Nutrition

This morning I started a chart of the food that I am eating. It's mostly to keep track of my protein because I don't think I am getting as much as I need to, and after last weeks class I learned a lot about nutrition. Most of it i knew already, but some I didn't, like I should be getting between 80 and 100g of protein a day. Because I am a vegetarian this is a little harder for me to do, but still doable. Other than that I have been obsessed with nutrition lately. I am realizing what a huge affect the food you eat has on you, your body, and your baby. Your nutrition during pregnancy plays a big impact on your labor & delivery, and your recovery period after birth. While I generally eat healthy, with the occasional indulgence in ice cream, it's nice to know exactly how healthy I am eating. There's so much stuff out that that is terrible for you, and people don't realize how terrible it really is. We do not buy anything that has high fructose corn syrup in it. HFCS is not good for you at all, fructose and glucose that has traces of mercury in it? No thanks. Large quantities of fructose stimulate the liver to produce triglycerides, promotes glycation of proteins and induces insulin resistance. If you start looking at the ingredients when you go grocery shopping you will find that the majority of items on the shelf contain HFCS. Look for items that say sugar instead, these are a much healthier option. I look for foods that have the least ingredients listed. Items, such as bread or ice cream, do not need more than a few ingredients. When you are getting into the huge words you can't pronounce then there's an issue. If I don't know what it is then I don't want to eat it! Monosodium glutamate, MSG. Here's another ingredient I steer clear of. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising) this ingredient is also in a ton of items stocked on the shelves at your local grocery store, not to mention in tons of take out and fast foods. If your label says "spices" or "natural flavorings" it's more than likely going to be MSG. I don't even need to go into depth on this one because you should all know that MSG is bad bad bad for you!
I will not buy any genetically modified food. Now, this is something that is tough, they are not required to put on the label that the food has been genetically modified, so there is no guarantee that what you are buying is not GM. However, all organic food is not genetically modified. It's more expensive, yes, but I will pay a little more to ensure I am not putting chemicals into my body.
I will not eat fast food. After seeing Super Size Me years ago, and becoming interested in food and eating healthy in general, I will not touch the stuff. There is almost no nutritional value in fast food, and one "meal" has almost the equivilent to what your daily sodium intake should be. It is recommended that you do not consume more than 3,000mg of sodium a day, 2,000mg if you have high blood pressure or cholesterol. This is especially important for pregnant women, the more sodium you consume the greater your chances are of getting high blood pressure or high cholesterol, and that's bad news. High blood pressure leads to medical interventions, such as induction or c-section because of risks of preeclampsia. Besides the sodium that stuff is just bad. Lots of calories, and the bad kind of fat, trans fat. Not to mention it's not even real food.
The more I read about healthy nutrition during pregnancy in all the books I am reading and from my Bradley class, the more interested in it I am. It's crazy how much what we eat really affects us.

So on that note, I will post my food chart at the end of the day! Maybe I will even start posting a weekly food chart! How exciting!