Here at Adoption Choices of Colorado, we aim to support you through all things. Even the questions you may have when you are faced with an unplanned pregnancy. You how to stay healthy and what foods you should and should not be eating.

You’ve come to the right place! We have a list of the do’s and don’ts for food, ways to get assistance when necessary and the explanation behind why eating healthy during your unplanned pregnancy is so important.

Why is it so Important to be Eating Healthy during Your Unplanned Pregnancy?

When you become pregnant, it is important to make a few lifestyle changes to prepare your body for the best in-utero environment and delivery for your baby. One of the biggest things is your diet. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to weight gain; however, on average, most gain 25-30 pounds during pregnancy. Eating healthy foods aids in healthy weight gain. Your doctor will always be the best person to advise how much weight you should look to gain and what your daily pregnancy diet should look like.

It may seem obvious why it is so important to eat healthy foods during pregnancy, but let’s reiterate it again: everything you eat or drink as a pregnant mother will get passed through your bloodstream to your baby. It will be critical to your baby’s growth and development over the span of your pregnancy. Your baby needs certain vitamins and minerals in order to promote healthy development. It is up to you to get those needed vitamins and minerals into your system. Eating healthy also reduces risks of certain complications with your pregnancy and delivery and your baby’s development.

Helpful Resources

While an unplanned pregnancy completely changes your daily routine, it is important to take care of yourself emotionally, mentally and spiritually. But, most importantly, you need to take care of your physical health. Resources are a significant factor in the ability to make healthy dietary choices. If you are unable to afford healthy food, it can be remedied. There are Care Pregnancy Centers, government assistance such as WIC and food banks and local churches. It is okay to ask for help. After all, it is a selfless decision to maintain health in every capacity during your unplanned pregnancy.

What You Should and Shouldn’t be Putting on Your Plate

You may be bombarded with so many do’s and don’ts — eat this, don’t eat that, do this, don’t do that, but Adoption Choices of Colorado is here to simplify the endless, exhaustive lists and searching for you.

What You Should Eat:

The list of what you can eat is endless in comparison to what you should not eat. But here is the most important rule of thumb to remember: you should be eating from a variety of all food groups:

  • three servings of protein daily
  • four servings of fruit and vegetables daily
  • four servings of dairy products daily
  • up to 11 servings of breads and grains daily
  • limit fats and sugars

Other things you should be inputting into your daily dietary habits include prenatal vitamins or supplements such as: probiotics, Omega-3s, vitamins and minerals like Calcium, Iron, Folic Acid/Folate (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B1-3, Vitamin B6, B12, Vitamin A, B, C, D and Zinc.

Then there’s the big obvious one — water! You should be drinking lots of water on a daily basis.

 What You should Avoid:
  • Unpasteurized foods such as milk, juice, eggs, cheese etc.
  • Deli meats
  • Rare or uncooked foods such as sushi, meat and other seafood
  • High mercury seafood and shellfish
  • Raw sprouts such as alfalfa, clover, radish and mung bean
  • Alcohol
  • High amounts of caffeine

*Cravings should be eaten in moderation, so if you really want that candy bar or bag of popcorn — get it!

Here is a condensed list of food ideas (it also explains what these specific food groups help with) to eat or recipes to make during your pregnancy, so you don’t get overwhelmed trying to figure out what exactly to eat for every meal.

Eating healthy while pregnant doesn’t have to be hard, just make sure you are balancing all the good things you need with all the things you want – everything in moderation. Also, don’t look at it as there are all these things you cannot have, but things you have more of an opportunity to explore or create with, get creative making things out of all your main food groups.

Eating Healthy During Your Unplanned Pregnancy

Overall, eating healthy falls in direct line with the selfless act of being pregnant — not only is it pertinent to your child, but also to you and your body. Eating healthy is one of the biggest building blocks to help you maintain a healthy balanced pregnancy. Also, it is a habit that you will go on to teach and replicate with those around you, especially your child.

Adoption Choices of Colorado

For more information on adoption please contact Adoption Choices of Colorado. We can be reached via our website or phone 303-670-4401.

Support Adoption Choices

CrowdriseAdoption Choices, Inc. is partnering with Crowdrise, a fundraising website for nonprofits, to help our adoptive parents and birth parents with much needed financial assistance. We understand that expenses keep clients from fulfilling their dreams. Both with birth parents making a plan for adoption, and with adoptive parents growing their family. It is our mission to provide financial assistance through grants and scholarships, awarded annually in November, in honor of National Adoption Month. Funds assist adoptive parents with matching and placements, adoption finalization and helping birth mothers improve their lives through higher education — and much more.

However, we can’t do it alone. Please read up on our programs and donate money where you are able. Your donation will make a huge impact.

About the Author

Taylor Tsakopulos

Taylor Tsakopulos, the bestselling student. She has interned locally in Denver and internationally in Dublin, Ireland, taken classes/workshops and worked odd jobs and yet always comes back to being a student and the desire to learn or create.

She is a jack of all trades (i.e. a Gemini). She is a Denver-based writer, creator, artist and student. A graduate from Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU).

When she isn’t creating content she’s off dancing and hiking. Always chasing after new things and experiences. After living and working in Europe, she is hungry for more.

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Sources:

How to Have a Healthy Teen Pregnancy. (2019, November 24). Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://americanpregnancy.org/unplanned-pregnancy/healthy-teen-pregnancy/

Staying healthy and safe. (2019, March 14). Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/youre-pregnant-now-what/staying-healthy-and-safe

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