Nutrition tips for vegetarian or vegan pregnant women.
More and more people want to give up meat and animal products. The sight of cruel animal husbandry and the negative environmental impact are causing more and more people to feel remorse and doubt when it comes to eating animal products. The vegetarian diet, which avoids the consumption of meat and fish, has long been established. The new dietary trend is the vegan diet. This involves abstaining from animal products in any form.
I would like to emphasise one thing right from the start: If you normally eat a vegan diet, I would advise you to at least switch to a vegetarian diet during your pregnancy. Otherwise, you could jeopardise your baby's health. The reason: your unborn child needs to be supplied with a sufficient amount of certain nutrients for its development. These include omega-3 fatty acids, protein, calcium and vitamin B12.
A natural vegan diet can hardly offer the child that.
Can't imagine eating anything other than a vegan diet when you're pregnant? Then you must take dietary supplements. Ask your midwife or doctor for advice on which supplements you should take and in what dose. And also have your blood values closely monitored. It is also important that you consume enough calories every day.
Are you on a vegetarian diet and pregnant? This is usually not a problem - especially if you are on an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet, i.e. if you also include eggs and dairy products. These contain a particularly high nutrient density and provide sufficient protein. As pregnant women generally need more vitamins, minerals and trace elements to provide themselves and their unborn child with the best possible nutrition, vegetarian pregnant women should choose their food carefully. And keep an eye on their iron levels, among other things, during regular check-ups.
You can find out why iron is so important for the oxygen supply in the blood for you and your baby on my blog here. Those on a meat-free diet must therefore make greater use of other sources of iron, such as green vegetables, pulses and wholemeal products. However, the body can only utilise the iron contained in these products to a much lesser extent than the iron contained in meat. In any case, vitamin C promotes the absorption and utilisation of iron. As a vegetarian, you probably know clever ways of combining vitamin C with iron-rich foods to create a delicious meal. One example is to enjoy your muesli with a glass of orange juice.
If you are a vegetarian and have fish in your diet, you can cover your omega-3 fatty acid requirements with oily sea fish such as herring or salmon, which should be on your plate twice a week. The recommended daily intake is 200 micrograms. If you don't include fish in your diet, regularly taking a supplement will provide you with the polyunsaturated fatty acids you need. You can find out more about this in my blog here.
