Pregnancy Diet - What to eat before and during pregnancy

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Established dietary guidelines recommend that the pregnancy diet and breast-feeding diet for women should increase their intake of vegetables, legumes, fruit and cereal . For pregnant women, the recommendation if for:

- 5-6 serves of vegetables/legumes
- 4 serves of fruit
- 4-6 serves of cereal each day.

While breastfeeding there should be a further increase , with daily intake of each food group increased by an additional serve.

If you are planning a pregnancy and a pondering your dietary needs, establishing good dietary habits beforehand will make it easier from then on.
Avoid foods high in fat and sugar, sugary soft drinks and make sure you include foods rich in protein, calcium and iron.

Pregnancy Vitamins and Minerals

Your growing baby increases your need for extra iron in your diet. To make sure that your iron levels are ideal, reassess your meals to include foods that are rich sources of iron, such as red meat, in your diet every day.
( Plenty of vitamin C, such as in oranges, at the same meal will increase your body's ability to absorb the iron.). If your doctor finds that your iron levels are low, you may need to take a supplement, but remember iron can cause constipation,something you really want to avoid.


Vitamin A

During pregnancy the Vitamin A needs in a woman's body will increase but the safest way to ensure that the vitamin A intake is enough is through a well balanced diet, including milk, some fish -read about the safest kinds of fish, eggs and margarine. Vitamin A supplements are rarely recommended in pregnancy due to the risk of excessive amounts which can cause birth defects.

Calcium

Recommended guidelines have adjusted regarding calcium intake for a pregnancy diet and lactation diet. Even though there is a large need for calcium to be used by the baby during the last trimester of pregnancy as the babies bonesare rapidly strengthening, the increased capacity of the mother to absorb existing dietary calcium makes up for this loss without the need for any supplementary calcium intake.(providing her diet has sufficient calcium)

Multivitamins
These are not recommended in a pregnancy diet because of the risks associated with excessive amounts of some vitamins (such as vitamin A) which could cause harm to the developing baby.

Foods and other chemicals to avoid during pregnancy