Naturally Healthy Parenting The parent's guide to a healthy family
The period during pregnancy is the most blessed term for woman but most of the women find themselves bewildered on pre natal care. The entire duration from getting pregnant to giving birth a bay is a vital period to determine the future health of the baby. Women should take care of their own health or fitness in order to maintain healthy foetus. It means, whatever you do with your health, it will show its impact on your baby. Therefore you must follow a healthy and proper diet plan to take care of baby’s healthy nourishment. Only the pregnant woman can insure appropriate nutrients of the unborn baby by maintaining a balanced diet, which contains sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals.
Iron: Iron is one of the most important elements that keep you healthy during pregnancy. Iron is present in various proteins and enzymes. During pre natal period one must have minimum 30mg iron per day. Leafy green vegetables, fish, meat and grains are the profound sources of iron. Doctors say that additional amount of iron should be added to the diet chart in order to insure proper supply of oxygen to the baby.
Folic Acid: It is another important element for a pregnant woman because Folic Acid (Vitamin B9) prevents NTD (Neural Tube Defects). Folic Acid protects the unborn baby from having Spina Bifida and Anencephaly and farthermost it also helps preventing other brain related issues along with other spinal cord defects.
Best Source of Folic acid and Vitamin B12: Egg yolk, liver, beans, peas, nuts, potato, spinach and other fruit and vegetables.
Calcium: This is the principle mineral, which determines baby’s stronger bone structure. Lack of sufficient calcium in diet menu would cause serious fallacy to the baby. According to ACOG, a pregnant woman has to consume at least 1000mg-1400mg calcium a day. Orange juice, soy beverages, some leafy green vegetables and cereals are the sources of Vitamin D and calcium. Yogurt and milk are the enriched sources of high calcium.
Protein: This element plays the key role to build the body cell of the foetus. Amino acid in our body creates proteins. During the period of pregnancy you need to add sufficient amount of protein. During the second and third trimesters, various organs in your body including breasts grow bigger. This is the period, when the foetus grows rapidly and that is why extra amount of protein must be added to the diet chart during this period. A pregnant woman needs minimum 100 grams of protein every day.
Sources of Protein: fish, chicken breast, pork, beef, cheese, eggs, beans, soy milk, milk, yogurt, nuts and seeds
On the basis of doctor’s advice, you can take iron and protein supplements. If you are maintaining a healthy pregnancy then you can take Folic acid and Vitamin D as supplement. As long as you are following a balanced diet, you need not to have supplements but in some cases doctors advices to take more vitamins and irons to develop healthy pregnancy.
Your balanced diet should include the main four food groups- 1) Carbohydrates, 2) Fruits and Vegetables, 3) Dairy foods and 4) Protein foods.
People used to believe that during pregnancy woman must double food consumption because a part of the food would feed the unborn baby. This is the time when you need to add extra calories but 200 extra calories is enough during pregnancy. During the second and third trimesters it should be 300 extra calories.
During this pregnancy period, apart from the foods, you must care about maintaining the happy mood and hygiene in order to ensure healthy living. There are various companies in UK that provide number of necessary gears or items as well as they furnish good pregnancy care. VoucherBin (http://www.voucherbin.co.uk/) is the best online place, where you can find latest vouchers on everything you need as it arrays number of reputed Health Care companies in one window.
Pregnancy is the blessing from the almighty and it is our divine duty to take care of the proper nourishment of God’s gift. This is the time, which arrays the future of new generation. So, enjoy pregnancy and take care of the future.
