Nutrition During Pregnancy

Any doctor will tell you that good nutrition is one of the keys to staying healthy. Your body requires certain key nutrients every day to function as well as a certain number of calories to provide the energy needed to carry out all of the functions of life. Pregnancy brings about some changes in the nutritional needs of the soon to be mother.

While good nutrition is important at any time, pregnancy brings nutrition to a whole new level of importance. The choices a woman makes concerning what to eat and how much have a direct bearing on the health and wellbeing of the growing baby inside her. This is the time to pay closer attention to maintaining a balance of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, complex carbohydrates, and lean proteins. All of these elements are needed by the mother to both sustain her own body and to provide the building blocks needed by the fetus to grown into a healthy baby.

One fact of pregnancy that can not be gotten around is that a pregnant woman will gain weight. Her body will store up a certain amount of fat to sustain it during labor and delivery. The baby will grow and gain weight. Her uterus will grow to accommodate the growing baby and she will produce amniotic fluid to surround and protect the baby during the pregnancy. All of these factors contribute to the normal weight gain a woman experiences during her pregnancy. Yet, it is important to control how much weight is gained and how rapidly. Proper nutrition is the first step in maintaining that control.

There is a common myth that a pregnant woman should “eat for two”. This implies that she should eat twice as much as she normally would. The plain truth is that she should increase her caloric intake by only about 300 calories per day during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. These extra calories are needed to support the extra weigh she is carrying around and to contribute to the baby as it grows.

Another common myth is that a pregnant woman will crave only the foods that she needs. The truth is that food cravings can come at any time for any thing. Relying on cravings as a guide to determine what foods a woman needs is not an accurate gauge of her dietary needs. Follow the advice of a doctor or nutritionist to ensure that mother and baby are receiving the proper amounts of nutrients.

Iron, folic acid, certain key vitamins, and several trace minerals are needed in increased amounts during pregnancy. Most of a woman’s dietary needs can be met with a well planned and well balanced diet consisting of plenty of vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. Many doctors will also prescribe a prenatal multivitamin to help assure that mother and baby receive adequate amounts of these key nutrients. Even with the vitamin supplement, eating the proper number of calories from the proper types of foods and reducing junk foods are the best ways to meet the dietary needs of a woman during pregnancy.

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