How to take care of yourself, pregnant working superwomen?

Pregnant working women (PWW) are like unbeatable superwomen, who need to deal with all kinds of challenging work tasks and meanwhile have to take care of their foetus and their own safety and health in this life battle. Undoubtedly, nutrition of the mother is one of the most important factors in determining their babies’ birth weight and therefore healthy eating is essential for every pregnant woman. Poor maternal nutrition is more likely to be associated with low birth weight and malnutrition of infant, and more importantly, it may have some potential risks of getting disease in their future life.

For most mothers, nutrient needs during pregnancy are higher than any other time because sufficient energy intake is required to provide strong support to ensure the gestational weight gain and rapid development on the neural tube, organs and the tissue of foetus. To meet the high nutrient demand of pregnancy, a woman needs to make careful food choices. 

Tips for a healthy diet during pregnancy: 

What are the amount and types of healthy foods that PWW should intake each day? “My pregnant daily plate” below would give you a good direction for this question. 

In your balanced diet, nutrient-dense foods could be on top of your shopping list, such as wholegrain breads and cereals; legumes (e.g. beans); dark green vegetables (e.g. broccoli); citrus fruits (e.g. lemon); low-fat milk and milk products (e.g. yoghurt); and lean meats, fish, poultry and egg. Specially, eating various and adequate of fruits and vegetables every day could help prevent or reduce the constipation symptom. Also, you should avoid discretionary foods (e.g. chocolate).

Some other tips to take home: 

1.     Drink plenty of water (> 8 glasses of water per day). A soup at night (e.g. pumpkin or vegetable tofu soup) could be a good idea. 

2.     Have small homemade meals in the day to prevent heartburn and boost your energy by taking snacks (e.g.nuts, fruits or yogurt) between meals.  

1.     Plan a creative weekly menu ahead for each working day (e.g.taste.com.au); steaming is the best way to cook vegetable or meat to preserve nutrients. 

2.     Buy fresh foods from nearby supermarkets, fruit shop or organic stores weekly and have a good knowledge of food packaging labels (refer to “my pregnancy plate”).

3.     Suck sour fruits like a lemon to avoid morning sickness (first trimester) and drink ginger tea to relieve nausea.

4.     Compared with the first trimester, increase extra 1400kJ/day energy intake in the second trimester (e.g. chicken sandwich plus a tomato) and 1900kJ/day energy the third trimester (e.g. lemon garlic salmon and broccoli plus a yoghurt). 

5.     Check how food is cooked and prepared in case need to order takeaway or prepared food; make sure of the food hygiene and try to avoid foods high in sugar, salt and fat, such as fried chips, tortilla strips etc.

(Zomato apps)

6.     Do 30mins exercise daily after work.

7.     Take multivitamin-mineral supplements. 

Things off the table

1. Two types of bacteria-Listeria and salmonella- could trigger miscarriage. 

• Foods that are more prone to contamination with listeria are: soft cheeses, undercook meat, raw seafood (oysters and sashimi), pre-packaged cut fruit and vegetables. 

• Salmonella may exist in raw eggs and undercooked meat and poultry.

1. Fish contains a high level of mercury so it should be limited to one serve per week or fortnight to pregnant women. Pay special attention to billfish, shark, organs roughly and catfish.

2. Avoid smoking and alcohol. Seek a doctor’s advice for the use of medicinal drugs and herbal supplements.