Pregnancy represents a physiological process absolutely extraordinary, which involves unique nutritional requirements. It is very important what you eat during the pregnancy because a good diet is essential as much as it is for the baby that you carry in your womb as for the construction and sustaining the metabolism. It is compulsory to keep in mind that the growing up and the balanced development of your baby will depend very much on the diet that you will adopt.
In order to have a healthy baby, your organism needs a surplus of 300 calories per day, with the condition that you have usual daily activities.
It is very good to know that during the pregnancy the future mother needs a surplus of vitamins and minerals with 50% more than usual and 10 grams of proteins per day for the growing of the foetus and of the placenta, the increase of the cellular liquid, of the breasts and uterus. This caloric surplus must be sufficient to reach a bigger weight (7-10 kilograms) than the weight you had before pregnancy. If before pregnancy you are very skinny, the specialists recommend a gaining of weight of 10-12 kilograms.
The pregnancy diet must be a balanced one and it must contain aliments from all the four groups of the nutritional pyramid. So, at least once a day, you must consume one of the following aliments from the first group: meet (preferably chicken or beef), fish, eggs, bean, lentils, peanut butter, hazels, sunflower seeds or nuts. Be careful at what quantity of food you eat. Even if you must consume daily one of these aliments, try not to eat too much, because you will gain weight. From the second group of aliments you need milk, cheese and yoghurt. The third group of aliments, the group of fruits and vegetables is divided in two categories: fruits and vegetables which contain big quantities of vitamin C (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, green sweet pepper, spinach, potatoes, watermelon, melons, lemon, oranges, papaya, strawberries) and those which contain considerable quantities of beta-carotene, that the organism transforms into vitamin A (broccoli, cabbage, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, apricots, watermelon, nectarines, papaya, peaches and pumpkins). From cereal’s group you can pick up the brown bread or the graham, the same as the whole grains. You must be careful not to eat more than 4 slices of bread per day.
If you are vegetarian you don’t have to worry about your pregnancy diet because you have a lot of options. The necessary calcium can be procured from the plants which contain this substance, such as cereals, soy, fruits and vegetables. The animal proteins can be replaced with the vegetal ones contained by kidney bean, lentils, pea, seeds and peanut butter. Cereals, bread and dried fruits are rich in iron and they can successfully replace the red meet.
If before the pregnancy you have a balanced diet all the previous nutritional requirements won’t affect you very much. If not, you must get used to the fact that there is no better moment to improve your diet than now, when you are carrying a baby.