Eating Healthy

Pregnancy Diet

 What diet should you eat for your baby? Good pregnancy nutrition is the best thing you can do for your baby. Your pregnancy only lasts a short time so eat a good diet for yourself and the little one. You obviously care allot about your diet because you have landed on this page. Here are some helpful tips for a good pregnancy diet.

Foods to Avoid

 Fish: Fish, which boasts omega-3 fatty acids that help baby's brain development, is a great meal choice right now. But stay away from some varieties due to high levels of methyl-mercury, a pollutant that can affect baby's nervous system. These include swordfish, shark, and tilefish -- all big species that live longer, accumulating more mercury in their flesh. You may want to avoid these fish entirely during your childbearing years because your body stores mercury for up to four years.

In fact, most types of fish contain traces of mercury, so you'll want to limit your weekly consumption of safer varieties too. According to the newest guidelines from the FDA, you can enjoy up to 12 ounces a week (roughly two meals) of lower-mercury fish such as salmon, catfish, pollack, shrimp, and canned light tuna. Of those 12 ounces, only 6 should come from canned "white" albacore tuna, which tends to contain more mercury than light tuna. If you're eating fish caught in local waters, check online with your state's department of health for advisories (if you can't find any information, limit yourself to 6 ounces).

Sushi: With the exception of California rolls and other cooked items, sushi is not safe when you're expecting, either, because it may contain illness-inducing parasites.

  Eggs:  Because raw eggs may be tainted with salmonella, a bacterium that can cause fever, vomiting, and diarrhea, watch out for restaurant-made Caesar salad dressing, homemade eggnog, raw cookie dough, and soft scrambled or sunny-side up eggs -- any dish in which the eggs (both yolk and white) are not cooked completely. "If eggs are cooked, the risk is gone,"  Madeleine Sigman-Grant, PhD, maternal child health and nutrition extension specialist at the University of Nevada

Nitrate-Rich Foods:  It's also smart to go easy on hot dogs (which should always be eaten cooked) and cured meats such as bacon and sausage. These contain nitrates, additives that have been called into question for possible links to brain tumors and diabetes. Although studies aren't conclusive, it makes sense to limit your consumption -- these foods aren't great nutritional choices anyway. What about your beloved diet sodas? They're considered safe during pregnancy and, beyond not being a stellar nutritional choice, there's no scientific evidence that they cause harm. But on the downside, at least one artificial sweetener (saccharin) that's often found in diet sodas does cross the placenta, and artificially sweetened drinks are usually low in nutritional value. So again, we recommend moderation. 

   Caffeine: When it comes to caffeine, the studies can be very confusing. One study did link caffeine to increased health risks in the fetus. We recommend no Caffine to be on the safe side.
Alcohol: You'll need to give up that cocktail after work, too. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause physical defects, learning disabilities, and emotional problems in children, so many experts recommend that you give up alcohol for your entire pregnancy.

                                                       What to Eat

Eat small meals every four hours

Even if you're not hungry, chances are your baby is, so try to eat at least every four hours. If nausea , food aversions, heartburn  or indigestion  make eating a chore, you may find that eating five or six mini meals, rather than the usual hearty three square, is easier on your body. Don't ever skip meals. Even if you're not hungry, your developing baby needs regular sustenance.

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