Healthy Dieting

Healthy Dieting While Pregnant -

July 21st, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Dieting While Pregnant

Do you realise that dieting is not just about loosing weight. Contrary to modern, popular beliefs, diets are undertaken for a variety of reasons.

Whatever the reason for the diet, a diet is essentially an eating plan, undertaken to achieve the specific requirements of the dieter. Of course the plan is carried forward in a healthy and safe way. Yes! We all know that this is not always the case, hence the basis for dieting carrying such a poor reputation.

There are a number of times when we need to adjust our intake of food, either in quantity or quality. Such a time is when a woman is pregnant or even if she is planning to become pregnant.

When a woman plans to get pregnant or discovers she is pregnant she needs to change bad eating habits and develop a healthy diet while pregnant. The woman needs to understand the basic needs of her body and that of the unborn child and the foods that will best meet those needs. During pregnancy a woman should not be focused on weight loss but she needs to be focused on maintaining healthy nutrition.

Caloric Intake For Dieting While Pregnant

The old adage that a pregnant woman is eating for two is not quite correct. The nutritional requirements for the unborn child are not for a lot of calories but are for highly nutritious foods. Most women only need to increase their caloric intake by about 300 calories for the growth and development of the baby. There are some high-risk pregnancies that will require different nutritional amounts such as extremely obese women, teen mothers, underweight women and women with medical conditions such as diabetes. These women will need to be closely monitored by their physician and may even want to see a registered dietician for nutritional counselling and advice on dieting while pregnant.

Nutritious Dieting While Pregnant

For good nutrition a pregnant woman will want to be sure to include certain foods in her diet and will, also, want to avoid certain foods. The woman will need to increase her protein intake significantly.

To do this she can eat one or two extra servings daily of lean read meat, poultry, lamb or pork, eggs, or a combination of beans and rice. She will also need to make sure and eat enough fruits and vegetables. One way to do this is to use these foods as snacks during the day.

Raw carrots and other vegetables are great to munch on and provide key vitamins for the growth and development of the child. Of course, a woman also needs to increase her milk intake and make sure and eat enough whole grain foods.

A woman should avoid eating foods that are high in calorie but have little nutritional value. Dieting while pregnant must be focused on eating foods that are high in nutritional value. This focus will enable to child to develop normally and will improve the mother’s health while she is pregnant and leading up to the birth and breastfeeding of the infant.

Good Food For Pregnant Woman

Fruit and vegetables in abundance - you should always aim for five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day. Essentially, a portion is how much yo can hold in the palm of your hand. Use any kind of fruit or vegetable and this includes fresh or frozen; dried or tinned in natural juices. Don’t forget to get the juicer out and blend your own pure fruit juices. Don’t forget that only one glass of fruit juice can be counted towards your five or more portions.
Cereals, bread and the usual rice, pasta and potatoes - these are the staple of almost every cultural diet and they should make up the main part of your meal. Wholegrain cereal foods such as brown rice or wholemeal bread have more fibre and vitamins and are more filling.
Meat and, fish and here you should include your alternatives. These alternatives are meant to provide protein and iron) - try to include some food from this group twice a day. This includes meat, chicken, fish (including tinned fish), eggs, nuts, beans, pulses.
Milk and dairy foods and produce that provides a source of calcium) - maybe include one pint of semi-skimmed or skimmed milk per day or swap some of the milk for a portion of cheese, a yoghurt or a bowl of milk pudding, such as rice pudding. Low fat dairy products have the same amount of calcium as full fat varieties and are always handy to have around.

The best idea for eating whilst pregant is to ensure that you use the best quality food you can afford and eat a wide a varied range of wholesome food types.

Have a great day!