Adopt These 10 Tips for Healthy Pregnancy

Pregnancy care

1. Don't forget breakfast.

Try fortified ready-to-eat or cooked breakfast cereals with fruit. Fortified cereals have added nutrients, like calcium.
If you are feeling sick, start with whole wheat toast. Eat more food later in the morning.

2. Eat foods with fiber.

Choose a variety of vegetables and fruits, like carrots, cooked greens, bananas, and melon.
Eat plenty of beans and whole grains. Try brown rice or oatmeal.

3. Choose healthy snacks.

Low-fat or fat-free yogurt with fruit
Whole grain crackers with fat-free or low-fat cheese

4. Take a prenatal vitamin with iron and folic acid every day.

Iron keeps your blood healthy. Folic acid helps prevent birth defects.

5. Eat up to 12 ounces a week (2 average meals) of fish or shellfish.

A 3-ounce serving is about the size of a deck of cards.
Avoid fish and shellfish with high levels of mercury. Don't eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel,
or tile-fish.

If you eat tuna, choose canned light tuna. Albacore (white) tuna has more mercury.
Common fish that are low in mercury include shrimp, salmon, and catfish.

6. Stay away from soft cheeses and lunch meat.

Some foods may have bacteria that can hurt your baby. Don't eat:

Soft cheeses like feta, Brie, and goat cheese
Uncooked or undercooked meats or fish (like sushi)
Lunch meats and hot dogs unless they are heated until steaming hot

7. Limit caffeine and avoid alcohol.

Drink decaffeinated coffee or tea.
Drink water or seltzer instead of soda.
Don't drink alcohol.

Nutrition during pregnancy

During the early stages of pregnancy, since the placenta is not yet formed, there is no mechanism to protect the embryo from the deficiencies which may be inherent in the mother's circulation.[citation needed] Thus, it is critical that an adequate amount of nutrients and energy is consumed.

Multiple micronutrient supplements taken with iron and folic acid can improve birth outcomes for women in low income countries. These supplements reduce numbers of low birth weight babies, small for gestational age babies and stillbirths in women who may not have many micronutrients in their usual diets. Undernourished women can benefit from having dietary education sessions and, balanced energy and protein supplements.

A review showed that dietary education increased the mother’s protein intake and helped the baby grow more inside the womb. The balanced protein and energy supplement lowered risk of stillbirth and small babies and increased weight gain for both the mother and baby. Although more research is needed into the longer term effects on the mothers’ and infants’ health, the short term effects look promising.

Supplementing one's diet with foods rich in folic acid, such as oranges and dark green leafy vegetables, helps to prevent neural tube birth defects in the fetus. In addition, prenatal vitamins typically contain increased amounts of folic acid, iodine, iron, vitamin A, vitamin D, zinc, and calcium over the amounts found in standard multi-vitamins.

Zinc supplements have reduced preterm births by around 14% mainly in low income countries. The World Health Organisation does not routinely recommend zinc supplementation for pregnant women because there is not enough good quality evidence.

For women with low calcium diets, taking calcium supplementation can reduce their risk of preeclampsia. It has also been suggested that calcium can reduce numbers of births that happen before the 37th week of pregnancy (preterm birth).

Pregnant women are advised to pay attention to the foods they eat during pregnancy, such as soft cheese and certain fish, in order to reduce the risk of exposure to substances or bacteria that may be harmful to the developing fetus. This can include food pathogens and toxic food components, alcohol, and dietary supplements such as vitamin A and potentially harmful pathogens such as listeria, toxoplasmosis, and salmonella. Dietary vitamin A is obtained in two forms which contain the preformed vitamin (retinol), that can be found in some animal products such as liver and fish liver oils, and as a vitamin A precursor in the form of carotene, which can be found in many fruits and vegetables. Intake of large amounts or, conversely, a deficiency, of retinol has been linked to birth defects and abnormalities.

It is noted that a 100 g serving of liver may contain a large amount of retinol, so it is best that it is not eaten daily during pregnancy. Excessive amounts of alcohol have been proven to cause fetal alcohol syndrome. The World Health Organization recommends that alcohol should be avoided entirely during pregnancy, given the relatively unknown effects of even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy.

Folic acid

Folic acid, which is the synthetic form of the vitamin folate, is critical both in pre-and peri-conception. Deficiencies in folic acid may cause neural tube defects; women who had 0.4 mg of folic acid in their systems due to supplementing 3 months before childbirth significantly reduced the risk of NTD within the fetus. The development of every human cell is dependent on an adequate supply of folic acid. Folic acid governs the synthesis of the precursors of DNA, which is the nucleic acid that gives each cell life and character. Folic acid deficiency results in defective cellular growth and the effects are most obvious on those tissues which grow most rapidly.

