Women who eat well and avoid known risks tend to have fewer complications during pregnancy and labor and are more likely to deliver larger, healthier babies. They are also more likely to have an overall better sense of mental wellness. Eating a well-balanced diet, high in nutrients, is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the future health of both you and your baby, both physically and mentally. Making the right food choices can help with hormone levels, brain chemistry, mood and depression. Of course, while food and healthy eating are not a substitute for needing help for serious depression or mental illness, it is one of the factors most easily in your control.
You can easily select what your body, baby and mind need by eating a variety of foods from all five food groups daily:
Grains, Cereals and Breads:
Pregnant women need 6 to 11 servings daily from this group. Although it is important to distinguish between helpings and servings: A sandwich with two slices of bread, a typical helping, is actually two standard servings according to the USDA Food Pyramid. A typical plate of spaghetti contains at least one cup of pasta, which is two standard servings. You should eat at least the minimum number of servings and then add other servings to meet your caloric needs. It’s important to note that being pregnant is not a good time to go on a diet – but is also not a time for gorging on everything you want.
Foods in the bread/cereal group are especially high in carbohydrates, our primary source of energy and very important for brain function. Grain products are also a good source of protein, which is the building material of body tissue for you and your baby. Many grains are enriched with B-vitamins and iron. It’s important to check the iron content on nutrition information labels – look at cereal boxes, for example, because iron needs almost double during pregnancy. A very healthy “brain grain” is quinoa. Quinoa is very high in protein and can be used as a substitute for meat fillers like bread crumbs and in place of rice, or oatmeal, all without raising your glycemic index.
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