A large component of your fertility year is focused on diet. Diet directly impacts hormone and immune health, which in turn affect your fertility. Attention to diet prior to becoming pregnant is also a great way to get into the habit of making healthy choices; once you are pregnant, what you eat will influence your baby’s development and future health.
High blood sugar levels during pregnancy can result in Gestational diabetes, and will increase your baby’s susceptibility to developing diabetes later in life. An easy way to keep your blood sugar in check is making sure that each of your meals and snacks include fat, fiber , and protein . For example, you could begin your day with a breakfast of eggs (protein) with avocado (fat) and greens (fiber) and later snack on a green apple (fiber) with almond butter (protein and fat).
When it comes to pregnancy diets, I recommend patients focus on what I call the “pregnancy superfoods.” Each of these foods is packed with the vitamins and minerals that are critical for embryonic and fetal development.
As you munch on my pregnancy superstars, take care to avoid the following foods and beverages. That said, if one of these slips in every now and then, don’t worry.
While your nutrition needs will increase each trimester, the increase in caloric need is actually no greater than the equivalent of a cup of full fat yogurt and an apple with almond butter. This means that you don’t need to give into daily ice cream cravings. But hey, we’re all human and it’s ok to have a treat every once in awhile.
Wondering how this looks in practice? Here’s a sample day to get you started:
Brittany is a Certified Functional Nutritionist and Lifestyle Practitioner through Holistic Nutrition Lab as well as a Certified Health Coach through The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She has worked extensively with medical practices throughout the Bay Area. Brittany became a health coach after working in finance for several years. She found herself helping her family and coworkers heal from different ailments by making nutrition and supplements recommendations. She later founded an organic subscription snack company to make healthy snacking easier and accessible to people throughout the United States. Her goal is to empower patients with the building blocks to successfully optimize their health through nutrition and lifestyle changes. When not working with patients you can find her hiking in Marin, going to farmers markets and experimenting with new recipes in her kitchen. You can learn more about her at www.wellbeingwithbrittany.com.
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