There is a lot of information out there for pregnant women about what you should and shouldn't eat. First of all, what would you advise pregnant ladies to steer clear of. What foods should they avoid during pregnancy?
We would encourage a healthy balanced diet, it can be quite daunting to have a long list of what you should and shouldn't have. And trying to remember it, you're going out for dinner and it just gets a bit too much!
Trying to remember everything. So, really the main focus is just trying to have a healthy balanced diet. There are a couple of foods that we would recommend to steer clear of during pregnancy. So things like pate, and soft cheeses. That have the rind on them.Whether they are pasterised or not.
If anyone still likes to have liver, its high in vitamin A so we would advise against that as well. We would advise to steer clear of, There is also alcohol as well, that we would advise to steer clear of. We don't know what level is safe in pregnancies. So the safest information is just to avoid it completely, really.
And caffeine as well, is something to keep an eye on. So having the odd tea or coffee is absolutely fine, we would advise that no more than a couple of cups of tea or coffee within a day if it is caffeinated. But also chocolate counts, unfortunately. So its just remembering that as well.
I found that, during my own pregnancy, that I got very tired, particularly during trimester one. And also during trimester three. Are there any foods in particular that you would recommend? Pregnancy is hard work! So, eating little and often, really can help as well. Things like just having some healthy snacks in the fridge like raw vegetables, hummus. Things like that, can really help!
Just to have that to hand. if its accessible then you're more likely to go for it. Then you know, opening a pack of crisps or something like that. Things like nuts are really good, again, you can just have a pack in your handbag. They are high in fat but a handful of them are really good. They are high in energy and they are a source of protein as well.
When it comes to carbohydrates; things like bread and pasta. If you could try to choose wholegrains, brown pasta and bread things like that. Then that's just slow releasing and so you won't get those energy spikes with foods like that, really.
And, are there any key supplements that pregnant women should be taking? Absolutely, there are two main ones that we would always really encourage all pregnant women to take. And that's folic acid and vitamin D. If you have become pregnant, and you haven't started to take your folic acid, it's really important not to panic.
As soon as you find out that you are pregnant, then to get ahold of some folic acid as soon as you can and keep taking it until at least the end of the first trimester.
The other one is vitamin D, and again we would advise to start taking that as soon as you find out that you are pregnant and for the rest of your pregnancy and if you continue to breastfeed as well. To continue taking vitamin D whilst you are breastfeeding.
Kate, morning sickness in pregnancy is often very common. Or evening sickness as it can occur, what are your recommendations for what people should eat if they are suffering from morning sickness?
So sickness in pregnancy can be really really tough to get through and as you say it can be in the evenings, in can be in the mornings, it can be anytime of the day. We do say generally its at the beginning of pregnancy but for some ladies it can come and go throughout the whole pregnancy and it can be really difficult to eat or even think about eating.
The most important thing is just making sure that you are getting enough fluids, slow sips of water, adding some citrus to it can really help as well. just a bit of flavour. But it's not too strong. And then, not trying to eat big meals all at once. Just have some snacks throughout the day, small ones that you can pick on when you feel that you can bring yourself to eat.
Useful things to have are crackers, if thats all you can start off with. And then really going by what you fancy and whats going to give you energy as well. if you find that you really can't keep anything down, and you are really not feeling well then definitely go and see your GP or your midwife.
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