Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

Healthy Pregnancy Tips, Indian Diet During Pregnancy, Tips Pregnancy Nutrition: You don't have to give up all the foods you love when you're pregnant. You just need to eat smart and make sure that most of your choices are healthy ones.

It’s easy for an expecting mother to lose track of what and when she eats as she juggles household responsibilities while meeting the demands of her changing body. If that’s the case with you, read on.

Here are some great tips to keep you well-nourished amidst your chores, and also on days when you just feel like lazing around all day!

Food Menu: A healthy pregnancy menu should have a variety of food items from different categories of food groups such as-

* Carbohydrates: Around four cups a day of whole grains, cereals, rice, pasta, whole wheat bread would give the much-needed energy boost to your body for all the extra work that it’s doing.

* Proteins: 2 ½ -3 cups of lean meat, dals, fish, nuts, milk, paneer, eggs, per day are essential for the tissue growth of a developing foetus.

* Vitamins and Minerals are required for boosting the baby’s immune system, nerve and muscle development, formation of blood, brain development, and other vital bodily functions.

Around three cups, or four to five helpings of fruits, 2 ½ cups of green leafy vegetables, and three cups of milk are needed by your pregnant body. You must also consume liver, eggs, dates, almonds, walnuts and oily fish for various major and minor minerals.

* Fats: Butter, vegetable oil, olive oil, fatty fish coconut milk, etc can be had amounting to about six teaspoons a day.

* Fluids and water are extremely important to keep you hydrated. Here is a simplified version of this menu for you to follow.

You may use this sample food menu as a base to plan your meals, during the nine months. Remember to keep alternating food choices, according to seasons, and your moods, to avoid monotony.

* Early Morning: Half a cup of almonds / apricots/ walnuts.

* Breakfast: A bowl of poha / upma / cereal / one masala dosa / an egg omelet, a glass of orange juice.

* Mid-morning: Fresh fruit juices, one vegetable sandwich in whole wheat bread, a slice of cheese.

* Lunch: Chapattis, grilled chicken/ paneer / dal, fresh fruit salad, a bowl of curd.

* Afternoon: A glass of coconut water/ lassi, strawberries/ one banana, 2-3 ragi biscuits/ crackers

* Dinner: Lean meat/ fish/ cooked vegetables, chapattis/ rice, soup, an apple.

* Around bedtime: A glass of warm milk.