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Vegetarian Diet During Pregnancy, Vegetarian Diet Pregnancy
A well balanced vegetarian diet should give you all the nutrients you need for both you and your baby, but you should take care to ensure that key vitamins normally found in meat precuts are well substituted, such as B12, iron and calcium. Soya products are rich in B12, so it is a good idea to drink soya milk during pregnancy, especially if you are not too keen on soya as a cooking ingredient. Iron is plentiful in leafy green vegetables, as well as nuts (especially almonds), pulses, dried fruit and whole grains. You should try to avoid peanuts during pregnancy, as they contain a naturally occurring mould that a great number of people are allergic too. This especially important if there is any history of peanut allergy in the immediate family.
It can also be a good diet to relax your vegetarian principles a little during pregnancy and eat some diary products and eggs, as this will give you a rich source of many proteins and vitamins, and will mean you can avoid your reliance on vitamin supplements. One exception to this is folic acid, as it is incredibly difficult to get the recommended daily allowance of this folic acid through diet alone. You should ask you GP about the correct dosage for folic acid supplements, but it is usually around 400mcg, to be taken until the 12th week of pregnancy, and these supplements can be purchased easily from the pharmacies, health stores and supermarkets.
As with all diets you must make sure all ready made meals and store bought snacks such as pies/pastries are thoroughly cooked before you eat them, to prevent the risk of the listeria and if you do decide to drink milk it should be pasteurized or UHT milk, as this has had the harmful germs destroyed. If you eat eggs, then they must be cooked thoroughly also to avoid the risk of salmonella infection.
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