Is It Sensible For An Expectant Mother To Be A Vegetarian?

There is nothing per se incorrect with following a vegetarian regime if you are expecting a baby. Whether you were a vegetarian before you became pregnant or you have chosen to be a vegetarian now that you are pregnant, the issue is the same as that for all mothers-to-be: namely, to make sure that you and the baby have all the vitamins and nutrients that you both need.

This is a somewhat more difficult quest if you are just starting off down the vegetarian road because of your lack of knowledge, but it is not that hard. There is so much information on the Net and in books now, and the doctors will be monitoring you, so you ought not miss out on anything you both require.

Your baby will have to grow a few pounds of bones, so calcium is one of your main priorities but it is also one of the nutrients that a non-vegetarian can leave meat to provide. If you are at the stage of being a vegetarian where you eat meals of meat and three veg but without the meat, you must have a serious rethink, and you could take supplements and eat tofu, broccoli and other dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and cabbage.

Vitamin D is simple, but you do require a regular supply of it. Our skin synthesizes Vitamin D from sunlight, so you have to go out in the sun for half an hour a day or more. However, it is no good going out in the midday sun with suntan lotion on.

It is better to go outside in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is less expected to burn you. It does not even have to be strong sunlight for your body to obtain Vitamin D.

Vitamin B12 is abundant in red meat, yet hardly present at all in plants. However, there are a few vegetable sources of vitamin B12: soya (tofu) is one of them and vitamin-enhanced vegetarian products (usually cereals) are another.

Even so, you will almost certainly have to take supplements to get enough vitamin B12 for an expectant mother. Fortunately, your doctor will be keeping an eye on your Vitamin B12 levels and he or she will be able to counsel you.

You will also need plenty of iron, which is also abundant in meat, and also in numerous vegetables. You have to have iron to keep your blood in decent shape and a lack of iron shows up as aenemia.

Again, dark green, leafy vegetables are the recipe of the day here as are beans, seeds and nuts. However, due to the amount of iron that you will need, you might need supplements for this one as well.

You require protein. A regular diet gets protein from dairy products like milk and cheese; from eggs and from meat and fish. You might or you may not be eating some of those products, but if you are not then you will have to derive your protein from somewhere else. Tofu is a good source of vegetable protein, but vegetable protein is a pretty hard one to find if you do not like tofu.

You will need zinc which again is abundant in meat. If you are looking for a vegetable source there are lots in the form of grains – all the different kinds of grains including those used for bread,

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several topics, but is currently concerned with French dip sandwich recipes. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes.