6 Reasons to Eat Healthily During Pregnancy

Eat Healthily During Pregnancy. It’s important to eat healthily at any time of life, but if you look after yourself when you’re pregnant your body will be strong and relaxed and more able to deal with the stresses and strains of carrying a baby. You’ll look good and feel better and less stressed if you eat and drink the right things. Here’s six to get you started.

Eat Green Leafy Vegetables

Vegetables like broccoli, kale and spinach are packed with calcium. It’s calcium that gives you strong joints and keeps your muscles from becoming tired and sore. The also contain antioxidants which help brain health and keep you calm and relaxed. Add the vegetables to your evening meal and have a nice hot cup of milk before bed to make you feel relaxed. Always eat Healthily During Pregnancy

Stay Hydrated

Drink plenty of water throughout the day and eat foods that hydrate your body too. Pulses like lentils and beans, fruits such as grapes and bananas and porridge which contains oatmeal are great way to stay hydrated. Your tissues, ligaments and tendons are put under some strain in pregnancy and keeping your body hydrated helps them to stay supple and strong.

Get Enough Magnesium

Magnesium helps the body to stay calm and, so you’ll feel less anxious. It also helps to keep your body temperature constant so that you don’t end up feeling over-heated and fatigued. Wholegrain foods such as barley, buckwheat and brown rice all contain magnesium.

Top Up Your Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps to keep muscles strong, increases bone density, helps iron absorption and protects you against colds and flu. Top up your vitamin C by eating oranges, kiwi’s, strawberries and grapefruit or add green and red pepper, broccoli and brussels sprouts to your meals.

Increase Your Protein

During pregnancy you’ll feel tired because your body is working hard looking after you and your baby. Increase your protein consumption to give you some added energy. Eggs and chicken are healthy ways to eat protein and so are soya and pulses, like chickpeas and beans.

Put Fish on your Dish

Although you should stay away from certain seafoods, fish is a healthy addition to your pregnancy diet. Try fish that are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids because it is said that it improves cognitive and visual development and lowers the risk of your baby developing allergies. Try delicious salmon and tuna which are easy to prepare.

Give These a Miss

There aren’t many foods you can’t eat while you’re pregnant, but some foods aren’t good to eat at all during pregnancy, so give a miss to:

• Soft Cheese – Including blue cheeses. These are best left because there is a risk of listeria which isn’t nice for you and could harm baby.
• Pate – Any raw or undercooked meat carries a risk of toxoplasmosis, so don’t eat raw, undercooked meat or pate while you’re pregnant
• Raw Shellfish – Raw shellfish might contain bacteria or viruses that could give you food poisoning, so avoid it now. You can eat other types of fish including Sushi, as long as the raw fish has been frozen first.

If you want to see the full list of foods to avoid, have a look at the NHS website.

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