Long before onesies and toys come into the picture, you can give your baby the essential building blocks of good nutrition. The gift of good eating starts even before conception and is critical throughout your pregnancy and when you are nursing.
However, pregnancy doesn’t always lend itself to eating an ideal diet. You might struggle with morning sickness and not want to eat anything, or you might get hit with nightly junk food cravings. You might even develop an aversion to certain foods and limit your culinary desires to a few bland favorites.
So during pregnancy, how do you eat everything necessary? The information on what to eat before, during and after pregnancy is overwhelming, so we sifted through the science to make it easier for you. Here are 10 key nutritional building blocks for you and your little one.
- Calories Folate
- Carbohydrates Calcium
- Protein Fluids
- Fat Vitamins
- Iron Foods to Avoid
- Calories
In relation to diet, a calorie is a unit of energy produced by food. Your body needs energy (calories) to exist. You burn, or metabolize, different types of calories (carbohydrates, protein and fat) to produce energy and complete your daily tasks, including nursing, exercise or even just to sitting at a computer.
Your energy needs increase when you bring pregnancy onto the plate, but not at the scale of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Your calorie needs increase only 10 to 15 percent, or about 300 calories — that’s equal to about one Bellybar (170-180 calories) and a large apple. When you are nursing, your dietary needs increase by about 500 calories — that’s equal to about one Bellybar, a banana, one ounce of cheddar cheese and a few crackers in addition to your regular diet.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 published by the USDA, women of childbearing age need 2,000 to 2,400 calories a day (depending on how active you are). A pregnant woman needs about 2,300-2,700 calories a day. And a nursing mom typically needs an extra 500 calories a day, above your pregnancy calorie requirement. You might need even more calories if you have a very large baby who consumes more milk or if you’re feeding multiple babies.
During pregnancy, the extra calories go straight to your belly, where your body is building a new human life and an entirely new organ to support it, the placenta. To sustain such growth, your blood volume increases up to 30 percent more than normal. Your body mass increases almost 20 percent during pregnancy, the equivalent of 25 to 35lbs for a normal woman, as recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences. What you eat not only helps the growth and development of your unborn baby, but also helps you deal with the stresses of pregnancy — both physical and emotional.
But beware, more food to eat doesn’t mean a free license to eat everything you want at any quantity. You really aren’t eating for two; it’s more like eating for one and a third. The best way to ensure a healthy calorie intake is to eat a variety of foods and follow the Food Guide Pyramid designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005
Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences
Carbohydrates
Although carbohydrates are often labeled a villain these days, carbohydrates are actually critical to your diet. Carbohydrates provide the foundation of a healthy diet and include sugars, starches and fiber. When you eat a carbohydrate, your body breaks it down into blood sugar (glucose), which is used for energy, especially for your brain and nervous system. If you don’t use the energy, your body converts it to fat stores.
The IOM recommends approximately 45 percent to 65 percent of your total daily calories should come from carbohydrates. There are two types of carbohydrates: complex and simple. Your body absorbs complex carbohydrates more slowly than simple sugars, which fuels you with more energy for a longer period of time.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for carbohydrates during pregnancy is 175 grams per day. Getting this amount of carbohydrates is important to help prevent hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, during pregnancy. If you become hypoglycemic, your body will dip into its own fat stores and convert it back to glucose for energy use. This result may be fine when you are trying to lose weight, but pregnancy is not the time to do so.
Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences, Dietary Reference Intakes
Complex carbohydrates provide calories, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, whereas simple carbohydrates do not. Complex carbohydrates require your body to break them down into simple sugars before your body can utilize them, providing a longer duration of energy. They can be found in foods like whole grains, whole grain cereals, potatoes and beans, fruits and vegetables — including legumes, lentils and peas.
Simple carbohydrates are sugars that provide instant energy and come in the form of foods like honey, fruits and some vegetables and milk products. Although these sources of simple carbohydrates also provide some nutrition, processed foods and refined sugars are simple carbohydrates that are high in calories, but that’s about it. They have what’s called, “empty calories.” Your best bet is to eat carbohydrates from a natural source, such as fruit instead of food sweetened with white refined table sugar.
To fill the gap, you can also eat a fortified snack such as Bellybar, which is made from natural, unprocessed ingredients and provides a nutritious source of complex carbohydrates with good sugars, calories, vitamins, minerals and fiber that help feed your growing baby.
Protein
Protein is a cornerstone for your baby’s growth. It is essential to any diet, whether or not you are pregnant. Protein is necessary for the creation, function, regulation and growth or strengthening of your body’s cells, tissues, and organs.
Protein is found in many foods, both plant and animal. Legumes (pod foods like peas and beans), poultry, seafood, meat, dairy products, nuts and seeds are the best sources of protein. But choose your protein wisely — high-protein foods are often also high in fat and cholesterol.
The amount of protein your body needs varies depending on your weight. Nevertheless, it should comprise 10 percent to 35 percent of your total daily calories — about 46 grams a day for an average woman. When you’re pregnant, increase your protein intake by about 15 grams to 60 grams a day. You’ll have the added bonus of other extra vitamins and minerals because protein rich foods are also often loaded with iron, vitamin B6, and zinc. Bellybar contains 8g of protein — a great way to supplement your protein intake every day.
Fat
Like carbohydrates, fat is a popular dietary villain. However, there are different kinds of fat found in food, some are better than others. The secret to dietary fat is balance — no more than 30 percent of your daily calories should come from fat, or four daily servings (the equivalent of about two teaspoons of fat a day when you are pregnant).
Good fat is important for absorbing fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K). Good fat also helps your growing baby develop supple skin, aids in vision development and new studies indicate it may help in brain development and your child’s intelligence. There are four types of fat:
“Good” fat:
Monounsaturated fat helps lower cholesterol and is found in olive, canola, and peanut oils, as well as in nuts and nut butters.
Polyunsaturated fat is also called fatty acid, or essential fatty acids. There are two types: Omega-3 fatty acids (found in some fish and vegetarian sources, such as flaxseed) and Omega-6 fatty acids (found in canola and corn oils and also in flaxseed). Bellybar contains 60mg of Omega-3s and 300mg of Omega-6s. One bar will get you on your way to good health.
“Bad” fat (also known as trans-fats):
Saturated fat raises your cholesterol level. Saturated fats are found in high-fat meats (such as liver), whole milk, and tropical oils (like palm oil). Although it won’t have a negative effect on your baby, a diet high in saturated fat can raise your cholesterol and may put you at future risk for heart disease and cancer.
Hydrogenated fat (also called partially hydrogenated) is a manufactured product where hydrogen atoms are added to the fat to create a more solid texture (think margarine) and a longer shelf life. Products like margarine, and most store variety crackers, cookies, and chips have trans fats so they last longer.
So why are fatty acids so good? They are essential for cell function and cell life. Fatty acids help keep your cell membranes healthy and strong, so that minerals and molecules are allowed in and out of cells, but harmful chemicals or unwanted organisms (things like bacteria, viruses, molds and parasites) are kept out.
The Omega-3 fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is of particular importance because studies indicate it may help lower your risk for depression, assist in your baby’s brain and vision acuity and even stabilize your newborn’s sleep cycles. Likewise, DHA is a key ingredient in breast milk and is now being added to some infant formulas.
Because of elevated levels of mercury and other toxins in fish, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency both recommend that you limit eating certain types of fish when you might become pregnant, during pregnancy and lactation.
Avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish (they contain high levels of toxins).
Limit eating fish that contain low levels of mercury to 12 ounces a week, such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. Limit canned albacore “white” tuna to six ounces a week because it has higher levels of mercury than canned light tuna.
Because of these restrictions surrounding the consumption of fish during pregnancy, you can also get DHA by consuming Omega 3s from vegetarian sources like flaxseed (an ingredient in Bellybar), walnuts and tofu; the Omega 3s are converted to DHA in the body, and such conversion increases during pregnancy.
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