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Categories Diet During Pregnancy, Pregnancy nutrition

Folate and Pregnancy: How important is it really?

Folate and Pregnancy: How important is it really?

Folate, often known as vitamin B9, is an important nutrient during pregnancy. Folate has a number of critical roles during pregnancy, the most significant of which is ensuring the normal closure of your baby’s neural tube during the first few weeks. Getting adequate folate during this critical phase will help your baby avoid neural tube problems like spina bifida and anencephaly. It is necessary for your baby’s spine, brain, and skull to develop properly. Other research has linked sufficient folate consumption during pregnancy to a lower risk of oral cleft lip/palate and cardiovascular problems in babies.

There is also some evidence that suggests a reduced risk of preeclampsia in the mother. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy issue involving the mother’s blood pressure, which can endanger both the mother and the baby’s life.

Is there a difference between folate and folic acid?

Folate and folic acid have a similar sounding name for a reason! Folate is a naturally occurring nutrient, but folic acid is a synthetic nutrient that is added to specific foods to provide the same nutritional benefits. Folic acid is more stable than folate for fortification purposes, therefore you’ll probably see it in your prenatal supplement! For the sake of simplicity, you can consider them to be the same thing!

Food sources of folate:

Leafy greens, lentils, asparagus, oranges, broccoli, strawberries, egg yolks and avocado are all good sources of folate. Fortified foods including cereal, grains, and whole grain flours also contain folic acid.

Hi to prevent deficiency of folic acid:

To guarantee that your requirements of folic acid are met in the event of you becoming pregnant, all women of reproductive age planning a pregnancy, should take a multivitamin supplement daily containing 400 micrograms of folic acid (with vitamin B12 for effective folic utilisation). As previously said, folate is critical during the early stages of pregnancy, so start supplementing at least three months before trying to conceive. This will guarantee you have adequate quantities to support your baby’s neurodevelopment.

Because pregnant women need 600 micrograms of folate/folic acid per day, dietary sources of folate/folic acid are just as vital as continuing to take your folate supplement! Women having a history of neural tube problems in previous pregnancies, a family history of neural tube defects, diabetes, obesity, or epilepsy may require more folate supplementation. If you think you could be at risk of folate deficiency, talk to your doctor or a nutritionist before starting a higher dose of supplementation.

In conclusion

Getting nutrition advice during pregnancy can be stressful, but we’re here to help! If you need some assistance incorporating folate-rich foods into your diet. Kanupriya Khanna, a Senior Consultant Nutritionist & Dietitian with over 18 years of experience, can provide expert advise.

Kanupriya Khanna is regarded as one of the best dietitians in Delhi because of her unwavering commitment to making a difference in people’s lives by instilling good eating habits and lifestyles.

Categories Children Diet

Diet Culture Dropout: The Best Feeding Advice for New Parents

I’m on a quest to help you rediscover the pleasure that should come with eating. I don’t want you to miss out on memories of your motherhood or your children’s childhood because of food or eating anxieties.

The good news is that optimal nutrition does not need sacrificing a positive relationship with food. Choosing to focus on supporting your children does not imply that you are neglecting nourishment or that you are no longer “caring.” There’s no way. You do it because you care, and you’ll discover that healthy nourishment for your children is the result. So, where do you begin? How may this appear in your home?

It may appear hard to work for something different in your home when you look at the large picture. Especially, if food is difficult to understand and feeding children is a stressful experience. We’re already inundated with “rules” about how to feed our children and how to produce healthy eaters. Diet culture has penetrated a lot of this knowledge. Does any of this ring a bell?

  • Allow no packaged foods to be consumed by your children.
  • Offer them no processed foods.
  • Before the age of two, no additional sugar is allowed.
    • Limit sweets in your home and don’t allow your kids to consume sugar.
  • Nothing frozen should be consumed.
  • Stay away from convenience foods.

But what do you do if your kids gravitate towards foods that are intended to be “off-limits”?

This is where I see power struggles between children, parents and their caretakers begin, and where food becomes a source of conflict.

Perhaps you’ve seen something similar before?

You want your children to eat healthy meals, on the one hand. You want them to be fit and healthy, with a strong immune system to boot. You don’t want kids to have behavioural issues, and you’re concerned about their physique sizes. You want them to succeed and grow into capable, strong adults.

Diet Culture Influences Common Child Feeding Rules

Food rules can influence how we feed our children in the most subtle ways – things we might not even realise are food rules.