Water

During pregnancy, one's mass increases by about 12 kg. Most of this added weight (6 to 9 L) is water because the plasma volume increases, 85% of the placenta is water and the fetus itself is 70-90% water. This means that hydration is an important aspect of nutrition throughout pregnancy. The European Food Safety Authority recommends an increase of 300 mL per day compared to the normal intake for non-pregnant women, taking the total adequate water intake (from food and fluids) to 2,300 mL, or approximately 1,850 mL/ day from fluids alone

Sources: Wiki, Medicinenet.com

How Much Water Should You Intake Every Day ?

Benefits of drinking water

You have likely heard that drinking 8 glasses of water each day is a must if you’re looking to be healthy and to maintain a healthy body weight. But who came up with that number? Is there any merit to drinking that much water per day?

Do You Need To Drink More Water?

Recent research has shown that most adults are chronically dehydrated. In fact, estimates reach as high as 75% when describing how many people simply aren’t drinking enough water to optimize their health. Staying well-hydrated is especially important if you are looking to lose weight. Why?

1. Boost Your Metbolism

Your body’s metabolism cannot function at full throttle when your cells are lacking water. Your body is built to survive, and when there is a shortage of water your body copes by slowing down many internal processes that would otherwise use up plenty of energy. In other words, you stop burning as many calories as you would if you were hydrated.

2. Replace Sugary Drinks

Drinking more water generally means that you will be drinking less high-calorie-drinks. Less soda, juice, and sweetened coffees and teas is always a positive move for weight-loss.

3. Feel Full, Reduce Food Cravings

The more water you drink, the less hungry you will feel. There is actually a good likelihood that you mistake signs of dehydration for hunger – This leads to more eating even though your body doesn’t actually need those extra calories.

How Much Water Do You Need?

The 8 glasses per day is a very general rule of thumb, and can often leave you lacking even if you hit that goal. Three factors can affect the amount of water you really need: Your gender, the size of your body, and your activity level.

As you might have guessed, men need more water than women, primarily because they are larger and have more muscle mass, which consumes water more quickly than fatty tissue.

People who are physically active also need more water than those who live a sedentary lifestyle. If exercising regularly, you need to replace the fluids that you lose through sweating.

Putting It All Into Practice

Since most people drink far less water than they realize, it’s important to have “triggers” to help you remember that it’s time to drink up.

The above video mentioned one example of a water trigger (i.e. use a large pitcher and empty it each day), but there are others you can try as well.

For example, for dinner each night it is important to prepare a healthy meal that will fuel your body with the nutrients it requires. But, before you take your first bite, why not commit to drinking a full glass of water?

Even better, you can set a bottle of water beside your bed each night. When you wake up in the morning your first task can be to drink the entire bottle. This is an easy way to get a jump-start on hydrating before you do anything else in your day.

However you approach it, drinking water is crucial for maintaining a healthy body weight and staying healthy in general. So fill up your bottle right now and get drinking!

Source: blogs.naturalnews.com

15 Top Secrets of Drinking Warm Lemon Water Every Morning

How does lemon water work?

If you are looking for an easy trick to improve your life and overall health, than look no further. Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning is a pretty simple routine to get into and will have tremendous effects on your overall health.

Since I started this simple and surprisingly healthy habit a few years ago, I definitely noticed the difference. Not only does the refreshing taste wake me up in the morning, it helps to kick start digestion and finalizes my body’s natural detoxification processes… And lemons are packed with vitamin C, B, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, enzymes, antioxidants, and fibers.

According to the Ayurvedic philosophy, choices you make regarding your daily routine either build up resistance to diseases or tear it down.

So what are you waiting for to jump start your day with this incredible easy morning routine. Its benefits are endless and I listed the 15 most important ones for you in this article.

1.    Improves Digestion

Lemon juice has a similar structure to your stomach’s juices and helps to loosen and flush out toxins from the digestive tract. Lemon juice can help ease indigestion, heartburn, and bloating. It also helps to move your bowels in the morning, hydrates your colon, stimulate bile production, and infuses water in your stool.

2.    Boost Immune System.

Lemon juice is rich in vitamin C, which helps strengthen the immunes system and fights cold and flu. But not only vitamin C is important for a good working immune system, iron is another important nutrient, and lemons improve the ability to absorb more iron from the food you eat.

3.    Hydrates Your Body

It is important to stay hydrated. Especially during the summer months. Plain water is best, but many people find this boring and are not drinking enough of it. That’s where lemon comes into play to make things more interesting. So feel free to not only start your day with lemon water, but drink as many glasses as you wish during the day to stay hydrated.

4.    Boost Energy

Lemon water gives you an instant boost of energy and improves your mood right at the start of your day.

