When you do find out that you are pregnant, it comes with a number of lifestyle changes and one of them must be your diet. If you’re the type of person who eats a lot of junk food and you just eat randomly throughout the day then this all needs to stop because you need to be taking better care of yourself because you’re now taking care of a growing baby as well. The thing to remember here is that your baby needs the right kind of nutrition and so whatever you put in your mouth dictates whether or not your baby is going to be strong and healthy. You need to make sure that your diet consists of healthy proteins, lots of fibre to keep you regular and a number of different carbohydrates including fresh fruit and vegetables.
There are five essential food groups that you need to be considering and these are things that your doctor has always told you about. These essential foods include vegetables, fruits, proteins, some dairy and grains. There are many kinds of foods to avoid in the second trimester and if you stay away from these then your pregnancy will be a little easier on you. It is also incredibly important that you are taking some kind of prenatal vitamins to meet your nutrition needs during your pregnancy. You want your child to have a healthy brain and so try to eat foods that contain essential omega-3 fats. The following are just some of the foods that you really do need to stay away from in your second trimester.
1. Seafood that contains mercury –
Although we know that seafood can be incredibly good for us, some particular kinds contain far too much mercury and this is something that can be very damaging to your unborn child. If you do insist on eating seafood because you love it, then try to restrict yourself to low mercury seafood like canned tuna, sardines and salmon.
2. Stay away from pasteurised products –
It is unlikely that you’re going to be drinking any unpasteurised milk but it may be that you enjoy certain soft cheeses that are out there and so you need to avoid these whenever possible. Always check the label on all dairy products to see if the product itself has been pasteurised.
3. Reduce your caffeine intake –
You’re probably used to having 5 or 6 cups of coffee every single day to keep you going and provide you with the energy that you need to get through any working day. Now that you’re pregnant you need to ease back on that and try to restrict yourself to one or 2 cups a day.
4. No alcohol for you –
This is something that you should stay away from completely while you are carrying your child because it has been proven to cause many birth defects and other different kinds of health complications.
5. Find alternatives to artificial sweeteners –
You probably want to try to keep the weight off because you hope to get yourself back into shape once you have your baby and so you may be tempted to use artificial sweeteners in your tea or coffee. Try to avoid them whenever possible and it is always a good idea to find an alternative like some honey. There have been many studies indicating that artificial sweeteners while carrying an unborn baby may cause your child to experience problems with obesity later on in life.
These are the foods that you should be avoiding at all times and although you will experience cravings during the first, second and third trimester, you need to fight these cravings and try to substitute them with something a lot healthier. Hopefully your cravings will include things like fruits and vegetables rather than candy and high sugar chocolate. If you can follow all of the advice that has been given here then you can look forward to a fairly trouble-free pregnancy and at the end of it all there will be a beautiful baby arriving.