It’s critical to comprehend how diet culture operates, as it frequently promotes a rigorous attitude to food and eating while also normalising these practices as the best way to create a healthy family.

Diet culture has been cloaked in the guise of “wellness culture” in recent years, but it is still an unhealthy obsession with the things we eat. Diet culture has become a mainstream aspect of how we conduct our lives, making it difficult to spot it when it appears.

It frequently manifests itself when it comes to feeding our children, which is why this is an important subject to investigate.

Here are a few instances of how diet culture can manifest itself in how we feed our children:

  • Keeping a tight grip on the meals our kids eat or have access to
  • Allowing children to eat particular meals based on external norms (e.g., “Processed foods are harmful, thus they can’t eat any processed foods,” “Sweets are unhealthy for kids,” “We don’t allow any sugar in the house,” and so on)
  • Keeping your child away from events where other outside meals are offered that you are not comfortable with them eating.
  • Are you worried about what your youngster is eating?
  • Using a “good” versus “bad” lens to describe food
  • Trying to teach your child about healthy eating, food selection, and so on

These items may appear to be “applauded” by diet culture on the surface. Diet culture honours and rewards parents who are overly concerned about their children’s health and the foods they eat.

But how much will it cost? Many families who become enslaved to tight eating rules or a black-and-white view of health wind up with more complicated challenges. Mealtimes are typically chaotic when our children are fed through diet culture. Parents may feel trapped in a never-ending cycle of power battles with their kids. When we try to get our children to adapt to our norms or views around food and eating, this doesn’t allow our children to keep their underlying intuitive eating talents.

We essentially take away the autonomy that we want our children to acquire and grow, forsaking the most crucial components of forming a pleasant relationship with food in order to stay in the diet culture’s safe zones. Please believe me when I tell that as parents attempting to raise healthy, capable children, we only have the finest intentions.

I don’t believe any parent is intentionally attempting to sabotage their children’s connections with food and their bodies.

The goal here isn’t to condemn parents in any way; rather, it’s to recognise the toxic milieu in which we’re trying to feed and raise our children. Diet culture has penetrated every aspect of our lives, including how we parent and feed our children. It’s all too easy for us to fall prey to its enticing hooks if we don’t take intentional actions to proactively combat it. To become a part of the system from which so many of us seek liberation. So many of these feeding methods are ones we were exposed to as children, or that our parents were exposed to, and so on – through the centuries.

It all starts with becoming more conscious of how it hides and lurks in your own home, as well as questioning the norms you’ve internalised about food and your body.

What food ideas do you have that are currently influencing how you feed your own children?

Understanding this and taking the time to honestly reflect on it can help you make a proactive decision for you and your family. Take a piece of paper and write down some of the norms or attitudes you have about food or feeding your children that are influenced by diet culture.

If you’re unsure, write down the first thing that comes to mind. When thinking about this, consider TRUST as a component.

If you or your children don’t trust themselves or each other around food, this can be a key motivator for rules, as rules provide an artificial sense of control.

Fear is what keeps rules alive, so think about what you’re afraid of when you evaluate the food rules that have crept into your home or the base from which you feed your children. Diet culture instils fear and fosters the notion that we can’t trust ourselves or our children. Returning to the basics and learning to live and eat free of food restrictions necessitates beginning from the ground up. Because feeding our children involves more than a transaction: it isn’t just handing them food and expecting them to eat it. (Diet culture portrays feeding our children as something to be controlled in this way.)

However, this overlooks the most important aspect of feeding our children: cultivating a trustworthy feeding connection. This provides a sense of security and connection, and it is in this environment that children can learn to trust their bodies and form positive dietary associations that benefit their general health. Cultivating such trust is crucial to having food freedom as a family and breaking the chains of any internalised food rules you may have had.

Learning to consume and feed your children outside of these dietary restrictions can be quite beneficial, not just to yourself but also to your children’s attitudes toward food and their bodies. This is why it’s critical to be aware of the eating rules you follow, whether consciously or unconsciously. What is the perspective from which you feed your children, and how has that perspective been formed?

When you can begin to study and comprehend it, you may begin to demolish it in order to feed your children outside of diet culture’s confines and structures.

This could include bringing in previously forbidden items or questioning your own dietary guidelines regarding what or how much your children “need to consume.” This may appear to be bending your rules about when particular foods are allowed (for example, many of us grew up with a dietary rule that said we could only eat sweet foods after dinner – but why? Who told you that this was the rule? And what is the point of it?