5.    Promote Healthy And Rejuvenated Skin

Lemons are a rich sources of antioxidants that prevent free radical damage. These free radicals are responsible for pre-mature aging of your skin. Vitamin C helps to maintain your skin’s elasticity to prevent the formation of wrinkles and decrease blemishes.

6.    Reduce Inflammation

Lemons have the ability to remove uric acid from your joints. Uric acid built-ups are one of the major causes of inflammation.

7.    Weight Loss Aid

Although lemon water on its own is no weight loss miracle, it can definitely help you to achieve faster and long term results. Lemons assist in fighting hunger cravings, boost metabolism, and give you a stuffed feeling, making it less likely to snack in between meals.

8.    Alkalize Your Body

Although lemons have a sour taste, they are one of the most alkalizing food sources on Earth. Too much acids can cause inflammation, obesity, and major diseases like cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Click here to learn more about the importance of alkalizing your body.

9.    Cleansing Properties

Lemons help your entire body to flush out more toxins to prevent built-ups and damage to your cells, tissues, and organs. It stimulates your liver to produce more enzymes and work more efficiently. Lemon juice works as a diuretic to keep your urinary tract toxin-free and can also change the pH levels which discourage bacterial growth. This is very helpful for people who often suffer from UTI (urinary tract infection). And like mentioned before, lemons loosen and flush out waste from your digestive tract and cleanse your colon.

10.Antibacterial and Antiviral Properties

Lemons have antibacterial and antiviral properties. They help fight the flu, cold, and soothe a sore throat. Although people who drink their daily lemon water every day are less likely to get these in the first place.

11.Reduce Mucus And Phlegm

Lemon water helps to reduce mucus and phlegm formation. People who drink cow’s milk are often more sensitive for mucus production. So starting your day with lemon water can definitely help to lessen mucus if you’re not ready to go dairy-free.

12.Freshen Breath

Lemons freshen your breath and fight mouth bacteria. Although lemons are great for your overall oral health, avoid drinking or using it undiluted. The citric acid can erode tooth enamel, so don’t brush your teeth with it, but have a glass of lemon water instead.

13.Boost Brain Power

The high levels of potassium and magnesium show beneficial effects on our brain and nerve health. Lemon water can give you the boost you need to fight depression and stress. It creates mental clarity and more focus, making it a great drink for students or people with busy and stressful jobs.

14.Anti-cancer

Lemon’s antioxidants not only protect your skin from ageing, but also reduce the risk of several types of cancer. They are great in neutralizing acids as well. Cancer loves to grow in an acidic environment. Alkalizing your body may stop cancer cells to grow and may reduce the risk of getting cancer in the first place.

15.Get Of Caffeine

Many people are able to get off caffeine by replacing their morning coffee by lukewarm lemon water. It gives a similar energy boost to wake your body and boost energy as one cup of coffee would.

How to Prepare Lemon Water

Making lemon water is super simple. It takes less than 5 minutes of your precious morning time. Just squeeze half a lemon in lukewarm water. If you weigh more than 150 pounds, use a whole lemon.

Why use lukewarm (or room temperature) instead of cold or hot water to make this healing morning drink? Well, hot or cold water takes more energy to process, so your first glass in the morning should be lukewarm or at room temperature to slowly wake your body and kick start digestion.

If you love the taste feel free to add more lemon water to your diet during the rest of the day, cold or hot. It adds up to your daily water need, is less boring than plain water, and adds tons of benefits for body and mind.

Source: blogs.naturalnews.com

Top 6 Evidence-based Health Benefits of Pomegranate -

Are pomegranates healthy?

If you want to consume one of the healthiest fruits on the earth, it’s pomegranates as they comprise a range of beneficial plant compounds, incomparable by other foods.

As per some studies, pomegranates offer incredible benefits to your body and have the ability to lower the risk of all sorts of diseases.

Here are 12 evidence-based health benefits of eating pomegranates -

1. Pomegranates Contain Loads of Important Nutrients -

Also called as Punica granatum, the pomegranate is a shrub that producing a red fruit. It’s categorized as a berry, it measures about 5-12 cm (2-5 inches) in diameter, round in shape and looks kind of like a red apple with a flower-shaped stem. Though the skin of the fruit is thick and inedible the inside of it comprises of hundreds of edible seeds called arils.  Arils are eaten by people, either raw or processed into juice.

Pomegranates have an impressive nutrient profile:

One cup of arils (174 grams) comprise of:

Fiber: 7 grams.

Protein: 3 grams.

Vitamin C: 30% of the RDA.

Vitamin K: 36% of the RDA.

Folate: 16% of the RDA.

Potassium: 12% of the RDA.

Being sweet in taste, one cup of arils contains 24 grams of sugar and 144 calories.

