what to eat week by week during pregnancy?

What foods should you avoid when pregnant?

In case you are pregnant, you are probably not a stranger to food cravings and aversions. Your taste buds may undergo a drastic change during pregnancy. However, everything that you eat right from the first trimester of pregnancy affects you and your baby. The reason you are asked to eat healthy foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, dairy products, nut and seeds is that they are packed with nutrients. Consuming the right amounts of these foods will allow your baby to grow and develop properly. However, there are several foods to avoid when pregnant, as they could have an adverse effect on your baby and pregnancy. Given below are some of the most common foods to avoid when pregnant:

• Undercooked or processed meats: The risk of contamination with listeria increase with the consumption of pate, luncheon meat and deli meat. Any meat that you eat should be cooked thoroughly, so that the bacteria present are destroyed.
• Fish and other types of seafood: The risk of mercury poisoning is very high because of eating certain types of fish and seafood. Make sure that you avoid king mackerel, shark, tile fish and swordfish. Salmon, pike, bluefish, trout, and striped bass should be avoided too.
• Raw shellfish: You could suffer from algae-related infections after eating oysters, clams or mussels.
• Raw eggs: Avoid undercooked or raw eggs in any type of food, like eggnog, salad dressing, mayonnaise and so on.
  
• Soft cheese: Unpasteurized food could lead to severe complications and infections and so stay away from brie, camembert, feta, Roquefort and so on.
• Caffeine: Foods and beverages that contain caffeine flush out the water from your body and lead to water and calcium loss.
• Avoid caffeinated coffee, chocolate, tea and aerated drinks
  Alcohol: Even a few alcoholic drinks can lead to severe birth defects, stillbirths or miscarriages.

Gaining excess weight during pregnancy is also harmful. Therefore, you need to stay away from foods that are high in fat and calories, such as fried food, junk, sweets, oily food, and so on. Some of the other foods to avoid when pregnant include those that you are allergic towards. 

Submitted by P T on September 26, 2011 at 04:52

Pregnancy Week By Week Diet

Diet plays an important role during pregnancy to ensure that both mother and child are safe. Hence during pregnancy women are recommended to cut down their intake of sugar and processed foods especially junk food. Foods like fruits and vegetables are highly recommended to be incorporated into the diet of pregnant women as they are rich in vitamins, minerals and anti oxidants suitable for the baby’s development. Additionally, calcium is required in larger quantities than usual during pregnancy for the formation of the baby’s skeleton, bones and teeth.

During weeks 1 and 2 of the first trimester most pregnant women are not even aware that they are pregnant. However it is essential to start off on a healthy diet as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed to ensure healthy development of the baby. During week 3 and week 4 pregnant women are advised to reduce their intake of caffeine and to completely stop alcohol and smoking as they may harm the baby. Foods like salmon, spinach, carrots, yogurt etc should be added to the daily diet during weeks 3 and 4. During weeks 5 and week 6 many pregnant women tend to experience queasiness or nausea, this can be handled by not consuming strongly spiced foods and increasing the intake of juices or fresh fruits. During weeks 6 – 13 pregnant women are recommended to eat energy rich foods like poultry, nuts, fish and seafood, tofu, and eggs Similarly foods containing complex carbohydrates and iron like baked potatoes, cereals, beans, dry fruits etc should also be consumed. The second trimester of pregnancy comprises of weeks 14 to 27.

During this trimester pregnant women may often suffer from pregnancy related medical issues like constipation, yeast infections, etc. In this trimester pregnant women should consume fiber rich foods that will help relieve constipation and ensure that the food is well cooked as otherwise undercooked meats and eggs may have bacteria which may harm the mother and child. Similarly all fruits and vegetables should be washed thoroughly to get rid of any harmful pesticides. Anemia during the third trimester can also be prevented by taking iron supplements, spinach and vitamin C rich foods. The third and final trimester of pregnancy is made up of weeks 28 to 42. During this trimester foods like papayas and pineapples should not be consumed as they are known to soften the cervix and thereby induce early labor. Sufficient quantities of proteins should also be consumed as it is required to form muscle and tissue mass in the baby.

Submitted by P T on July 7, 2010 at 01:01

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