The latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that pregnant women consume eight to 12 ounces of safe seafood every week, but with all the warnings surround seafood, you may be wondering what’s safe to eat. This excellent guide from the National Fisheries Institute explains seafood safety during pregnancy and provides many delicious and nutritious fish recipes for pregnant women and their families. Check it out.
March 3, 2011
February 16, 2011
Move It, Mom!
Now that you’re pregnant, you may be wondering about how much, and what type, of exercise is right for you. Regular physical activity during pregnancy helps you gain the right amount of weight, strengthens your heart and lungs, boosts your mood, and may reduce the risk of pregnancy complications, including preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.
According to the government’s physical activity guidelines, 150 minutes a week (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity physical activity is safe for healthy pregnant women, preferably spread out over five days during the week.
If you were relatively inactive before you conceived, start slowly and work up to the 150 minute-a-week goal. If you’re already there, keep going, and speak with your doctor about making adjustments in your activity as pregnancy progresses. You’ll tire more easily as your due date gets closer, so be aware that the aerobic activity you’ve been doing all along may be more of a challenge for you. Now is not the time to take up a strenuous sport, or one where you risk falling, abdominal injury, or pressure changes (no sky diving!) either.
If you’re just beginning to get more physical activity, try walking, or exercise programs tailored for pregnant women, such as yoga and strength training classes.
Examples of Moderate Intensity Aerobic Activities
• Walking briskly (3 miles an hour – 20 minutes per mile – or faster, but not race-walking)
• Water aerobics
• Bicycling slower than 10 miles – 6 minutes per mile- an hour (Use a stationary bike.)
• Ballroom and line dancing
• General gardening (raking, trimming shrubs, mowing the lawn )
• Swimming
• Using hand cyclers – also known as ergometers
January 31, 2011
2010 Dietary Guidelines: What They Mean for Pregnant and Nursing Women
Today, the United States Department of Agriculture released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines (DG) for Americans. The latest recommendations about what to eat have lots of advice for pregnant and breastfeeding women, and for women in their childbearing years who may become pregnant. Here are the highlights:
• Healthy weight: If you may become pregnant, and especially if you’re trying for a child, you should achieve a healthy weight before conception. Starting pregnancy at a healthy weight, and gaining the right number of pounds during pregnancy (which is based on your pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index), reduces your chance of pregnancy complications, and improves your health and your child’s, possibly for a lifetime.
• Iron: If you’re pregnant, take an iron supplement. Even if you’re not pregnant, choose foods rich in heme iron, the form of iron most easily absorbed by the body. Animal foods, such as lean beef, pork, and seafood, are rich in heme iron. Another DG recommendation: include foods with non-heme iron, such as cereal, bread, rice, and pasta, and consume foods with vitamin C, such as orange juice, mango, tomatoes, and strawberries, to increase the body’s absorption of non-heme iron.
• Folic acid: Women in their childbearing years who are capable of becoming pregnant should get 400 micrograms (ug) of folic acid daily. Folic acid is a man-made B vitamin that reduces the risk of certain birth defects that occur during the first month after conception. You should also include in your diet foods with folate, folic acid’s naturally-occurring counterpart. Beans, orange juice, and dark leafy greens provide folate.
• Fish: The latest DG recommend that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding consume 8 to 12 ounces of fish every week. Fish supplies omega-3 fats, which are touted as heart healthy. But when it comes to pregnancy and nursing, the most important omega-3 fat is docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. Your baby’s body starts hoarding DHA around the 24th week of pregnancy because it’s vital for proper brain development and peak vision. Nursing moms need adequate DHA in their diet to pass on to their child through breast milk. (Many infant formulas contain DHA, too.)
The recommendation for fish comes with a caveat: choose a variety of lower-risk fish, such as salmon; limit white (albacore) tuna to 6 ounces a week; and avoid tile fish, shark, swordfish and king mackerel.
If you don’t think you can get as much fish as the DG recommend, supplement your diet with fortified foods, including eggs, such as Eggland’s Best, and fortified milk and yogurt. One of my favorite lunches when I was pregnant and even now is two Eggland’s Best eggs fried in a bit of olive oil on a whole wheat English muffin. Yum!