Food Guidelines for Pregnant Women

By Jayde Johanssen

Pregnancy is an extremely special time of a woman's life. It's filled with changes and new experiences. Your body is charged with hormones and there's new life developing inside you. Given all the transformations that are taking place, the subject of what to eat, and also what not to eat get's a whole new meaning.

Food, both during and after pregnancy, is a big issue. What one does eat affects the child inside, after all. The information that surrounds food and pregnancy can be pretty fuzzy. The good news is, however, generally, what you can and can eat stays the same, except for some notable exceptions.

Most nutritionists suggest that pregnant women beware of certain foods, while completely steering clear of others. A lot of this is general knowledge, but when you delve into the exact details, the fine print as it were, it can get rather confusing. It becomes difficult to decipher what's actually bad for you.

Family members are eager to dish out advice. Strangers even will offer you their supposed tried and true tips when it comes to diet and babies and giving birth, etc. All this often unsolicited information can be frustrating and confusing all at once. It doesn't help that those extra hormones make you delicately testy and moody.

Indeed, matters aren't helped by the fact that it seems like every time you turn around there's a new article published in some obscure scientific journal that purports such and such food is actually bad for you or vice versa, it's actually really good for you. Reports often contradict each other. This mishmash of information only ends up making more women even more confused.

At the end of the day, all this extra information is too hard to digest. It complicates matters rather than providing enlightenment.

The question of what one can eat and what one shouldn't eat when pregnant can be boiled down to a few basic guidelines. The thing to remember is that you should be smart. Eat in moderation and put your common sense to work. Don't over indulge.

According to the experts, when pregnant, you don't actually have to alter your diet drastically. In fact they offer guidelines which are in line with what you should eat when you're not pregnant, with a few alterations, of course.

You should always remember to wash all fruits and vegetables before you eat them. Remember too, to be careful with foods such as cantaloupe and water melon-the rinds can actually contain harmful bacteria that may be transferred to the fruit, so do wash them before you cut into them.

Cook food so that it is well done; this is especially true for poultry and other meats. Don't risk getting food poisoning.

Remember to wash your hands before and after touching meat.

Try not to eat junk food all the time. It's better to eat high fat food in moderation, despite the odd cravings.

The FDA warns that pregnant and nursing women should avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and Tilefish in large amounts due to the amount of methyl mercury they contain. Methyl mercury is a toxic form of mercury that accumulates in fish.

Canned and shell fish are safer options.

Alcohol should be avoided. - 30241

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here