Find healthy recipes during pregnancy to ensure the baby is eating right and you are physically prepared for the delivery.
Step 1: Fix the 6
Fix meals with recipes containing the 6 pyramid food groups of grains, fruits, vegetables, meat and beans, dairy products, and oils. Eat cereals rich in folic acid for breakfast, especially in your first 28 days of pregnancy.
Step 2: Have some snacks
Blend fresh lemons and honey for a tart treat, adding sugar by heating some with a cup of water on the stove to make a syrup. This may help with morning sickness. Prepare a smoothie with fruit, yogurt, and peanut butter for a healthy snack. Treating snacks as mini meals throughout the day like like this may reduce heartburn.
Step 3: Make turkey burgers
Make turkey burgers, which contain 40 percent of the daily protein requirement for pregnant women, plus plenty of iron and fiber. Add a variety of seasonings to spice them up. Ditch the bun and cheese to cut sodium, especially if your stomach is reacting.
Tip: If you were overweight before your pregnancy, consult a physician about how much you should be eating and how to get sufficient nutrients, which will be even more important if you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
Step 4: Drink soy
Drink a soy milk and wheat germ shake, which contains 20 percent of your folic acid requirement and a critical infusion of omega-3 fatty acids.
Step 5: Increase calcium
Increase the calcium in your diet by adding broccoli, spinach, and calcium-fortified juices and foods. Use prenatal vitamins or calcium supplements to provide a calcium boost if you're lactose-intolerant.
Tip: What you consume and the health of the baby are strongly connected. Stay away from alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, nonpasteurized dairy, fish high in mercury, and deli meats, which can contain listeria.
Step 6: Enjoy taco salad
Enjoy a protein-packed taco salad with black beans, which adds B-12, iron, and zinc requirements to the equation.
Step 7: Jazz it up
Jazz up dinner and treat yourself with sliced tomato and avocado on grilled farm-raised salmon or another low-mercury fish, cooked brown rice and a side of green beans. Add a multigrain roll for the perfect, healthy way to nourish yourself and your baby.
Did You Know?
Infants absorb 50 to 75 percent of the iron in breast milk, but normally less than 12 percent of that in commercial formula.
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