Preggie Pals: Top 10 Foods to Eat while Pregnant
Why this podcast?
Listening to this podcast is fun. It’s like someone put a recording device in your living room while you had your girlfriends over for coffee.
Although the approach is pretty lighthearted this podcast covers a real range of areas relating to pregnancy and birth and there is some really sound information along with the giggles.
You may remember that the first time I featured this podcast I did a bit of a double whammy in that I focussed on not one, but two episodes. The first, covering breech birth was so informative that I had to feature it and the second, ”Ten Pregnancy Questions You’re too Embarrassed to Ask” just had to be included.
So, who is in this group of girlfriends that we’re listening to?
It varies somewhat each time but included in the group are Stephanie Glover, a childbirth educator and founder of Regarding Birth, which advocates for childbirth education and mentoring. Annie Laird, a birth doula and lactation educator and Sunny Gault, the founder of New Mommy Media.
New Mommy Media includes other pregnancy, parenting and breastfeeding focussed podcasts and you can find more information about those and a few more details on Preggie Pals in this post.
A downside for me is that there are quite a few commercials included in each episode. I guess this is something that either bothers you or doesn’t but the good news is that, as it’s a podcast, you can just fast forward them!
How does it look?
Episodes are released each week with an average episode being around thirty minutes.
A whole range of areas is covered including chiropractic care during pregnancy, fetal tests, preparing for breastfeeding, maternity clothes, a bedrest survival guide, baby names, the benefits of professional birth photography and your hospital bag checklist.
Why this episode?
What to eat for a healthy pregnancy is one of the first questions that comes up for many women when they first discover that they are expecting. This episode should be helpful for so many people.
Top ten guides are always fun and this one is definitely useful too.
Who should listen to this episode?
Anyone who is pregnant or hoping to be soon and looking for some ideas of easy ways to optimise their health and the health of their baby.
The episode
I’m just going to jump straight in with eight of the top ten foods.
To hear about the remaining two plus more details about the benefits of each, you’ll just have to check out the episode!
#1 Dark Leafy Greens
These are really high in folic acid.
Folic acid can help to reduce neural tube defects in your baby.
Mothers who have diets high in folic acid may even decrease their baby’s risk by as much as 70%
Raw spinach salads, adding kale to smoothies and throwing some spinach into salsas or pesto are a few great ways to get these into your diet.
#2 Sweet Potatoes
These are super high in vitamin A which is not only good for your developing baby but also for you – after the birth this vitamin can help with tissue repair.
Topping a baked sweet potato with cottage cheese is one really yummy way to eat these. Roasting diced sweet potato that has been tossed in garlic, rosemary and olive oil sounds like a good way to enjoy these too.
#3 Yoghurt
Check the label to make sure the yoghurt you are buying is high in calcium but low in sugar.
At the beginning of your pregnancy, calcium helps with the formation of your baby’s bones and teeth and towards the end of your pregnancy, it helps with milk development.
#4 Walnuts
These are high in omega 3 fatty acids.
Current research is finding that mothers who eat diets high in omega 3 fatty acids have babies with fewer food allergies and less eczema.
There were no suggestions about specific ways to include these last two in your diet so I’m just going to suggest that you sprinkle some chopped walnuts on your yoghurt and cover both of these in one go!
#5 – Eggs
Iron is very important for pregnancy and for those who don’t eat meat, eggs can be a great source.
Scrambled eggs with spinach sound pretty yummy and to make it easy to eat on the go you could wrap this in a tortilla and head out the door.
#6 – Kiwis
Kiwis are a good source of fibre (which can help if your digestive system is a bit sluggish) and are also high in vitamin C.
Your body needs vitamin C to be able to utilise both iron and folic acid.
A combination of chopped kiwis, strawberries, walnuts and a squeeze of honey covers a few of the nutrition tips in this top 10 list and sounds pretty delicious too.
Pour on some yoghurt and you’ll be good to go!
#7 Avocados
Avocados actually have way more potassium than bananas do.
Potassium helps to regulate your heart rhythm which can sometimes be a little off during pregnancy.
Rates of gestational diabetes are also much lower in women who have a diet high in potassium so these are really a win-win.
Bananas and nuts are also really good sources of potassium if avocados are not so easy to come by where you live.
Slicing open an avocado and simply adding a sprinkling of salt is a great way to enjoy them.
Putting them on a pizza was also a really interesting suggestion.
#8 Oatmeal
Not the pre-packaged variety, sorry.
Making it from scratch means you know exactly what is going into it and, as long as you are having a healthy pregnancy, you can always add a bit of honey to sweeten it.
Oatmeal is not only high in fibre but also carbohydrates and carbohydrates are the only fuel that your brain uses.
I didn’t know that but am glad I do now!
Making it with milk instead of water increases the taste as well as the calcium.
To wrap up
For the last two tips healthy foods for pregnancy please check out the full episode.
I hope that this preview gave you a few ideas on what foods are good to include in your pregnancy diet and why.
I’d love to hear from you about how you include some of the above foods in your day or about any other healthy foods for pregnancy tips.
Until next time!
Other episodes on this topic
Birthful: Nutrition During Pregnancy
Nourish: What to Eat During Pregnancy
Pea in the Podcast: How to Optimise your Body for your Baby
Emily Wills is a doula based in Stockholm. She believes that birth can be a beautiful and empowering experience and started this blog as a way of sharing some really great podcasts. She is also a mother of three and an enthusiastic runner.
