As you know, it’s time for another What I Ate Wednesday {WIAW} post. Woohoo! Anyone else like checking out everyone’s eats? If so, be sure to check out the other foodie posts at Peas & Crayons.
For this WIAW, I want to highlight a few of the nutrients upon which I have been focusing. This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a few fun highlights for ya. The nutrients aren’t just for preggos; they’re great for everyone to work into their diet.
Pre-Workout: prenatal vitamin with DHA and salt-free rice cake (DHA helps with baby’s brain development)
Post-Workout: TeeChia super seed cereal (one item in the Bestowed box – if you haven’t entered my Bestowed giveaway, you can do so HERE), plain nonfat yogurt, and blackberries (blackberries have 7.6g fiber per cup; yogurt adds calcium, which is important though preggos don’t need much more than other women ages 18-50)
Snack: Larabar Uber Cherry Cobbler (also from my Bestowed box, it contains nuts with “good” fats to help baby’s brain and eye development)
Lunch: green smoothie filled with baby spinach, blueberries, a banana, unsweetened original almond milk, and vanilla whey protein (spinach is high in folic acid, a B vitamin that helps prevent neural tube defects, preggos need at least 600 mcg daily & the banana is great for both potassium and B6)
Snack: a hearty handful of KIND granola (unpictured) along with baby carrots and a hard boiled egg (the egg alone is a nutritional powerhouse including goodies like pantothenic acid, which is essential for hormone and cholesterol production and for baby’s metabolism, and choline, which helps brain cells develop while also helping to prevent neural tube defects)
Dinner: baked jerk chicken breasts with red bell pepper, black beans, brown rice, and a side of sliced mango (chicken provides a boost of iron and zinc, both of which are most easily absorbed through meat/seafood, and a woman’s need for both iron and zinc increases significantly in pregnancy, the vitamin c in the pepper helps the body absorb the iron and it strengthens the body’s membranes, including amniotic membranes)
Dessert: ice cream! (depression is bad for baby, and ice cream makes me happy, therefore ice cream is good for baby… right???)
For more information about pregnancy nutrition and “super foods,” you can see these links. There’s a ton of info out there, and perhaps I’ll do another nutrient breakdown WIAW in the future.
- Super Foods + Smart Advice = The Best Prenatal Diet
- Pregnant? Omega-3 Essential for Baby’s Brain
- Tell Me What to Eat by FitPregnancy
- Legumes in Your Pregnancy Diet
- Pregnancy Nutrients You Need to Help Your Baby Grow <– good one
- Do you focus on certain nutrients from time to time?
