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Congratulations on your decision to start a family and trying to conceive!
As a mom to be, one of the most important things you can do to ensure the well
being of your children is to eat a healthy and nutritious diet.
Healthy eating begins long before conception ever occurs. Eating nutritionally
sound meals before conception will help ensure that your baby has an optimal
environment to grow in, and reduces the likelihood for deficiencies that might
result in birth defects.
If you are interested in starting a family, you should begin evaluating your
diet immediately and examine whether or not you have enough nutrient stores to
carry a baby for nine months.
Circumstances that might have depleted your nutrient stores may include:
Recent long term illness
Eating disorders.
Recent pregnancy.
Lack of well balanced diet.
Inadequate calcium intake.
Excessive dieting.
Preparing for Your Baby
The first thing you should do to ensure adequate nutrient stores is begin taking
a prenatal supplement with at least 400 micrograms of folic acid. Folic acid
helps reduce the chances that your baby will be born with a congenital disorder
such as spina bifida.
Folic acid helps facilitate proper cell growth and enables proper development of
the embryo, preventing serious physical problems including neural tube defects.
In fact, folic acid supplementation can reduce your risks for neural tube
defects by as much as 70%! That is nothing to sneeze at! In addition folic acid
is known to help reduce the likelihood of recurrent miscarriage, preterm
delivery and even low birth weight babies.
There are foods you can eat that are also rich in folic acid or 'folate.' These
include dried beans, peas, fortified grain products and cereals, fruits and dark
leafy greens.
Even if you eat plenty of foods with folate however, it is important that you
supplement because your body may not be absorbing the nutrients from food as
efficiently as it would from a supplement.
Cooking foods also sometimes reduces the nutrient density, thus you may not be
getting as many nutrients as you assume simply from eating high quality foods.
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Things to Avoid Before Pregnancy
Though it is important that you take a multi-vitamin while pregnant, you want to
be sure to avoid mega-vitamins in the months preceding conception.
Certain dietary supplements and herbal preparations can harm your baby in the
short or long term. For example, doses of vitamin A in excess of 10,000 IU per
day may result in birth defects in your newborn.
Certain herbal preparations are also toxic, and can cause uterine contractions.
Examples include goldenseal, fenugreek, parsley and more. While some herbal
preparations are beneficial for boosting milk production after pregnancy, they
are not recommended during pregnancy.
If you are not certain about the safety of a product, avoid it until you consult
with your physician.
Other substances that you should avoid or limit both pre pregnancy and during
pregnancy include:
Well Balanced Diet
Eating a healthy diet is vital to your health and the health of your developing
baby.
Good nutrition both before and during pregnancy is essential for delivering a
healthy baby. Good nutrition habits early in your pregnancy will also carry over
after delivery, and ensure that your breast milk is chock full of nutrients.
Be sure that you are getting a minimum of 1200 mg of calcium every day before
conceiving. This may be accomplished by eating three or more servings of calcium
rich foods per day including dairy products and dark leafy vegetables.
Iron intake is also vital during pregnancy. Prior to becoming pregnant you will
benefit from boosting your iron stores.
There are several natural and good quality sources of iron you can incorporate
into your diet including:
Meats
Chicken or poultry
Fish
Leafy Greens
Iron enriched grains and products such as cereals and rice.
Remember that everything you do in the months prior to conceiving may impact
the future health and well being of your baby.
If your diet is not well balanced, take time out before conceiving to ensure
that you are eating a well balanced diet from each of the four food groups.
