Nutrition has a significant impact on our lives and the lives of our descendants. We also pay great attention to it during pregnancy. We sometimes hear that if we teach a mother healthy lifestyle habits, the whole family will be healthy. And to some extent, this is true. Especially during pregnancy, women are inclined to change their lifestyle habits, both through exercise and nutrition. And rightly so. It is also important that they find an appropriate source of relevant information on how to approach this. It is crucial that knowledge about proper healthy nutrition and its impact on the quality of life is spread among healthcare professionals who regularly come into contact with expectant parents, and that they present the importance of a healthy and balanced diet for them and their descendants.
The diet of pregnant women is not significantly different from a generally healthy diet. It is beneficial to eat smaller, evenly distributed meals, meaning five to six meals a day, to ensure a consistent supply of nutrients, emphasizes Evgen Benedik. Sufficient hydration is also important, by which we mean consuming unsweetened teas, mineral water, and water. Smoothies are NOT included here. It is most recommended to consume locally grown and seasonal food, as minimally processed and as high-quality as possible.
If a mother has ingrained healthy eating habits, she will instill them in her child. The process begins before the pregnancy itself. Nutritional programming lasts a thousand days – what the mother eats is important three months before conception (what the father eats is also important here), throughout the entire pregnancy, and for two years after birth. Investing in healthy eating habits during this time is the best dowry for a lifetime. It reduces the risk of developing overweight, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and digestive diseases. It even affects the next generation of descendants. This is what we call metabolic programming or metabolic imprinting.
Source: The First 1000 Days – A Dowry for Life; Evgen Benedik, univ, dipl. inž. živ. tehnol.
Epigenetics – deals with changes in gene expression that are not a result of changes in the DNA sequence (e.g., mutations), but are hereditary (mitosis).
You can watch a recording from the show “Dobro jutro” here, where Assistant Dr. Evgen Benedik, univ. dipl. inž. živil. tehnol., employed at UKC Ljubljana, spoke about nutrition during pregnancy. Summary from the show:
- pregnant women in Slovenia, regardless of age and education, consume nutrient-poor foods (chocolate, Bled cream cake), consume a lot of processed foods, and too little vegetables and fruit
- it is necessary to avoid foods (food and drinks) with sugars and too little water, unsweetened drinks, saturated fats (wafers, cookies, fried items like donuts); they also consume too much salt
- exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and then continuing also helps with postpartum weight loss
- due to evolution, because food was not available at every step, a woman’s body creates a “reserve” so that it can provide all necessary nutrients to the baby through breastfeeding
- a pregnant woman must eat nutrient-rich foods and NOT EAT FOR TWO
- the food pyramid in pregnancy does not change, only 1-2 times a week is recommended for consuming fatty sea fish (the smaller they are, the better – sardines, sprats, NOT FRIED), and folic acid up to 12 weeks of pregnancy
- most pregnant women find fish smelly during pregnancy, so they should take omega 3 and 6 fatty acid supplements
- a breastfeeding mother needs nutrients, so do NOT give up fresh fruits and vegetables; within normal limits, it does not affect COLIC
- colic in newborns is a “necessary evil” for the first three months, regardless of what the mother eats
- a healthy diet can also include some treats, indulgences, a piece of chocolate, an occasional cream cake, but not on a daily basis
- it is important that pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are not on diets (except for health reasons), because the fetus receives signals about tastes from the environment or through her milk when breastfeeding; therefore, introducing solid food is easier, as the child will accept it more quickly because the tastes will be familiar; babies fed only with formula milk may have more difficulties introducing solid food because the tastes do not change
- if we consume a normal, balanced diet, no dietary supplements are necessary, except for folic acid and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids
FABRIKA organized a screening of the documentary “That Sugar Film,” which is the inspiration for my writing. To summarize briefly, the film discusses how much sugar we actually consume. It’s a 60-day experiment where Damon Gameau consumed a typical Australian amount of 40 teaspoons of sugar daily from foods that, according to outdated theories, were considered “healthy food” – low-fat products or products with less or no fat. Today, however, we know that these can be directly or indirectly linked to the onset of certain diseases and medical conditions, malabsorption, etc. Unfortunately, even today, food is still considered “good” for people, as the food industry convinces us of this. His diet in the experiment strictly included foods or products labeled as low-fat or fat-free, found on supermarket shelves in the healthy food section: cereals, smoothies, muesli bars, and low-fat yogurts. For 60 days, he did not consume fast food, chocolate bars, ice cream, or any sweets. The result: mood swings, a 10 cm (fat) accumulation around the waist, significantly worsened liver function, and a shortcut to cardiovascular diseases. The film highlights the differences between various types of sugar and the fact that a calorie is not equal to a calorie.
Have you reduced the amount of sugar in your diet?
