Pregnancy Nutrition Guidelines for a Healthy Pregnancy

Pregnancy nutrition guidelines are necessary for pregnant women. It’s true that during this time, you need just 300 calories extra daily. However, they should not be empty calories. Nutrition is the word here.

Read on to know about the exact nutrition during pregnancy that you need. It’s not difficult at all to follow a well balanced vegetarian nutrition diet during pregnancy.

Calcium

As per the pregnancy nutrition guidelines that are prepared by doctors, your calcium intake at this time should range from 1200-1500 mg daily. Calcium is vital for the healthy growth and development of your baby’s bones, muscles, heart, and teeth. If you do not take adequate calcium, your baby will use your calcium reserves. This increases the risk of osteoporosis in you.

Your pregnancy nutrition chart should contain milk and its products. For lactose intolerant women, there are lactose-free milk products, buttermilk, soy milk, or cultured yoghurt. If this doesn’t work, ask your doctor for calcium supplements.

Protein

During pregnancy, you need about 60 grams of protein daily for the healthy growth of your baby. Besides, it keeps your placenta, uterus, and breasts in a healthy state; it increases the volume of blood, and produces adequate amniotic fluid.

Iron

According to the pregnancy nutrition guidelines, iron is important for production of hemoglobin in the mom-to-be and her fetus. Besides this, in the last trimester, your baby takes iron reserves from your body to keep anemia at bay in the first six months of it’s life. Also, you lose a certain amount of blood during delivery. For all these reasons, it’s crucial to increase the intake of iron.

Your body needs only 27 mg of iron daily yet you need to take 60 mg because not all ingested iron is absorbed in the body. If you are found to be anemic, it’s good to take pregnancy nutrition supplements of iron.

One of the tricks to absorb iron better is to take it with vitamin C enriched foods. Tomato juice, orange, or grapefruit are good options. Avoid taking them with milk, cheese, or other calcium enriched foods, as calcium hampers the absorption of iron.

Vitamins

Pregnancy nutrition guidelines recommend a 25-50 % increase in the intake of vitamins. The requirement of folic acid doubles to 400 micrograms daily at this time. Eating a variety of foods in your pregnancy diet leads to the fulfillment of vitamin requirement.

Even if you think that you are taking a nutritious diet during pregnancy, it’s important to have a look at pregnancy nutrition guidelines and read pertinent articles and books.