Wondering what you should eat during your pregnancy? For pregnant women in India, the diet should be carefully looked after, planned and monitored to ensure that the body does not bear the brunt of providing for a growing fetus.
First and foremost, remember that during pregnancy the body needs more calories. In fact, 300 more calories per day to be precise. The nausea and vomiting during the initial months makes sticking to this diet plan difficult. Nevertheless, consuming a balanced diet is essential to the your own safety, and also your child’s healthy delivery.
Here, for the very first time in India, is a detailed dietary plan created specially for pregnant women in India:
The Pregnant Women’s Diet In India
- Include a variety of foods that contain a wide variety of nutrients in your diet. Consume at least 6-11 servings of breads and grains, 2-4 servings of fruit, four of dairy goods, at least five helpings of fresh vegetables, and three protein-rich servings of foods like meat,poultry, fish, eggs or nuts. Don’t include a lot of fats and sweets in your meals.
- Go for food that is high in fiber content and is also enriched with nutrients. Good examples of the same are whole-grain breads, pasts, rice, etc.
- Consume at least three helpings of iron-rich food every single day during carrying a child. Insure that you get the minimum of 25 mg of iron in your body daily.
- Ensure that your body gets the its vitamins and minerals in adequate amounts. Consult your gynecologist for a prenatal vitamin supplement to help with the timely and consistent delivery of minerals and vitamins.
- Get at least 1000-1400 mg of calcium in your system every single day during the exhausting period of pregnancy. This means consuming copious amounts of dairy products high in calcium.
- Vitamin C is very important for you during this period in your life. Choose at least one food item rich in Vitamin C and ensure that you consume at least 70 mg of this vitamin daily. Ideal items include cauliflower, brussel sprouts, green peppers, oranges, grapefruits, strawberries, honeydew and papaya.
- Folic acid is important for the body too. Consuming dark leafy vegetables, veal and pulses like rajma, urad dal, and arhar dal is highly recommended. Include a minimum of 0.4 mg of folic acid daily to prevent neural tube defects like spina bifida.
- Vitamin A is another nutrient that the body demands during this particularly stressful period. Sources include pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots and turnips. Do not overdo it though, since intake exceeding 10,000 IU per day is known to be a cause of fetal malformations.
What Not To Include During Your Pregnancy
- Avoid alcohol completely. Not only can it result in a premature delivery, but it is also known to cause mental retardation, birth defects, and underweight babies.
- Consume no more than 300mg of caffeine daily. This restriction applies to chocolate too, which contains the equivalent of 1/4 cup of coffee.
- Stay off artificial sweeteners altogether. This means that you should consumer regular sugar instead of products like Sugar Free, which has only recently become a rage in urban India.
- Decrease the total amount of fat to the below 30% mark again your total calories consumed in a day.
- Cholesterol is a strict no-no. 300mg is the limit in a day.
- Stay away from any fish that contain high levels of mercury in them. This element can be very dangerous for the growing fetus.
- Be very careful while consuming other types of seafood. Avoid shellfish as much as you can. Raw fish is advised against too.
Diet Plan For Pregnancy Women In India With Morning Sickness
The initial months are the most difficult for pregnant women. It is common for them to suffer from morning sickness, diarrhea, and/or constipation. It gets especially difficult to hold food down without vomiting it out. Following are some dietary suggestions for pregnant women in India to overcome this difficult phase:
- Morning sickness can be tackled by eating light biscuits or cereal before you even get out of your bed. Opt for small, but frequent meals, spread out throughout the day. Avoid food that is fried, rich in fats, and greasy because it only further worsens the discomfort.
- Constipation can be dealt with by consuming fresh fruits and vegetables. Drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day is also known to be of great help.
- To deal with diarrhea, women would need to ear more food that contain pectin and gums, which are two essential types of dietary fiber that help to adsorb excess water in the body. Examples of such foods include bananas, white rice and oatmeal.
- You can deal with heartburn by eating small and frequent meal spread throughout the day. Try drinking a glass of milk before sitting down to eat. Also limit your intake of caffeinated foods and beverages.
When looking for a diet for pregnant Indian women, it is essential that one also consults a qualified nutritionist to identity any underlying allergies that may exist. Since your body is extremely fragile during this period, you should take extra care to consume a nutrient-rich diet.
This Pregnant Women’s Diet In India plan was created specially to help Indian women to eat healthy, and eat better during the magical, yet very uncomfortable, period of pregnancy.
