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Home › Articles › Vegetarian Lifestyle › Covering All the Veggie Bases

Covering All the Veggie Bases

Your Best Vegetarian Diet during Pregnancy

By Melanie Wilson, Vegetarian Lifestyle Expert

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

  • Trade in your white bread and rice for whole-wheat bread and brown rice, and choose oatmeal over processed, high-sugar cereals. Whole grains are packed with nutrients (including protein) that are lost in the preparation of more highly processed grains, and the fiber will no doubt do you good as well.
  • A woman's protein needs increase during pregnancy by about 20 percent, but this is really the least of your worries. Did you know that most North American women already consume enough protein daily to meet the needs of a pregnant woman? Focus instead on eating 300 extra calories per day from a wide variety of whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and fresh fruits and vegetables. There is no need to combine foods to create complete proteins as was once thought – your amazing body does that for you automatically when you consume a balanced and varied diet.
  • If, like many women, you experience constipation, snack on prunes, raisins and dried apricots, which are also packed with iron. Carry a baggy with trail mix including these nutrition powerhouses with you wherever you go. Other good sources of iron are green leafy vegetables, beans and legumes, dried fruits, blackstrap molasses, bran flakes, sea vegetables, nuts and seeds.
  • Lucky for you, a woman's body actually absorbs and retains calcium more efficiently during pregnancy. Avoid caffeine, which interferes with calcium absorption, nd consider adding these good sources of non-dairy calcium to the menu: broccoli, almonds, tahini (sesame seed paste used in sauces and dips or spread on toast), sesame seeds, kale, sea vegetables, fortified orange juice and calcium-processed tofu.

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