Following a good preconception nutrition programme will ensure that you get adequate levels of nutrients to meet yours and your baby’s needs during pregnancy.
You should follow the standards of healthy eating plan and select properly from the most important food groups and ensure you get a healthy and varied diet.
Food groups that you should include in your preconception nutrition:
|
FOOD GROUPS |
No. Of Servings Per Day |
| Dairy product and milk, for example, yogurt, cheese and low-fat milk |
2-3 |
| Fruits and vegetables – All types of fruits like fresh, frozen, juiced and canned |
At least 5 |
|
Foods sufficient in fat and sugar like pastries, cakes, butter, cooking fats, biscuits, chocolates, sweets, sugary drinks, crisps, cream, and margarine |
Consume in sufficient levels according to your BMI |
| Starchy carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, porridge oats, bread, and potatoes |
5-7 |
| Fish, meat and alternatives, for instance, poultry, lean meat, white fish, peas, pulses, oily fish, eggs, and beans |
2 |
Also, consuming high levels of zinc is very important for preconception health. Oysters are great sources of zinc. This nutrient greatly helps in ovulation and fertility.
Most studies showed that consuming recommended levels of zinc, i.e. 15mg per day can help in the proper functioning of your reproductive system.
Maintaining the list of preconception foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats, dairy products and whole grains helps in providing suggested levels of vitamins and minerals for your reproductive system. This preconception nutrition helps you to conceive easily.
Conception and healthy body weight:
Also, maintaining healthy weight is very important for successful conception.
It is very difficult to conceive for underweight women and overweight women will face greater complications such as diabetes and high blood pressure during the pregnancy period.
Therefore, maintain the ideal weight range by using body mass index (BMI) of 20-25. Follow necessary steps to gain or lose weight and consume the preconception diet. Don’t follow crash dieting as it is not good for health and will break your nutrient stores.
Your preconception nutrition should include:
Calcium: If you are planning for pregnancy, you should get at least 1000 mgs of calcium per day. You will get good calcium levels by eating foods like sardines, cheese, canned salmon, cottage cheese, rice, and low fat yogurt.
Folic acid: Consuming 400 micrograms of folic acid supplement is very essential during child-bearing age. This helps to reduce the risks of neural tube defects like spina bifida. If your family has a history of birth defects, your practitioner will suggest you to increase your daily intake of folic acid.
To get the sufficient levels of folic acid during pregnancy, consume dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, citrus fruits, whole grains, legumes, fortified breads and cereals.
Vitamins and supplements: Along with a healthy diet, most healthcare providers suggest you take the supplements in order to increase the chances of getting all the necessary nutrients.
Remove alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, recreational drugs, and artificial sweeteners from your preconception nutrition. Following these wonderful preconception nutrition steps will ensure you conceive a healthy baby.
There are some preconception planning you want to do prior to getting pregnant. You want to give your baby the best start in life by getting yourself healthy before you get pregnant.