There are loads of benefits for eating nuts during pregnancy... to start with,
they make a quick and easy snack, and they are a powerhouse of beneficial nutrients. But,
which nuts are the best to eat for you and your growing baby?
Stay tuned to learn my top three nuts you should eat in pregnancy.
Hi there! A really big and warm welcome from me, Melanie McGrice. I'm a specialist pre and
postnatal dietitian and one of my favourite things to do is help pregnant and new mums
navigate the nutrition world to make sure that they are as healthy as they can be
and feel their absolute best. Make sure you connect with me on
my socials... You'll find all the details in the description box below this video.
In this video, I'm going to discuss my top 3 favourite nuts you should eat
in pregnancy. So, let's delve in....
I've awarded third place to walnuts. Walnuts are particularly rich in omega 3,
with one serve containing a whopping two and a half grams of ALA omega 3.
When you consider that you often need to consume around four capsules just to get
one gram of omega 3, it puts into perspective what a fantastic source of omega 3 these little
treasures really are. Admittedly, ALA omega 3 needs to be converted to long chain omega 3,
so it's not quite as beneficial as the long chain omega 3 found in fish, but it all helps! Omega
3's play an important role in the development of your baby's eyes and brain. Our baby's brains grow
faster during pregnancy than any other time in their lives. Your baby's brain is about the size
of a grain of sand at four weeks gestation, but increases by 260% by the time your baby reaches
the final trimester. Studies show that newborn omega 3 status has a strong positive correlation
to your dietary intake during pregnancy, making omega 3 rich walnuts an important pregnancy snack.
Second place goes to delicious pistachios. Eight hundred and seventy four pregnant mummas took part
in a very interesting study. The mummas were randomly assigned to either the control group
where they ate their normal diet or a group where they were instructed to eat a serve of pistachio
nuts and include two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in their diets each day. The researchers
found that the mummas in the intervention group, eating the nuts, had a range of improved pregnancy
outcomes, including a significantly reduced risk of developing gestational diabetes. Now of course,
it could have been the extra olive oil making the difference, but it was most likely to
combination of the two. Suffice to say, it's worth including some pistachios in your pregnancy diet.
However, first place goes to... Scrumptious peanuts!
I'm sure that you've heard that peanut allergy is one of the most concerning health issues for
new parents, with peanut anaphylaxis impacting approximately one in every one hundred babies.
Research over the past few years has suggested that simply consuming peanuts regularly throughout
pregnancy, can held to strengthen your baby's immune tolerance, resulting in a reduced risk
of peanut allergy in the future. With this in mind, I'll highly recommend aiming to include
peanuts or a peanut paste, at least once or twice per week throughout your pregnancy.
Walnuts, pistachios and peanuts aren't the only nuts to provide benefits during pregnancy.
All nuts are nutritious! So, I'd recommend aiming to include a 25-30g
handful of nuts in your diet each day, varying the type of nut from day to day.
This will provide you with variety as well as an extensive range of great nutrients.
I'd love to hear from you in the comments box below how you include nuts in your diet. And,
if you haven't done so already, make sure you download my free pregnancy meal plan
from melaniemcgrice.com/pregnancy to help you optimise your pregnancy diet.
I'll look forward to seeing you again soon!