Pregnancy Nutrition

Eating Well For You During Your
Pregnancy



Eating healthy throughout your pregnancy is the greatest gift you could give
your unborn baby, but there are also a lot of rewards in it for you to. It's
common for many moms to be to forget that they also benefit in eating healthy
through out their pregnancy. What you eat has a direct effect as to how well
your body copes and recovers from all the physical changes it goes through. It
also helps with the physical and emotional challenge of carrying and delivering
a baby.



The truth is, most
pregnant women
rarely walk around all nine months with that rosy glow everyone talks about. The
first three months some of us walk around a nasty shade of green and in a hazy
fog thanks to the tiredness we feel those first three months. The second three
months are a little better, and we are no longer green but we deal with other
issues such as varicose veins and leg cramps.



The third trimester, we are back to the hazy fog again and have other issues
such as swelling and heartburn just to name a few. Some of these can be avoided
with a good diet. Eating foods that have some complex carbs can help reduce your
tiredness and staying away from fatty foods will help with the heartburn.



Research has shown that
pregnant
women who eat healthy throughout their pregnancy usually have a safe and
uncomplicated pregnancy. Studies have shown that some pregnancy complications
such as preeclampsia or high blood pressure can be directly related to
deficiencies in a pregnant woman's diet. High amounts of sugar and
polyunsaturated fats increase this risk as well as having a low intake of
vitamin c, e and magnesium.



Perhaps for some women one of the biggest benefits of eating healthy during
their pregnancy
is that it could help you during labor and delivery. A well balanced pregnancy
diet has been said to help prevent preterm labor, which is labor before 37 weeks.
A good diet can also help you cope with labor and delivery better. Any woman who
has given birth knows how much energy it takes to endure hours of contractions
and sometimes hours of pushing. Eating healthy will ensure that you have the
energy and the stamina to get through your little one's delivery.



Once you have delivered your little one, it is still important to continue your
good habit of healthy eating especially in the postpartum period. Your body
needs a lot of resources to recover from all the stretching, blood loss and not
mention sleep deprivation and still take care of a newborn. It is just as
important in the months following your delivery to continue to eat well. As my
doctor put it, it is essential to eat as though you were pregnant for at least
three months after delivery.



A final added bonus to eating healthy throughout your pregnancy is that you may
never stop eating healthy. This is setting up the groundwork for a lifetime of
eating healthy for not only you but for your children. If you continue to eat
healthy you are setting a prime example for your children.