If you’re not sure if the dietary “rules” you have for your kids and yourself are related to diet culture, consider this: “What is the objective behind this rule?” Is there a regulation in place to provide you some control over a dish that makes you feel uneasy? Taking an honest look at this will help you comprehend the rules you may have around food, as well as reveal which restrictions may need to be questioned and destroyed in order for you and your family to enjoy more freedom with food.

Kanupriya Khanna, a Senior Consultant Nutritionist & Dietitian with over 18 years of experience in child nutrition, can provide expert advise and the right kind of diet for the children. Kanupriya Khanna is regarded as one of the greatest dietitians in Delhi because of her unwavering commitment to making a difference in people’s lives by instilling good eating habits and lifestyles. (Children’s Nutritional Needs During the Pandemic:)

childs diet plan
Categories Children Diet, Nutrition Blogs

6 Reasons to Feed Children Sprouted Grains

Sprouted grains are simply whole-grain seeds that have just begun to sprout. The process of turning seeds into tiny little plants is quick and easy; however, the nutritional benefits they offer are huge. Hence, it becomes extremely important to include sprouts in your child’s diet plan since they contain 10 times more nutrition than other cooked food.

1. Abundance of Vitamins and Minerals

Sprouts are a prime source of vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin E. They are also rich in essential nutrients like folate, iron, vitamin C, zinc, magnesium, etc. So feeding sprouted grains is one of the best ways to ensure your child gets the maximum vitamins and minerals even in those few spoons of food.

2. Rich in Protein

Sprouts are a good source of protein and antioxidants. So include lots of sprouts in your child’s diet plan to help them stay stronger and energized throughout the day.

3. High in Fiber

Sprouts are powerhouses of dietary fiber which regulates digestion. They improve the chemical reactions within the body and boost the metabolic processes, specifically when it comes to digestion.

4. Increases Blood Circulation

With significant amounts of iron and copper, sprouts have the ability to boost red blood cells count in the body. This aspect further helps in supplying oxygen to various organs and cells to optimize blood circulation.

5. Creates Lesser Hunger Pangs

Sprouts keep the tummy full for a longer time thus preventing cravings between meals. So when you prepare food recipes for kids with sprouts, your child is less likely to grab fast foods in-between meals.

6. Builds Immune System

With a number of antioxidant properties, sprouts do act as a powerful stimulant for the white blood cells to fight diseases and infections.

Healthy and flavoursome – sprouts can be included in your kid’s diet plan in various ways. However, if you need ideas and suggestions in preparing unique food recipes for kids, contact Kanupriya Khanna. One of the best child dieticians in Delhi, Kanupirya will make your child’s meal planning task easy for you!

Categories Dietician

Millets for Kids and Pregnant Women

Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses. They are gluten-free crops. (Examples of Millets: Jowar, Ragi, Kanjni, Bajra, Rajgira, Kuttu, etc). Available in India and other countries the demand for millets has grown recently for its umpteen health benefits.

Millets are known to be extremely nutritious and good for health. They are a rich source of fiber and other minerals like magnesium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, zinc, and potassium.

According to health and nutrition experts, millets should a part of kid’s diet plan and pregnancy diet plan.

In this section, we have listed some of the health benefits of millets:

Millets Relieve constipation
Rich in fiber, millets aid the digestion process and relive bowel issues.

Millets In Diabetes
Due to the presence of high-quality carbohydrates and fibre, millets can be eaten by pregnant women suffering from gestational diabetes, as well as people with diabetes. Their consumption does not lead to a spike in blood sugar levels.

Good Source of Antioxidants
The high amount of antioxidants like selenium and quercetin, present in millets fights free radicals present in the body which slows down the aging process.

Aids in Sleep
Tryptophan element present in millet raises the serotonin level in the body. It reduces stress and promotes good sleep.

Millets have a unique taste and can accentuate the taste quotient of any meal. Hence it can be easily included in a kid’s diet plan or a pregnancy diet plan. Ragi Idli, Millet Khichdi, Ragi Cookies, etc. are some popular millet dishes that can be prepared at home. You can also prepare millets in the form of porridge for growing kids and pregnant women.

If you need more ideas on how to include millets in your diet plan – contact Kanupriya Khanna. A certified dietician from Delhi, Kanupriya is known to provide the best diet plan for kids and pregnant ladies. An experienced professional and a mother of two herself – she will help you inculcate healthy eating habits in order to live a healthier life.

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