Search Results for: starchy foods

As the saying goes, You are what you eat. Never is that truer than when youre pregnant or nursing for both you and your baby. Pregnancy and new parenthood is a time to really focus on taking the best care of yourself since youre now providing for two (or more!). Yet, even with the best intentions, many women struggle with being healthy when dealing with perinatal depression. 10-20% of women experience depression during pregnancy (antepartum depression), while according to Postpartum Support International, 1in 8 women suffer from postpartum depression. Thankfully, there are many treatment options available including therapy, medication and support groups. (Please talk to your health care provider). But what about the foods you eat? Using food as medicine by increasing your diet with natural mood boosters is one piece of the treatment puzzle to consider. What to put on your plate? Read on

Pregnant women need healthy carbs, and plenty of them—nine servings daily, according to “Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn: The Complete Guide” by Simkin, Whalley and Keppler. Healthy carbs are complex carbohydrates such as bread and pasta made from unrefined grains, beans, legumes, potatoes with their skins, fruits and vegetables. Healthy carbohydrates retain the nutritious, high-fiber content that the refining process eliminates. Healthy carbs fill you up and are highly nutritious to boot, with plenty of vitamins and protein, furnishing many of the extra calories you need to provide nutrition for your unborn baby. There’s one catch: If you have gestational diabetes, it’s especially important to check with your doctor about your carbohydrate intake, since you may need to moderate your starchy foods to control your blood sugar.

The March of Dimes reports more than 50 percent of all pregnant women experience nausea during pregnancy to some extent. If you are lucky, your nausea will subside by the onset of the second trimester, usually around week 12. But for some, nausea doesn’t completely go away until after delivery. The only way to get through the nausea is to learn how to manage it.