Six essential nutrients you need when pregnant and five foods to avoid (don’t worry, you can still have ice cream)
A nutrition educator and mother of three shares her dietary tips to help ‘build’ a better baby, overturning some myths along the way and reminding us that pregnancy is a marathon – not a sprint
When I was pregnant for the first time, I read what I thought to be one of the greatest perspectives on eating during pregnancy. Nina Planck, author of Real Food and Real Food for Mother and Baby, wrote, “You have about 40 weeks to build a baby.”
I loved two things about her statement. First, it made me feel as though I had some control over building a healthy baby, which ultimately empowered me to eat well to try to build the healthiest baby that I could.
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Second, I appreciated her message that building a baby is not a sprint, but rather a 40-week-long marathon. This alleviated some of the pressure that everything I did had to be perfect in order for my baby to grow. A few oversized bowls of ice cream, some lazy days without exercise, or a late night out without proper shut-eye would not break my baby. This was a relief.
Although playing the long game of pregnancy takes the pressure off each individual meal, there are undeniably certain nutrients that are most vital to a baby’s healthy growth. It is recommended that a mother-to-be obtain extra of these during her pregnancy.
The essential nutrients during pregnancy are:
