You might have heard it a lot: Eating nutritious foods is essential during pregnancy because your little one depends on you to get the required nutrition. Because if you choose the best foods for pregnancy, you can reduce the complications such as low birth weight, congenital disabilities, anaemia, etc.
Do you want to know what food items will make your tummy and baby healthy and happy?
This article makes you aware of some healthy and delicious foods that will give your baby the best start in life.
So, now explore the ten best foods for pregnancy:
1. Milk
Milk is one of the best foods for pregnancy. A mom-to-be should drink about two to three servings of milk as it has all nine essential amino acids required for sustenance, growth, and development.
Moreover, milk provides healthy amounts of calcium, protein, and vitamin D to ensure a healthy pregnancy and fetal growth.
The following are the benefits of milk during pregnancy:
- Milk is good for providing calcium to support the developing fetal skeleton.
- It can help you meet your daily protein requirement to strengthen the uterus, improve your blood supply, and nourish the baby.
- Milk can help you get vitamin D, which could help prevent neonatal rickets and low birth weight.
- Drinking milk can help you relieve the symptoms of heartburn to an extent.
- It is good to keep you hydrated and compensate for the fluid loss in your body.
In short, milk consumption is very beneficial for both mom and child during pregnancy.
2. Mangoes
Eating mangoes during pregnancy has many other health benefits. Some of them are:
- Mangoes are an excellent source of vitamin B6, which can control nausea and beat morning sickness.
- They are rich in vitamin C, necessary for building immunity, repairing tissues, and developing your baby’s teeth and bones.
- They are a good source of vitamin A, which helps promote the functional development of the fetus and prevent night blindness in pregnant women.
- They contain a good amount of folate or folic acid, which can reduce the possibilities of severe abnormalities of the brain and spinal cord (neural tube defects) in the fetus.
- Mangoes are also high in calories. Thus, they are an excellent snack for your third trimester when you need the most calories in your nine months.
- The fibre content in mangoes can help with constipation in pregnant women.
Although mangoes are one of the best foods for pregnancy, like with everything, try to have them in moderation.
Moreover, mangoes are naturally sweet. Thus, it is an excellent alternative to cakes and pastries when craving a sugary treat.
3. Oranges
Undoubtedly, oranges also come in the list of best foods for pregnancy. Because they are a great source of vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps prevent cell damage. It also helps your body absorb iron.
In addition to that, oranges help you stay hydrated. They’re also a great source of folate or folic acid. Folate is a B vitamin that’s very important in helping prevent brain and spinal cord defects, also known as neural tube defects.
4. Legumes
Legumes are excellent plant-based sources of fibre, protein, iron, folate, and calcium — all essential during pregnancy. That’s why most nutritionists recommend oranges as one of the best foods for pregnancy.
Folate is one of the essential B vitamins (B9). It’s necessary for mom and baby, especially during the first trimester.
5. Eggs
Eggs are versatile and a good source of protein that provides amino acids for pregnant moms and their babies. They contain more than a dozen vitamins and minerals, including choline, which is suitable for a baby’s brain development.
Even though eggs are one of the best foods for pregnancy, raw or uncooked eggs are not safe because they may carry disease-causing organisms like Salmonella bacteria, which can cause food poisoning.
6. Banana
Bananas are chock full of B vitamins, particularly vitamin B6. This vitamin is in most anti-nausea meds pregnant women take if they struggle with nausea and vomiting. Sometimes, if your morning sickness is relatively mild, adding a banana or 2 to your diet can do the trick.
Many pregnant women struggle with low iron levels and anaemia. So, eating the best foods for pregnancy, like bananas, can help boost those iron levels. As bananas are high in fibre, they will promote good digestion. The extra fibre in your diet can help to give you regular bowel movements and avoid constipation, which is common during pregnancy.
7. Coconut Water
Coconut water can be an option during pregnancy, as it is hydrating and provides electrolytes.
It contains moderate amounts of sugar, protein, and sodium, thus helping maintain the daily levels of Fluid and electrolytes required by the body.
Studies have shown that coconut water during pregnancy helps build immunity, improves kidney function, prevents urinary tract infections (UTIs), and helps lower high blood pressure levels.
Moreover, it is low in calories, contains some dietary fibres and healthy omega fatty acids recommended for pregnant women and helps them keep their weight in check. That’s how coconut water became popular in the list of best foods for pregnancy.
8. Broccoli
Consuming broccoli during pregnancy seems to be one of the healthiest choices. It is a cruciferous vegetable from the Brassica family, which can provide you with several nutrients, fibre, and phytochemicals that possess antioxidant properties.
As broccoli is rich in vitamins A, C, K, B6, calcium, folate, fibre, and antioxidant agents, including it in your diet ensures a good haemoglobin supply, strengthens bones, prevents skin ailments and congenital disabilities, and boosts nutrient intake.
It also contains soluble and insoluble fibre that helps retain water and regulates bowel movements. Therefore, it can help prevent constipation.
9. Almond
Almonds are yet another on the list of best foods for pregnancy because they are a good source of all the key nutrients required for the health of both mother and baby.
Rich in dietary fats and carbs, almonds are good for reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and blood sugar during pregnancy.
Its higher iron content is sure to play a vital role in boosting a baby’s immunity and heart development. It also contains vitamin B9 (folate or folic acid), which helps the fetus’s neurological development and helps prevent many congenital disabilities.
In addition to the above, it also contains magnesium, calcium, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin E.
In short, almonds are fully-packed with everything necessary for the best foods for pregnancy.
10. Amla
Amla or gooseberries are also among the best foods for pregnancy, recommended by experts. They are rich in dietary fibre, copper, manganese, potassium, vitamins C, B5, folic acid, and B6.
The folic acid in Amla is proven to cure nausea and balances hormones during pregnancy. It also contains vitamin B, which is required to grow a baby’s bones, muscles, and nerves.
Amla’s detoxifying properties assist with blood purification and provide a regular supply of blood and oxygen to the developing fetus. It increases a pregnant woman’s urine frequency and flushes out toxins and radicals from the body. Blood purification is essential for pregnant women as blood carries oxygen to the baby.
Moreover, regular consumption of Amla helps in maintaining calcium balance in the body of both mother and fetus.
Bottom Line
Pregnancy comes with many responsibilities towards your and your baby’s health. In all this, an essential part is a food you consume for yourself and the baby. It can help give you and your baby all the nutrients you need to stay healthy. In this article, we have discussed the ten best foods for pregnancy. Give them a try.