During pregnancy, it is very important that you maintain a healthy nutrition and varied, where foods that provide you all the nutrients you need during this stage. One of those essential nutrients is calcium, essential for your health and especially the development of your baby. In addition to protecting your bones against diseases such as osteoporosis, calcium reduces the likelihood of hypertension and even pre-eclampsia.
As for the baby, calcium is necessary for their bones and teeth to form properly. But in addition, calcium collaborates in the development of organs as important as the heart, muscles and nerves. And if it was not enough, calcium is essential for the baby to develop a normal heart rhythm, also help in blood clotting.
Why Increasing Your Calcium Intake Is Important
As we have explained, calcium plays a fundamental role in the development of the baby during the 40 weeks that your gestation lasts. During that time, the little one will take the calcium from your own reserves to meet his needs. If your calcium intake is deficient, you could suffer from health problems like those mentioned, even other problems in the future.
But in addition, your baby's development can be compromised if calcium needs are not properly covered. For all these reasons, it is very important that your diet during your pregnancy is healthy and that you cover all the nutritional needs that you require at this time in your life.
Foods rich in calcium
Milk is perhaps the best known calcium-rich food, but it is not the only one. To cover your needs for this mineral, it is best to follow a healthy diet, balanced and varied and thus you will obtain in addition to calcium, the rest of essential nutrients. Here is a list of foods rich in calcium so that you can include them in your diet:
- Cow's milk and its derivatives, like yogurt and cheese, especially white cheese. Any dairy product you take must be pasteurized
- Vegetable drinks soy, oats, almonds or rice, important that they are enriched in calcium
- Dried fruits such as walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or sesame
- Green leafy vegetablessuch as spinach, chard, broccoli, or cabbage
- Legumes, especially chickpeas, but also soybeans or lentils among others
- The fishes, such as sardines or salmon
- The yolk from the egg
- Fruit like apples, figs, mangoes or strawberries
Menu rich in calcium for pregnant women
As you can see, there are many foods you can take to cover your calcium needs during pregnancy and lactation. To help you organize it in a balanced way, here are some standard menus so you can plan your meals based on your tastes.
Breakfast options:
- Homemade smoothie that includes, a large glass of milk, a piece of fruit and half a cup of rolled oats
- Decaffeinated coffee with milk + whole wheat toast with fresh cheese and cold turkey + a handful of strawberries
- Greek yogurt + a handful of nuts+ a chopped apple
- Porridge of oat flakes, a glass of milk, banana slices and almonds
Mid-morning options:
- Coffee with milk + 2 Oatmeal Cookies (preferably homemade)
- Green juice of fruits and vegetables, in the following link you will find some recipes
- 2 biscuits of whole wheat bread with white cheese + turkey cold cuts
- Strawberries Milky
Lunch options:
- Pumpkin cream + grilled chicken breast + a fruit
- Spinach sprouts salad, diced cheese, walnuts and tomato + sirloin grilled salmon + a yogurt
- Vegetable salad + fruit salad
- Chickpeas with vegetables and chicken + a fruit
Snack options:
- A yogurt + a handful of nuts
- A milk shake and fcool route
- Coffee with milk and 2 Oatmeal Cookies
- Bread sandwich with seeds with cold turkey, white cheese and lettuce
Dinner options:
- Tortilla broccoli, carrot and egg
- Vegetable cream + fried anchovies
- Chicken sandwich grilled with lettuce, tomato and cheese
- Sauteed vegetables + grilled hake with a touch of lemon