Pregnant women need to be provided folic
acid to avoid the risk of birth defect.
Lacking iron or folic acid will lead to
anemia. Anemia caused by lacking of iron can increase the risk of gestational
complications, infections, miscarriage and postnatal complications, hemorrhage
for example. In the worse situation anemia can cause death to mother and child.
Adding folic acid before and during
pregnancy will help reduce the risk of fetal neural defects and other birth
defects such as cleft lips and palate, heart defects.
Vegetables
provide quite an amount of folic acid to pregnant women.
Pregnant women should add folic acid on
your own by eating foods instead of waiting for doctor’s prescriptions. The
followings are foods that have plenty of folic acid.
Lentils
Lentils have legume origin, just like green
beans, peas, red beans, black beans, soy, peanuts and horse beans. Lentils have
quite a lot of colors, such as yellow, orange, red… It’s pretty easy to cook
lentils. The foods also have medium flavors. Especially, a part from providing
with acid folic, lentils include many different nutrients like iron and fibers.
Dark-green vegetables
Acid folic – also known as folate, is
derived from “foliage” which means leaf in the reference to green vegetables
that are rich in vitamin. Therefore, pregnant women should eat lots of
vegetables to receive cooling effects, add the essential amount of folic acid
and benefit fetuses.
Orange juice
In hot seasons, drinking orange juice is
the best way to ease the thirst. In order to vary the appetite and avoid being
bored with the food, you can process orange into others dishes such as orange
jam, orange ice-cream or foods served with orange sauce… Those foods are not
only delicious and, but also help the body absorb more folic acid.
Asparagus
This
food can be processed in a variety of dishes.
This food can be processed in a variety of
dishes: savory and sweets. You can combine asparagus with other ingredients like
mint and peas, milk and egg that are used for making pudding.
Red beans
You should soak the beans in the water for
a while then cook them well. Whether you use red beans to cook sweets or other
dishes, the beans are always delicious and healthy; you can enjoy the beans
without concerning about the bloating.
Cauliflower
A part from containing iron, vitamin C,
beta carotene and fiber… cauliflower is one of foods that have the most amount
of folic. Stir-frying, boiling, cooking with rice, making pie… are all match
with cauliflower. It balances other ingredients and makes the food tastier.
Grains
To absorb folic acid in grain without
putting on too many efforts, you should eat grain bread and grain biscuits.
You should eat grains with vegetable to better the grain flavor and have more
folic absorbed.
Sunflower seed
Many women might like eating this food.
Because of its activeness, you can eat the seed while doing other work like
watching TV, reading books, listening to the radio… It also provides more calcium,
iron and prevents hair loss.
Avocado
Avocado
smoothie is delicious and rich in folic acid.
Like salmon and walnut, the avocado is rich
in the precious omega 3, natural fats that are good for cardiac health and
develop children’s brain. The avocado also has folic acid. The simplest way to
enjoy the delicious food is eating avocado smoothie.
Tomato
Vitamin C in tomato helps you absorb iron
better. The cheap ingredient also provides women with lots of choices to make
sure that they and their fetuses absorb the essential amount of folic acid.
Tomato juice and other tomato dishes also have nutrition value, so pregnant
women can be free to choose.