Healthy eating should begin well before conception
The news of an impending birth and the desire for a healthy pregnancy and baby causes many changes in a household. One of the most common is the complete clean out of the kitchen pantry until it is void of once common foods like tuna, soft cheeses, and almost anything fittingly described as junk food. The exceptions are perhaps the pickles, peanut butter, and ice cream that are saved only by merit of irrational and insatiable cravings.
The casual observation that a healthy pregnancy is often founded upon a healthy diet is almost so obvious it doesn’t bear utterance. Yet many healthy foods for normal day-to-day eating become very strong no-no’s for an expectant mother.
Even more surprising is the list of foods that can actually prevent or at least hamper the ability to get pregnant. Couples struggling with infertility should pay close attention to dangerous foods found in everyday eating that actually undermine efforts to conceive.
Foods to Get Pregnant
Eating right for pregnancy should begin even before the positive pregnancy test. There are two main reasons for this. The first being that most women do not find out about their little passenger until he or she has been on board for as many as 6-8 weeks.
In these first few weeks of life, some of the most vital and vulnerable body systems develop such as heart, brain, spine, and nervous system. Nutrient deficiencies of key foods and the toxic effects of other foods can cause irreversible defects. It is very important to eat the right foods, while avoiding potentially harmful ones during these critical and usually unknown weeks.
The next reason to eat right well before baby is on the way is that if you don’t, baby may never even have the chance to begin the journey to your heart and home. Foods can actually cause or at least greatly contribute to infertility.
With the complicated technology used by infertility doctors, it is often surprising to think that the elimination of something as innocent as white sugar can have a dramatic impact on the odds of successful conception followed by a healthy pregnancy and birth.
Pregnancy Miracle outlines the top ten worst foods you should never eat when you are struggling to get pregnant. Did you know, for example, that there is a certain beverage, which can decrease your chances of conceiving by 50%? Couples who are reading this article in preparation for a healthy pregnancy can do themselves a favor by visiting this site to learn more.
A short list of foods to avoid includes:
- White sugars (this covers starchy-carbohydrate loaded vegetables like potatoes)
- Processed white flours in breads and pasta
- Caffeine and alcohol
Foods that should be eaten in abundance are raw fruits and vegetables (organically grown are the best choice to avoid toxic chemicals) and nuts and fish.
Healthy Pregnancy Foods
Once you know you are eating for two, the rules change only slightly. Alcohol, nicotine and other drugs and medications are still off limits. These substances are recognized globally as being bad for a grown body. Their effects on a developing fetus can be devastating.
Equally disastrous effects on the health of the baby and mom can be perpetrated by much less obvious food sources. For example, fish are not the healthy food choice they seem to be. Fish, particularly fish that fill the role of top predators like shark and tuna, can contain very high levels of mercury. Eating too much fish can actually cause the fetus to become poisoned by the mercury resulting in miscarriage or very serious birth defects.
Foods that contain bacteria can likewise be dangerous. Soft cheeses are the main culprit here. A fetus and pregnant mother is more susceptive to the usually harmless bacteria in cheese such as brie and bleu cheese and can be made seriously ill by them. Other no-no foods are honey, raw eggs (this includes unbaked cookie dough), and sushi.
More food for thought comes in the form of healthy food choices in the produce and butcher block section of the grocery store. Apples, broccoli and lean meats like chicken are usually hailed as health food options.
For the optimum in healthy pregnancy foods, these choices should be examined more closely. Fruits and vegetable often have traces of fertilizer, chemical pesticides, and even bacteria on their skins. Meats have been found to contain traces of steroids and antibiotics.
Choosing organically grown options might cost a bit more, but it removes the potential harm posed by chemicals and steroids. Yet do not underestimate the importance of proper food preparation before consumption.
No organic farmer on the planet can protect his products from the germs on the hands of other shoppers. Most of the little germs found on foodstuffs come from other shoppers. Wash your food thoroughly before you eat it even when you are eating it raw, like you would an apple.
The basic rule of eating concerning how to achieve healthy pregnancy is in serving sizes and portions eaten each day. To achieve optimal health, grains should be of the whole grain variety and 8-12 small portions or 4-6 large portions should be eaten each day.
Fruits and vegetables comprise the next largest portion and should be eaten at least 5-7 times each day, of these 5-7 servings at least two servings should be green leafy veggies. Protein is very important and at least 50 grams of protein need to be eaten daily. Some experts recommend even more.
This article is just a jumping off point. There is much more to eating right for a healthy pregnancy. The Internet is filled with many web pages where you can research more. But be careful. Not all websites are based on clinically based research. To be sure, you are getting correct and current information to learn more about specific foods for a healthy pregnancy, a great website to begin with is this website, click here to learn more.