More nutrients please!
Your baby is not yet born. But you can promote its healthy development during pregnancy and influence it in the long term: your diet is the basis for your baby's healthy development. It's not just your baby's organs that develop during pregnancy, which are influenced by your diet. During pregnancy, you even have an influence on the genetic structure of your child. What you eat now will influence your child's health for the rest of its life!
It is always important to eat a healthy diet. During pregnancy, this will provide your child with long-term and fundamental support.
The best recipe for proper nutrition during pregnancy is a varied and balanced diet. You can now eat a few more calories than before. However, looking at the additional calorie requirement is not the most important aspect. It is much more important to ensure an adequate supply of nutrients during pregnancy. Because this requirement is significantly higher during pregnancy. Some of the important nutrients are needed in such high quantities during pregnancy that you cannot get enough of them from even the healthiest meals. This is why some nutrients are recommended as dietary supplements during pregnancy.
Folic acid (Folate)
It is actually folate, which belongs to the group of B vitamins. It is better known as folic acid. This is the name given to the synthetic form of this B vitamin. Folic acid can be found in vitamin supplements or fortified foods, for example.
This super vitamin generally plays an important role in the division and regeneration of human cells. It is found in particular in green vegetables, pulses and wholemeal products. So if you have spinach, leaf lettuce or broccoli, chickpeas or lentils as well as oatmeal and bran on your plate, for example, your diet is spot on. Especially during pregnancy!
However, your need for folic acid increases significantly, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. This is because now it is no longer just about your own cells, but also about the division or new formation of the embryo's cells! Therefore, supplement your diet in the first trimester with a supplement that provides you with 400 micrograms of folic acid every day - in addition to your diet. You can even start taking it if you are not yet pregnant, but your pregnancy is imminent.
Iron
The trace element iron is vital for the oxygen supply in the blood and blood circulation, among other things. To put it simply: without iron, oxygen could not be transported in the blood. And no red blood cells could be formed.
During pregnancy, your body needs twice as much iron as usual: around 30 milligrams per day. Why is that? Because as a pregnant woman you now have around 40 per cent more blood volume. And you not only need to supply yourself with sufficient iron, but also your child.
What happens if you have too little iron during pregnancy? The haemoglobin value (Hb) provides information about this. A little fatigue and paleness could be a sign of a slight iron deficiency. However, you could also develop iron deficiency anaemia (anaemia) which requires treatment. In this case, you lack red blood cells. Typical symptoms of this would be, for example, extreme tiredness, dizziness and often headaches. In individual cases, anaemia can also affect the child and its development, especially in severe cases. They sometimes lead to premature birth or a lower birth weight.
However, if you attend regular check-ups during your pregnancy, you don't need to worry. This is because your blood is always checked for iron levels (Hb value) during your check-ups. In the first and third trimester it should not fall below 11g/dl, in the second trimester not below 10.5 g/dl.
If you have an iron deficiency, you will be prescribed an iron supplement. But really only in this case! So don't just take anything as a preventative measure without consulting your doctor!
The following foods, for example, are known to be good sources of iron for your daily diet: Meat (e.g. beef or game), green vegetables (such as broccoli or spinach), pulses (such as peas or lentils). There is also plenty of iron in nuts and wholemeal products. Your body can absorb and utilise iron particularly well in combination with vitamin C. So treat yourself to a glass of orange juice or fruit!
Iodine
The thyroid gland needs iodine so that it can produce the hormones that are important for all processes in the human body. Hormones play a major role in metabolism, among other things.
During pregnancy, hormones are also responsible for the healthy development of your child's organs, nerve connections and muscles. Accordingly, your thyroid gland works at full speed during pregnancy to provide sufficient iodine. To support this, you should take an iodine supplement that provides you with 0.1 to 0.15 micrograms of this trace element every day.
Foods such as sea fish and iodised table salt are good sources of iodine for your diet.
If you start your pregnancy with a pre-existing thyroid condition, tell your doctor right at the beginning. And then follow the doctor's recommendation. It may differ from the iodine supplement recommended for healthy pregnant women.
Omega-3 fatty acids
Polyunsaturated fatty acids are also of fundamental importance for you as a pregnant woman. Among other things, they reduce the risk of miscarriage. They also support the development of your unborn child's brain and visual nerves. You can find out more about this in my blog here.