2. Pomegranates Contain Two Plant Compounds With Powerful Medicinal Properties

There are two unique substances in pomegranates that are responsible for most of their health benefits.

Punicalagins

Found in the juice and peel of a pomegranate, Punicalagins are extremely powerful antioxidants. They are so powerful that pomegranate juice has been found to have three times the antioxidant activity of red wine and green tea. The extract and powder of a pomegranate is typically made from the peel, due to its high antioxidant and punicalagin content.

Punicic Acid

Also known as pomegranate seed oil, Punicic acid is the main fatty acid in the arils. It is categorized under conjugated linoleic acid with potent biological effects.

3. Pomegranate Has Impressive Anti-Inflammatory Effects

One of the leading drivers of many killer diseases is the chronic inflammation including heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and even obesity. The potent anti-inflammatory properties of a pomegranate are largely mediated by the antioxidant properties of the punicalagins.

As per some lab tests, it’s been shown that it can reduce inflammatory activity in the digestive tract, as well as in breast cancer and colon cancer cells. Additionally, some study in diabetics, found that 250 ml of pomegranate juice per day for 12 weeks decreases the inflammatory markers CRP and interleukin-6 by 32% and 30%, respectively.

4. Pomegranate May Help Fight Prostate Cancer

One of the most common type of cancer in men is the Prostate cancer. Results of the laboratory studies show that pomegranate extract can slow down cancer cell reproduction and even encourage apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells. In prostate cancer, the PSA (prostate specific antigen) is a blood marker. If the PSA levels double in a short period of time in men, they are at high risks of death from prostate cancer.

One more interesting fact about a human study found that 237 ml (8 oz) of pomegranate juice per day increased the PSA doubling time from 15 months to 54 months, which is huge. A follow-up study also resulted into similar improvements using a type of pomegranate extract called POMx.

5. Pomegranate May Also be Useful Against Breast Cancer

The most common type of cancer in women is breast cancer. The extract of pomegranate has shown to prevent reproduction of breast cancer cells and might even kill some of them. However, this is currently limited to laboratory studies and so, more research is needed for proven results.

6. Pomegranate May Lower Blood Pressure

One of the leading drivers of heart attacks and strokes is high blood pressure or hypertension. According to one study, people having high blood pressure had a significant decrease after consuming 150 ml (5 oz) of pomegranate juice daily for 2 weeks.

Other studies also had proven similar results, especially for systolic blood pressure (the higher number in a blood pressure reading). 

Do you Eat Almonds Every Day? Reveal the Health Benefits of Almonds…

What is the benefits of almond nuts?

Almond nuts comprise of rich sources of minerals like copper and magnesium, vitamins, high-quality protein. Also, it contains various phytochemicals that promote health making them complete source of nutrients and energy.  Vegetables foods like seeds and nuts offer fiber in high amount after cereals which clear the reasons for almonds being good for cardiovascular health.

Though being found in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel, almonds are the most popular nuts in the United States. As per some analysis, almonds contain 44% oils, of which 9% is saturated fatty acid, 29% is linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated omega-6 essential fatty acid) and 62% is monounsaturated oleic acid (an omega-9 fatty acid). Almonds have been found decades ago and are most widely grown of all the world’s nut crops.

Make Your Skin Healthy with Almond Oil

Being a rich source of vitamin E, almonds are a rich source of oil, ranging between 36 to 60% of kernel dry mass. Dried kernel of sweet almonds is the best source of sweet almond oil. The oil acts as an emollient for the skin and has been used by massage therapists for skin lubrication during a massage session from the traditional times.

Maintain Your Optimum Health with Almonds

Since almonds were found, they have been valued as an essence of health and wellness. The kernels of almonds contain the richest source of nutrients that are health-benefiting for optimum health.

Development of Brain

Almonds have always been a favorite of dieters, since it helps in the human brain development and health. Additionally, as per experts they have great medicinal value. When almonds are consumed daily they increase the memory, mind power, nourishes the body and keeps away the diseases.

Having Diabetes, Eat Almonds

As per the studies almonds help to maintain heart health, manage weight  and diabetes.

Almonds Are Gluten Protein Free

Since almonds are free from gluten protein, they are one of the popular ingredients in the preparation of food formulas that are gluten-free.

Are You Pregnant? Have Almonds

Almond play a significant role during pregnancy in women as they help in brain, memory and skin development of the baby.

Add Taste to Your Desserts with Almonds

Almonds are used in the preparation of ice creams, desserts, cookies, cakes, sweets, etc. Various nutritional products like almond milk, almond butter, almond flour and almond meal are also obtained for almonds to maintain your good health.

Ayurveda also considers almonds for their rich nutritional value. According to Ayurveda, almonds help increase high intellectual level and increases human life span.