Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Choosing The Right Foods

by: Beverley Brooke

So you need to gain weight but don’t want to gain too much weight during your pregnancy right? There are many things that you can do to improve your diet and ensure that you gain a minimal but healthy amount of weight during pregnancy. Choosing the right foods is important because you will be able to loose weight more quickly after delivery if you manage your diet during pregnancy. So here is what you need to do during pregnancy to ensure weight loss success after: Tip 1 Choose whole foods. Whole foods are foods that are dense in nutrients. Think wild rice, whole grains, and unprocessed foods. Whole foods don’t include waffles and pancakes! Tip 2 Add calories during the second trimester. Eating for two doesn’t literally mean eating for two. In fact during your first trimester your baby is about the size of a small bean! Most women don’t actually need to start adding 300 calories a day to their diet until the second and third trimesters. Tip 3 Be sure you get a serving of protein, carbohydrate and fat at every meal. It will help you if you break your meals into six mini meals per day. This will help rev up your metabolism. Next be sure that you eat some protein, carbohydrate and fat at each mini meal session. This will help nourish your body more completely and help prevent cravings later in the day. Tip 4 Choose foods high in fiber. High fiber foods will help fill you up when you are ravenous during pregnancy, and they will also help relieve constipation and help you feel great! A high fiber diet is good for anyone, whether or not they are pregnant. Tip 5 Drink extra water. You’ll be thirstier than normal anyway during pregnancy. Drinking water helps flush toxins from your system and helps prevent excessive edema. Believe it or not you can actually fight weight gain associated with edema if you drink more water! Remember that pregnancy is a short period of time in the long journey that is your life. You should enjoy every moment of it. By following the tips above, you can gain the right amount of weight and feel great throughout your pregnancy. About the author: Article by Beverley Brooke, author of "Ensure a healthy safe pregnancy for you and your baby", visit http://www.pregnancy-weight-loss.com for more on pregnancy weight gain