A guide to eating healthy during pregnancy in order to avoid health related problems for a pregnant women and their baby.

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One of the most pressing issues for pregnant women today is diet and nutrition. With the
availability of preprocessed foods and fast-food restaurants, it’s easy to unconsciously do harm to
oneself by making poor food choices. For more information and tips click here:
http://www.diet-for-pregnant-women.com/
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Pregnancy, the most vital phase in a women's life, makes her go through several psychological,
emotional and physical changes. With the evolving baby in your body, your body begins to
demand more from its average intake of diet. This is where a balanced pregnancy diet bridges the
gap for extra nutrients that your body requires for a healthy pregnancy.
Plan Your Diet Wisely
Although the demand for nutrients increases during pregnancy, but it is always wise to plan and
choose food from various food groups. Ensure that your nutrition during pregnancy has food like
vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses and milk products which are rich in calcium, protein, Vitamin A,B
and C. Apart from these food combinations you have to ensure that you have certain nutrients
which are vital for you and your child's growth during your pregnancy stage. For the sake of ease
let us list down the nutrients which play a significant role in our pregnancy diet:-
Folic Acid In Pregnancy Diet
Folic acid, better known as Folate, is rich in vitamin B and is found mostly in green leafy
vegetables such as spinach, orange juice and kale(type of Cabbage). Folate prevents your child
from serious abnormalities of the brain and spine. Lack of Folic acid leads to inadequate growth of
the fetus, underdeveloped brain, incomplete closure of spinal cord, preterm delivery and low birth
weight.
Calcium in pregnancy diet
Calcium is another important nutrient, which should be a part of your pregnancy Diet. Calcium is
used by the body. When a women's body begins to lack in calcium, the body itself begins to take
calcium from the bones needed for the baby, thus making the bones weak and in the end fragile
enough to break (osteoporosis). Having dairy products like fat free milk, hard cheese, green leafy
vegetables like kale, fortified food like Orange juice and cereals will help you overcome your
deficiency for calcium.
Iron In Pregnancy Diet
During your pregnancy period, the need for iron intake also increases. Iron in our blood helps carry
oxygen to the blood cells. During pregnancy women have blood in excess volume, so this excess
blood requires an excess amount of iron. During pregnancy not just your blood cells but your
growing child's cells require oxygen, this is where again the demand for the amount of oxygen is

2. fulfilled by iron.
Lack of iron leads to Anemia, which can result in preterm delivery or low weight baby, excessive
low iron could make your child anemic in infancy. Iron deficiency can be made up by having red
meat, shellfish, beans, potatoes and iron fortified cereals.
Concerns On Pregnancy Weight Planning
Pregnancy weight has always been a matter of concern for women during pregnancy. Weight
varies from women to women and from pregnancy to pregnancy, so you need not worry too much.
If you are underweight try to gain a little weight as underweight women mostly have underweight
babies. Doctors normally try to ensure that you gain weight through your pregnancy diet. If you
don't your body fat is used to support pregnancy.
If overweight you obviously do not want to gain more, but losing weight during pregnancy is not a
good idea as it could affect your child. Thus, overweight women should try not to gain anything
more than 15 pounds throughout their pregnancy.
On a closing note, have a balanced and disciplined pregnancy diet for a happy and healthy
motherhood.
Having a balanced pregnancy diet is very important during the pregnancy period. One should take
care of diet and nutrition during pregnancy to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Pregnancy-Period.Com has almost all that you would like to know about pregnancy and related
issues.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Apurva_Jain
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One of the most pressing issues for pregnant women today is diet and nutrition. With the
availability of preprocessed foods and fast-food restaurants, it’s easy to unconsciously do harm to
oneself by making poor food choices. For more information and tips click here:
http://www.diet-for-pregnant-women.com/

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