The last trimester of pregnancy refers to 28 to 40 weeks. At this stage, the foetus’s weight increases as it prepares to embrace a world outside the mother’s womb. It builds layers of fat before its birth. As a result, you are most likely to experience weight gain during these last few months. Don’t give in to anxiety because of your weight gain and, instead, focus on a balanced, nutritious diet.
The Channel 46 has collaborated with Dr Anjali Kumar, MBBS, MD & Former CEO at Just Diabetes, who lists 14 foods you must include in your third trimester pregnancy diet.
1. Vitamin A
This is essential for the growth of your foetus’s bones. It also boosts their vision and skin. The foetus’s eyes open and begin detecting light during this trimester of your pregnancy. Hence, you need to have a Vitamin A rich diet that you can find in foods like dairy products, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, fortified cereals, and fish.
2. Vitamin C
Vitamin C is essential for you at this time of your pregnancy because it helps absorb iron. It also contributes to the health of your growing baby’s teeth, bones, and gums, and the development of its immune system. Vitamin C rich foods you must include in your daily diet include kiwi, strawberries, broccoli, red bell pepper, capsicum, and citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit.
3. Vitamin B6
This vitamin helps in the development of your baby’s brain as well as its red blood cells. Include a healthy dose of banana, poultry, fish, whole grain cereals, and starchy vegetables like potato to make the most of this vitamin for your developing foetus.
4. Vitamin B12
The foetus’s nervous system gets a boost when you include sufficient quantities of this vitamin in your diet. Besides, it also assists in the development of red blood cells. Eggs, fish, poultry, dairy products, and fortified foods are rich in this vitamin. Vegans and vegetarians often need a Vitamin B12 supplement because plant-based foods do not include sufficient amounts of this vitamin. Consult a doctor before you decide to take supplements on your own.
5. Vitamin D
This vitamin plays an integral role in helping you and your foetus absorb calcium. This helps strengthen the teeth and bones of you and your foetus. Fatty fish like salmon, cheese, egg yolk, sunlight, milk, breakfast cereal are rich sources of Vitamin D.
6. Calcium
Yet another nutrient that strengthens your foetus’s teeth and bones, you cannot overlook this one. The foods that are rich in calcium are broccoli, dairy products, fortified foods, kale, and seafood like sardines.
7. Choline
Choline is necessary for the formation of your foetus’s brain and spinal cord – a nutrient that several pre-natal vitamins often don’t contain. Natural sources of choline include milk, eggs, fish, meat, potatoes, peanuts, cauliflower, and soy products.
8. Iron
Present in foods like seafood, lean meat, poultry, spinach, nuts, kidney beans, prune juice, peas, breads and other fortified breakfast cereal, iron enables red blood cells to provide the foetus with oxygen. Also, as we’ve discussed earlier, Vitamin C helps the human body absorb iron from plants and supplements.
9. Iodine
Iodine plays its part in developing your foetus’s brain. It is found in abundance in foods like grain products, dairy, seafood, and iodised salt.
10. Folate & Folic Acid
A sufficient intake of folate and folic acid protects your foetus from spinal cord and brain concerns like neural tube defects. They are also essential for enabling your foetus and the placenta to grow. Beans, peas, nuts, dark green leafy veggies, fortified breakfast cereals, flour, and rice are rich sources of folate and folic acid.
11. Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Omega 3 fatty acids also contribute to the overall development of the brain of your foetus. They are mostly found in seafood like salmon, herring, and cod, among others. That apart, foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids are walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, and kidney beans.
12. Protein
Protein is necessary for the growth of the foetus. It also enables you and your foetus’s bodies to make blood. Lean meat, egg whites, cottage cheese, lentils, poultry, beans, seeds, and soy products are all major sources of protein.
13. Fats & Oils
Although fats and oils account for only 30% or less of your calories, they are a major source of energy. What’s more, they are responsible for making your foetus’s organs and the placenta grow. Good fats and oils include olives, avocados, and nuts and their oils.
14. Whole Grains
A leading source of carb, e energy, can result in you suffering from constipation. To alleviate that, half of the grains you should include in your daily diet should comprise brown rice, quinoa, oats, whole-grain bread, barley, and the like.
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