You're pregnant! Congratulations! Contrary to popular belief, being pregnant really doesn't give you the green light to eat ice cream and pickles all day (even if that's what you're really craving!).
While the occasional splurge is okay, and well deserved, you'll need lots of vitamins and nutrients to support that life growing inside of you so you'll need to look beyond the freezer for the best sources. Try to incorporate these 10 pregnancy power foods into your diet.
1. Produce
On the list, of course, are fruits and veggies. You'll need two to four servings of fruits and four or more servings of vegetables according to an article titled "Eating Right While Pregnant" on webmd.com.
2. Vitamin C
You'll need plenty of it — 70 mg to be exact, which you can derive from strawberries, honeydew melon, grapefruit and oranges.
3. Folic acid
While your prenatal vitamins may already include folic acid (a B vitamin), you can also get it from dark green leafy vegetables, beans and chickpeas and even veal. An intake of at least .4 mg of folic acid is recommended to help prevent neural tube defects such as spina bifida.
4. Vitamin A
You'll need vitamin A, but only one source every other day. Overindulging in this one (more than 10,000 IU per day) has been associated with fetal malformation. Think orange — you can find vitamin A in carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and cantaloupe.
5. Calcium
Milk, cheese and yogurt are, of course, great sources of calcium, but think outside of dairy products to get your calcium fill (at least 1200 mg per day). Other great calcium sources include broccoli, spinach, tofu, almonds and trout.
6. Protein
Protein is low in fat and will keep you feeling full. Protein sources include chicken, fish and seafood, dairy foods, eggs, beans, lean beef and soy protein products such as tofu.
7. Fiber
A lovely side affect of pregnancy is constipation. To keep things flowing smoothly, be sure to incorporate lots of fiber into your diet. Fiber can be found in fruit such as raspberries, pears and apricots, as well as vegetables like spinach, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and zucchini. Chose whole-grain breads, cereals, pastas and rice to get the most fiber out of your carbohydrates.
8. Iron-rich foods
You'll need 27 mg — about three servings — of iron every day. You can derive iron from foods such as green peas, pinto beans, beef, chicken and fish as well as broccoli, kale and turnip greens.
9. Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) help with the development of your baby's brain cells. DHA is a major component of your child's brain and other neural tissues including the light-sensitive cells in the eye's retina. You can find Omega-3s in nuts, seeds and fish. However, be wary of the type of fish you select – some are off limits to pregnant women due to their mercury levels.
10. H20
Okay, water is a liquid, not a food, but it is also an essential part of a healthy pregnancy for many reasons. Fluids help your body process nutrients and keep up the volume of your blood, which dramatically increases during pregnancy. Try to get in most of your liquid consumption earlier in the day, so you don't have extra trips to the bathroom during the night.
