Are your in-laws and spouse worried that a vegan diet may not provide you with enough nutrients? Are you not sure which food to pick so that you have a vegan balanced diet? Are there any foods to avoid in the vegan pregnancy diet? Would my baby get enough nutrients with a vegan diet?
Well, if you are planning to switch or already are eating a vegan diet during pregnancy, we’ll help you to sort out your meals and advise you as to which food can provide you with what kind of nutrients. Just read this post.
We all know vegetarians are people who don’t eat poultry, seafood, eggs, fish, etc. Vegans are vegetarian, but they also do not use or eat animal products and their derivatives like milk, eggs, honey wool, leather or even cosmetics.
The idea of being a vegan is because of their care and love towards animals. Just for, e.g., If we drink cow’s milk, what would a calf get? He doesn’t get enough milk to fill his tummy. And that’s the reason people adopt veganism, to save animals from being extinct.
If your worry is how and what kind of food will provide your with iron, protein and other nutrients during pregnancy, just relax. we have listed down the nutrient requirements in vegan diet while pregnant and what different kinds of food you could try out.
For the development of the baby’s bones and teeth, Calcium and Vitamin D both are essential. In one of the studies, it was accomplished that a woman instead of increasing her calcium intake should work on the calcium absorption capacity and reducing calcium losses.
In general, women who are less than 18 years need 1300 milligrams and women more than 18 years; a daily intake of 1000 milligrams is recommended. However a pregnant woman needs to have eight or more servings of calcium-rich food.
The same is the case with Vitamin D. If you are getting adequate exposure to the sun, you won’t need Vitamin D supplements. Otherwise, 15 micrograms of Vitamin D is recommended for a pregnant woman. Make sure to consult your gynecologist before starting on Vitamin D supplements, as there have been cases where high doses of vitamin D resulted in risk factors for pregnant women.
You can include the following food items, such as a calcium and vitamin supplements:
Getting enough protein is not doubtful at all in a vegan diet, as vegan food is rich in protein. Are you aware that each trimester your protein intake should actually increase? So if you are in the second trimester, you should increase your protein intake by 25 grams daily and in the third trimester, an increase of 71 grams of protein is necessary.
Of all the vegan food items, except sugar, alcohol and fat most of the other items in some way or the other way are rich in protein.
Here is your quick daily plan to meet the protein requirement:
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Iron deficiency is very common in a pregnant woman. Hence, all women should be extra cautious and take extra efforts to ensure they are taking adequate quantities of iron. Iron rich diets along with iron supplements might be essential if you are deficient in iron.
Please make sure not to take iron supplements along with calcium supplements, as it reduces iron absorption in the body. You can take iron supplements between meals, as it maximizes iron absorption and would be beneficial for you and your baby.
The food items which are rich in iron for vegan diet for pregnancy are:
It is recommended to have an adequate quantity of vitamin B12 for a pregnant woman. It helps in providing nutrition to the fetus. However, food items in a vegan diet, which are rich in vitamin B12, are a bit restricted, hence not offering much of a choice if you don’t like them. Here is the list of food items rich in vitamin B12:
Folate is a very important nutrient as studies have shown a linkage in babies having birth defects whose mothers lack folic acid in their diet. The linkage shows a connection with a birth defect [neural tube defect] when mother folate levels are low.
Folate is essential from the day you think about planning a child once until you conceive for its brain development. The daily recommended dose of folic acid is 400 micrograms for a pregnant woman.
For a vegan mother, the following food items are rich in folic acid:
Iodine is another important nutrient, to be taken up by a pregnant woman to avoid any physical malformation in your child. Usually the salt we use is enough to meet that requirement, but make sure always to have iodized salt.
Here is a quick vegan pregnancy diet plan, which may be handy for you to decide on what to eat:
Make sure to keep rotating the food items from your daily diet plan so that you don’t get bored of one and that also ensures you are getting all the vital nutrients for yourself and your baby.
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Article written by Samiksha Seth
