November's Nutrition Tip
Build and Keep Strong Bones and Teeth

What you eat during pregnancy lays the foundation for your baby's life. During pregnancy, your needs for all nutrients increase. One essential nutrient during pregnancy, particularly during the second and third trimesters, is calcium. Consuming calcium will help you and your baby build and keep strong bones and teeth. In addition, science suggests that calcium obtained from dairy products may help keep your blood pressure stable during pregnancy. If you do not eat adequate amounts of calcium-rich foods, your body will draw from stores of calcium in your bones in order to deliver calcium to your baby through your blood system. This can lead to weaker bones and, possibly, osteoporosis later in life. Consuming vitamin D along with calcium will help your body absorb and use the calcium and also serves to maintain a healthy immune system. Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that you can get from fish, the right amount of sun exposure and prenatal vitamins.

Putting Knowledge Into Action
There are many ways to incorporate calcium and vitamin D into your diet. During pregnancy, you need at least 1,000 mg per day of calcium and about 5 micrograms per day of vitamin D. You should select low-fat dairy sources when looking for calcium and vitamin D boosts. The snacks below are some examples of food that can help you get the calcium and vitamin D that you and your baby need:

• One cup of low-fat or non-fat yogurt.
• One cup of high fiber cereal with one cup of low-fat or non-fat milk or a glass of calcium fortified orange juice.
• Three ounces of low-fat cheese with three ounces of canned salmon with bones. The bones are soft, easy to swallow and are calcium rich, providing two-thirds as much calcium as there is in a cup of milk.
• A breakfast omelet made with one cup of your favorite dark leafy greens like spinach, collard and turnip greens, or kale.