Bun in the Oven: Nutrition During Pregnancy
➝ A healthy diet during pregnancy provides you and your baby with necessary nutrients.
➝ There are community resources, such as SNAP and WIC, that may help those with low income afford fresh foods.
➝ Our gallery includes multiple nutrition suggestions to make sure you have a healthy pregnancy.
Eating a balanced and healthy diet can be a tall order for a mom to be. Planning and cooking nutritious foods takes time and effort, but the nutrients that they provide you and your baby are necessary during pregnancy. Nutrients are substances in foods and dietary supplements that give your body the energy it needs to function from day-to-day. The National Institutes of Health advises that pregnant mothers should pay special attention to how much folic acid, iron, calcium, and vitamin D they are getting from their diets. Check out the gallery above to see what the P&I team cooked up to help you make the nutrition decisions you need for a healthy pregnancy.
The foods listed in the gallery are just suggestions. What’s most important is that you find fresh, healthy foods that work for you and your family’s unique needs, and there may be resources in your community that might be able to help. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance – also known as SNAP, EBT, or food stamps – and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are nutrition programs that support families who may need help affording fresh foods. WIC can also help you determine your “nutritional risk” to see what nutrients may be missing from your diet.
Nowadays, a lot of farmer’s markets are accepting SNAP and WIC. Some will even give you twice as much food just for using your SNAP or WIC benefits to buy from them. Need help finding a farmer’s market near you? The USDA has a great farmer’s market finder that will not only help you find your closest farmer’s market, but will even tell if you if they accept SNAP and WIC! Check out the Georgia WIC and SNAP prescreening tools to see if you and your family are eligible for benefits. They only take 15 minutes and can be very helpful down the road!
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