Читать книгу Zero to Five - Tracy Cutchlow - Страница 10
ОглавлениеWhen you’re pregnant, everyone wants you to eat a lot.
“Are you having a craving?” my husband would ask eagerly, ready to make a late-night snack run. “Here, finish these,” friends ordered, pushing the fries in my direction. “Go for it,” colleagues said as I went for seconds or thirds. “You’re eating for two!”
Eventually a couple things sank in:
• You may be eating for two, but one of you is very, very small.
• You need only 300 extra calories a day in the first trimester. And only 350 extra in the second trimester. (That’s one eight-grain roll at Starbucks.) And only 450 extra calories in the third. (A couple of oranges with your roll.)
A better way to think of “eating for two”
Focus instead on providing baby with two key nutrients:
FOLIC ACID
What it does: cuts risk of neural tube defects by 76 percent
What it is: vitamin B9
How to get it: leafy greens (spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, lettuce), legumes (beans, peas, lentils), sunflower seeds, prenatal vitamins
When to eat it: four weeks before conception and during the first four weeks of pregnancy
OMEGA-3S
What they do: aid normal brain development. Babies whose moms got enough omega-3s (300 mg of DHA per day) were better at memory, recognition, attention, and fine motor skills at 6 months old.
What they are: essential fatty acids (ALA, DHA, and EPA), part of the membranes that make up a neuron
How to get them: Eat at least twelve ounces per week of oily fish with low concentrations of mercury. Flaxseed oil isn’t converted by the body efficiently enough. Algae-derived DHA capsules (600 mg per day) have potential but are less studied.
When to eat them: Now. Then keep it up.
THE RESEARCH
In a study of twelve thousand women, the less seafood women ate during pregnancy, the greater their risk of having children with verbal IQs in the lowest quartile at 8 years old; behavioral problems at 7 years old; and poor social, communication, and fine motor skills in the early years.
The researchers concluded that any mercury you’d ingest from twelve ounces of fish per week is much less problematic than missing out on the omega-3s from the fish.
“We recorded no evidence to lend support to the warnings of the US advisory that pregnant women should limit their fish consumption,” the researchers wrote.
Salmon
Shrimp
Sardines
Scallops
Catfish
Pollock
Tuna (Wild Planet)
Swordfish
King mackerel
Tilefish
Shark
