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You want to be empowered
with trusted information on healthy babies and a healthy
you! The Mocha Manual has it covered.
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Pick up The Mocha
Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy for our hearty Appendix
chock full of helpful resources on everything from hypnobirthing
to finding household
help and from fixing your relationship to fixing your
finances.
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In the meantime, check out
some
of our favorite links: |
ACOG
American College of
Obstetricians and
Gynecologists
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NIH
National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development
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NUFF
National Uterine Fibroids
Foundation |
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Share
Pregnancy Loss |
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WHANJ
Women’s Health Alliance of NJ |
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HEALTHY EATING
By Jamillah Hoy-Rosas, Registered Dietician, MPH, CDN
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When you are pregnant, your baby depends on what you
eat to grow and develop properly. Following a healthy diet helps to ensure
that you gain the right amount of weight and avoid complications during
pregnancy and delivery. It also helps to make sure you baby is not born
underweight or premature.
Here are some quick ways to improve your nutritional profile.
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First, stay hydrated. Just not with soda & coffee.
Try to develop a love of water and commit to drinking 6-8 glasses
a day. If you don’t like the taste of plain water, try adding
lemon or orange slices for color and flavor, even watermelon balls
are a fun and pretty addition. Try sparkling waters or flavored spritzers
as great alternatives to soda.
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When you may need to give up or limit a few favorites,
like coffee. It is recommended that pregnant women have no more than
300 mg of caffeine per day. Too much caffeine can leave you dehydrated
and jittery. A wonderful and easy substitute to soothe your java
jones and get an energy boost, is green tea, which has less caffeine
per cup than coffee and lots of healthy antioxidants.
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A great and easy way to make tea that is not too
sweet is to mix it with juice. You want to avoid heavily sweetened
bottled or brewed teas as much as possible, as they tend to have
more sugar than is healthful.
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Here is a super easy recipe for Iced Cranberry
Green Tea: First, you fill ½ a glass with ice and cooled, brewed
green tea like I have in this kettle, and the other half with cranberry
juice cocktail. Swirl and enjoy. You should not need to add any sugar
and you’ll get both the benefits of the green tea (possible
cancer and heart disease fighting) and the cranberry juice (prevents
urinary tract infections).
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Now, one thing you don’t have to give up when you’re
pregnant is chocolate, which is good news to many. You want to make
sure that the chocolate you are eating is dark chocolate, and that
the label says it has at least 70% cocoa content. Cocoa is the ingredient
responsible for chocolate’s health benefits, so you should avoid
milk chocolate or white chocolate which are low in cocoa. Eating
a small piece of dark chocolate can help improve mood during pregnancy,
decrease nausea, and maybe reduce the risk of miscarriage.
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Another option is buying natural unsweetened cocoa
powder and using it to make a perfect cup of hot chocolate as a bedtime
drink. When buying the powder, the only ingredient should be cocoa.
A fast and delicious recipe combines 1 Tbsp. each of unsweetened
cocoa powder, ground cinnamon to 1 cup of milk with 2 tsp of sugar.
Add to a small pot, warm & enjoy. Cinnamon is a wonderful spice with
many health benefits of its own, such as helping to reduce blood
sugars, especially important if you have a history of diabetes in
pregnancy.
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The other big nutrition tip is to add fiber to your meals. You
need about 25-30 grams of fiber per day, but most women get only
12-14. Adding fiber does not have to be a tasteless or stomach-ache
inducing adventure. The best way to add fiber is to eat more whole
grains, fruit and vegetables.
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Tips: Try using whole wheat bread instead of white
bread, brown rice instead of white rice, whole-grain cereal with
at least 3g of fiber per serving instead of sugar-sweetened, low-fiber
options. If dining out, ask for a side salad, steamed vegetables
or vegetable soup to eat first in your meal, and then end your meal
with fresh fruit. |
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Another easy way to add fiber and lots of great nutrition to
your meals is beans. Beans are a great source of iron, protein, folic
acid, fiber and potassium. To avoid the gassy side effects, try using
Beano, or eating small portions (1/2 cup) twice a day. To save time,
it is ok to buy canned versions of beans and rinse off the added
salt, before you cook them. Your best nutritional bets are chick
peas, lentils and kidney beans. Beans are great in salads, soups,
paired with rice or pasta, or as the main dish cooked with sweet
potato, onion and garlic.
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For more advice on staying your healthiest
during pregnancy, check out The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy by Kimberly Seals Allers (Amistad/HarperCollins). |
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