Eating well is important throughout your life, but at no other time is it more important to make sure you’re eating well than when you’re pregnant.
What you eat affects the growth of your baby, but it also affects your health. Not only that, but it can directly impact your labor, either making things easier or harder when contractions start.
Eating more fruits and vegetables is always a good rule of thumb to follow when you’re pregnant, but there are also some more specific things you should focus on eating while you’re expecting for a better pregnancy and birth.
Probiotics
Probiotics are popular among both men and women, whether they are expecting or not. They can improve many functions of the body by making sure your gut is colonized by the right bacteria, helping with bowel movements, cognitive function, and immune system support.
The good news is that taking probiotics is completely safe during pregnancy! In fact, it is even recommended. It’s estimated that 40 per cent of pregnant women suffer from constipation at the end of pregnancy. When taking a probiotic, one study found that only a little over two per cent suffered the same problems. That’s a 94 per cent reduction!
There are some other benefits of taking probiotics during pregnancy. It has the potential to fight bad bacteria in the body, which can lower the risk of infections to your baby after birth. It is also believed that it can help reduce the chances of experiencing preterm birth.
Spinach
It is surprisingly common to experience low levels of anaemia when pregnant. As your body produces more blood to support the growth of your baby, your body naturally requires more iron. If you aren’t getting it from the food you eat, you will end up feeling even more tired and weak than you already do as a pregnant woman. If your iron deficiency is severe enough, you can increase your chances of serious complications during pregnancy and labour.
Fortunately, adding iron to your diet isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Quite a few different foods contain iron, but one of the best to add to your diet is spinach.
Eating a raw spinach salad for lunch is a great way to get more iron in your diet, but you can increase the iron you get from this leafy green by eating it cooked in pasta, omelets, and more.
Legumes
Folic acid goes by many names. It is sometimes referred to as folate, but it is also considered a B vitamin. It’s important to take during pregnancy because it can prevent some major birth defects that include anencephaly and spina bifida. There are many prenatal supplements containing folic acid which is essential to consume during pregnancy. Many pharmacies sell these prenatal vitamins at affordable prices and you can also buy prescription online from such pharmacies.
Making sure it’s included in your prenatal vitamin is a good idea, but you can also add it to your diet naturally by adding legumes to the food you eat.
What exactly are legumes? A few you can add to your diet include:
- Beans
- Peas
- Lentils
- Chickpeas
Not only do legumes increase the folate in your diet, but they are also a great source of protein, fibre, iron, and more.
Dates
Dates are a lot more popular in the middle east than they are here in the states, but you can easily find them in your local grocery store with the nuts and other dried fruits.
They are packed full of nutrients that can help keep you healthy during pregnancy, like fibre, natural fructose, folate, iron, and vitamin K. However, they are also thought to help with labour.
It is believed that eating six dates every day for four to five weeks before your due date can help start labor naturally by increasing cervical dilatation.
Raspberry Leaf
Eating raspberry leaf doesn’t mean munching on the leaves of the raspberry plant! Instead, it’s a lot easier to consume when added to tea or when taken as a supplement.
Not only does drinking raspberry leaf tea give you something healthy to drink besides water, but it’s also thought to tone and strengthen uterine muscle fibres. This can help jumpstart labour, but it is also thought to stave off excessive postpartum bleeding. Just make sure you talk to your doctor or midwife before you drink it, as the actual research on taking this supplement is limited.
Pregnancy can be a beautiful and empowering experience, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or comfortable. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make things better during and after pregnancy, and it’s as easy as adding the things on this list to your diet!
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