6. Your Nutrition
Dairy products can be very important
during pregnancy. They contain calcium and vitamin D; both are important
to you and baby. Calcium helps keep your bones healthy; baby needs it
to develop strong bones and teeth.
A pregnant woman
should take in 1200mg of calcium a day (1½ times the recommended amount
for nonpregnant women). Your prenatal vitamin supplies about 300mg, so
be sure you eat enough of the right foods to get the other 900mg.
Read food labels to find out how much
calcium per serving is in a packaged food. Every day, write down the
amount of calcium in each food you eat, and keep a running total to be
sure you’re getting 1200mg.
Some Good Sources of Calcium.
Milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream are good calcium sources. Other
foods that contain calcium include broccoli, bok choy, collards,
spinach, salmon, sardines, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), sesame seeds,
almonds, cooked dried beans, tofu and trout. Some foods are fortified
with calcium, such as some orange juice, breads, cereals and grains.
Check your grocery shelves.
Some dairy foods you may choose, and their serving sizes, include the following:
• cottage cheese—¾ cup
• processed cheese (American)—2 ounces
• hard cheese (Parmesan or Romano)—1 ounce
• custard or pudding—1 cup
• milk (whole, 2%, 1%, skim)—8 ounces
• natural cheese (cheddar)—1½ ounces
• yogurt (plain or flavored)—1 cup
If you want to lower calories, choose
low-fat dairy products. Calcium content is unaffected in low-fat dairy
products. Good choices include skim milk, low-fat yogurt and low-fat
cheese.
Increase the amount of calcium you get by
adding powdered nonfat milk to recipes, such as mashed potatoes and meat
loaf. Make fruit shakes with fresh fruit and milk; add a scoop of ice
milk, frozen yogurt or ice cream. Cook rice and oatmeal in skim or
low-fat milk. When you make canned soups, substitute milk for water.
Have a smoothie instead of plain orange juice.
Some foods interfere
with calcium absorption. Salt, tea, coffee, protein and unleavened bread
lower the amount of calcium absorbed.
If you take antibiotics, read the label on
your prescription. If it says not to take it with calcium-containing
foods, take the antibiotic 1 hour before or 2 hours after meals.
If you’re having trouble getting enough
calcium into your diet, ask your healthcare provider about taking a
calcium supplement. He or she can advise you.
Lactose Intolerance.
When lactose is not properly digested, it can cause gas, bloating,
cramps and diarrhea; a person with this problem is referred to as lactose intolerant.
If you’re lactose intolerant, there are many sources of calcium
available to you. Look for calcium-fortified products. Try rice milk and
soy milk fortified with calcium and vitamin D. You may be able to buy
lactose-free milk at your grocery store. If you like cheese, there are
lactose-free brands you can buy. Ask your grocer about them.
The OTC medicine Lactaid helps the
body break down lactose. There are no warnings or precautions about it
for use in pregnancy, but check with your healthcare provider before you use it.
How Much Calcium?
It may be a little difficult to determine how much calcium you’re getting in foods you eat. Package labeling usually lists the percentage of calcium in a food. This may be confusing because it’s hard to know how much that is.
The solution is to understand that
labeling is based on the RDA recommendation for a nonpregnant woman,
which is 800mg a day. If a package states “calcium 20%,” just multiply
800 times 0.2, which gives you the amount of 160mg. Keep a written
record of how much calcium you take in every day. You need a total of
about 1200mg of calcium a day.
7. Listeriosis
Every year about 1500 cases of
listeriosis, a form of food poisoning, are reported in the United
States. About 500 of these cases occur in pregnant women, who are more
susceptible to infection. Babies born to moms who had listeriosis are at
higher risk of developing problems.
Your body can’t absorb more than 500mg of
calcium at a time, so spread your intake out every day. At breakfast,
if you have calcium-fortified orange juice, calcium-fortified bread,
cereal with milk and a carton of yogurt, you may be taking in a lot more
than 500mg, but your body won’t be able to absorb it!
To prevent listeriosis, avoid
unpasteurized milk and any foods made from unpasteurized milk. Avoid
unpasteurized soft cheeses such as Camembert, Brie, feta, Gorgonzola,
bleu cheese and Roquefort. If they have been made with pasteurized milk, soft cheeses are OK during pregnancy. Read labels very carefully.
You also need to be careful of other
products that are not pasteurized, such as some juices. Use caution when
buying fruit juice at a farmers’ market or a farm stand. It may not be
pasteurized. Unpasteurized fresh juice can contain a lot of germs.
Undercooked poultry, red meat,
seafood and hot dogs can also contain listeriosis. Cook all meat and
seafood thoroughly. Be careful about cross-contamination of foods. If
you put raw seafood or hot dogs on a counter or cutting board,
thoroughly wash the area with soap and hot water or a disinfectant before you put other food on that surface.
