Pre Pregnancy Diet: Why Food is Important When Trying to Have Children

If you plan on jumping on the healthy diet bandwagon only after finding out you are pregnant, you may be putting your unborn child at risk.Women of childbearing age should be eating a healthy diet that consists of lots of fruits and vegetables, even before they conceive.  This is especially important if you are actively trying to have a baby but unfortunately many pregnancies are unexpected and a large percentage of women do not have a healthy pre pregnancy diet.

Even if you get your act together and start following a healthy early pregnancy diet, it might be too late.Studies show that vulnerability to chronic disorders like diabetes is decided in the womb.An unhealthy pre pregnancy diet can also increase the risk of your baby having heart disease later in life. 

Getting the Nutrients you Need Pre Pregnancy

So you may be wondering what constitutes a healthy pre pregnancy diet.An extremely important vitamin in the pre pregnancy days is folic acid.  Consuming plenty of foods rich in folic acid will lessen the chances of neural tube defects like spina bifida.Leafy green and orange veggies like kale, spinach, pumpkin, and carrot are good sources of folic acid.  You can also take a prenatal vitamin to make sure you are getting enough folic acid as well as other important vitamins and minerals.

As hard as this may be at first, cutting fatty foods out of your pre pregnancy diet is a good idea.  That means cutting out red meats, fried foods, whole dairy products, desserts, you name it.This is a difficult sacrifice but if it makes you feel any better, you will be saving yourself a lot of misery in the early months of your pregnancy in addition to improving your overall health.  That’s right, pre pregnancy diets high in fat have been linked to more nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.  Stick to lean meats like poultry and fish in your pre pregnancy diet.Avoid saturated fats.  Add foods with healthy fats to your diet like nuts, seeds, olive oil, and avocado.

Pre pregnancy diets are pretty much like any other healthy diets.You have to eat balanced meals, less fat, and more vitamins and minerals.  There is no science to following a proper pre pregnancy diet but as science suggests, even what you eat while you are trying to conceive will have a huge effect on the health of your baby in the future.  Do yourself and your unborn baby a favor by making some essential changes and improvements to your pre pregnancy diet.