Super Foods
The Best Nutrition for Mom & Baby’s Diet
During pregnancy, women spend a lot of their time trying to eat the best food for the growing baby in their womb. Not all foods are created equal; knowing what foods pack the most nutrition into each bite just makes sense while pregnant, as well as when it’s time to feed your little one. One of the greatest breakthroughs in recent nutritional news is the concept of Super Foods. Super Foods are foods such as broccoli, quinoa, pumpkin, papaya and squash, that are super-rich in vitamins and nutrients, offer identifiable health benefits and quite literally are multi-tasking nutritional powerhouses. They’re important for every growing baby, on the inside and outside. Eating Super Foods as part of your daily routine just makes sense during pregnancy. That way, when it’s time to choose what to feed the new baby, Super Foods are already part of the routine and a no brainer.
Pregnancy is the perfect time to explore Super Foods and become familiar with the incredible benefits for you and baby. Major nutritional Super Food sources include: fruits like papaya and mango, greens such as, asparagus, broccoli, spinach and peas, Vitamin A rich foods like pumpkin and butternut squash, and a little known Super Food grain, quinoa. It is important to select the purest options and to try to buy organic and or natural whenever possible. Remember moms, we are looking for the shortest ingredient statements we can find, and they are usually found in the perimeter of the store. The shorter the ingredient statement, the less likely you and your bundle of joy are of ingesting something potentially harmful. Play around with recipes, add tasty spices, or incorporate Super Foods into everyday dishes like spaghetti (mix squash or spinach into your sauce!). What you discover now will help guide your choices when feeding your child, from six months through childhood. Remember that it’s important to keep the Super Foods unblended and simple when you start baby on solids, making digestion as well as allergy detection easier.
Making organic pureed food for your child is a wonderful thing, but when you lack the time, energy or resources, pre-cooked organic purees are available in your freezer section. Look for purees with no added ingredients!
Below is an offering of Super Foods you should look for and why they are such a smart choice for both pregnant moms and babies:
Pumpkin: Super Food for the eyes and the heart, it’s an excellent source of vitamin A, E, C, and B6.
Papaya: Super Food for digestion, antioxidants, Vitamin A and C. It is also an excellent source of folate (major for pregnancy) and contains an enzyme to help aid the digestive process.
Peas: High in folic acid, manganese, and vitamins A, B1, B6, C and K. Peas are also one of the highest sources of vegetable protein.
Broccoli and Spinach: True Super Foods for bone, heart, brain, and immunity. These “greenies” are great sources of vitamin C and beta-carotene, folic acid, iron, potassium, and anti-cancer nutrients that help boost enzymes that detoxify the body.
Butternut squash: Super Food for eyes, skin, and heart. It’s an excellent source of both Vitamins A and E.
Mango: A heart and immunity Super Food. Excellent source of Vitamins A and C, mango contains enzymes that aid digestion.
Quinoa: This lesser known grain supplies all the essential amino acids, contains more protein than any other grain, and is gluten-free.
Making Super Foods part of your daily routine is smart beyond pregnancy and into the stages of early food introductions (6 months to one year). Some additional choices to incorporate into your diet include berries, lentils, millet, avocado and beets. Introducing baby’s first foods one food at a time for 3-5 days in a row is a prudent and medically advised approach. This way any negative food reactions can easily be detected.
