if she thinks about changes in her weight for weeks. The future mother should ensure that the kilograms collected by her during pregnancy do not exceed the permissible norm, since in the future this will affect her child. Therefore, from the very first weeks of pregnancy, the nutrition of the expectant mother should be very rational. The predisposition of some children to obesity, diabetes or high cholesterol is almost always the result of the excessive weight of their mother during pregnancy.
Only when a pregnant woman follows a nutrition program that includes carbohydrates, fats, proteins and a significant amount of fruits and vegetables, her diet can be called balanced. It should remain so from the first to the last day, so the quality of nutrition during pregnancy is not appropriate to distinguish by weeks.
The only exception is vitamin B9 (folic acid). It has been proven that a sufficient amount of folic acid in the body of a future mother reduces the probability of anomalies in the central nervous system of the embryo, and also prevents the appearance of a spina bifida (split vertebrae) in the child, a serious congenital defect. Disturbances in the central nervous system of the embryo develop in the first 28 days of pregnancy. For this reason, 2 months before the desired conception and in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a woman should include vitamin B9 in her diet.
Folic acid is very much in spinach (fresh, frozen or canned), as well as in green vegetables, salads, melons, eggs, lentils, rice, peas, fruits and orange juice.
Proper nutrition during pregnancy - both for weeks, and for each individual day - affects the health of not only the future mother, but also the health of the embryo. Below we list a few key points that will help a woman to organize a program of her nutrition during pregnancy:
- Give importance to quality - not quantity. The energy needs of the expectant mother are increased very slightly, so nutrition during pregnancy after weeks should not become more caloric. But it must invariably remain rich - both micronutrients and vitamins.
- In nutrition, both in the first and last months of pregnancy, the future mother should have 3 servings of dairy products daily. One serving can be considered 1 cup of milk, 1 package of yogurt or 40 grams of cheese.
- The abundance of natural fibers is another obligatory condition of nutrition during pregnancy. A well-thought-out vegetable diet will not only sate you well, but it will also help your intestines work.
- Eat small meals, but often (approximately every 2-4 hours). Your child wants to eat even when you do not feel hungry at all.
- Drink plenty of liquid, eat a little salt.
- Very carefully monitor the cleanliness in the kitchen - both during cooking, and during meals. Rinse fruits and vegetables well. Bring meat, fish, chicken, eggs to full readiness. As in the first weeks of pregnancy, and in the subsequent, the woman's nutrition should not contain half-raw animal proteins. Use different boards for cutting vegetables and meat. Try not to eat out.
- In your diet, even in the most recent weeks of pregnancy, there should be very little caffeine. One or two cups of weak coffee a day will be more than enough. Do not forget that tea, Coca-Cola drinks and chocolate also contain caffeine.
- Alcohol, soft cheeses, liver, offal and fatty fish of the northern seas, nutrition during pregnancy excludes completely absolutely all the weeks.
- From the very first weeks of pregnancy and until it ends, Ω-3 fatty acids must be present in your diet - they are essential for the healthy development of the embryo. Buy quality olive oil, and add it not only to salads, but also to other foods.
- 20-30 minutes of swimming or fast walking 2-3 times a week will help you cope with the problem of constipation.
- Often all pregnant women are recommended every day - starting from the 20th week - to take as an additive an iron preparation. Good sources of iron are green vegetables (such as broccoli and spinach), as well as strawberries, legumes, muesli and wholemeal bread. If a woman follows a balanced diet, and blood tests show that she does not suffer from anemia, she does not need to take iron preparations. It should be noted that these drugs are often the cause of constipation.
In conclusion, we point out that a woman who leads a normal life needs 1800 to 2100 calories a day. In the first three months of pregnancy, her energy needs increase by only 150 calories. In the second and third three-month periods, this need is increased by 300 calories. Such quantity of calories can be completely covered with one fruit or one glass of milk.