The summer season pleases us with peaches, nectarines and apricots. All of these fruits are fragrant, delicious and certainly healthy. But pregnant women, who first of all think about the benefits of a particular food product for an unborn child, often wonder whether the use of such fruits is permissible, whether they will harm the baby.
General information
Fruit on the table of a pregnant woman must be present in sufficient quantities - at least 500 grams per day. But are all fruits equally healthy? Earlier, experts from the World Health Organization warned about the dangers of eating fruits that contain highly allergenic components, such as citrus fruits.
Today the WHO recommendations have officially changed. Recent scientific research has shown that eating any food in moderation does not harm and even protects the baby from allergies after birth, since its immunity is "trained" and prepared for a variety of antigens even during the period of intrauterine development.
The list of foods recommended for the nutrition of women in an "interesting position" includes peaches, nectarines, and apricots, but the use of each of these fruits has its own nuances and requirements.
Peaches
Peaches are useful for women expecting a baby. They are not considered highly allergenic, and this is supported by the recommendations of pediatricians advising to introduce these fruits among the first in complementary foods for infants. There is a likelihood of allergies, but it is low. At the same time, the benefits are great - peaches contain a large amount of vitamins and pectin necessary for delicate and gentle digestion.
This product can be eaten in the 1st and 2nd trimester... And especially you should pay attention to it in the final third trimester of pregnancywhen it is very important to avoid constipation.
Peach flavor helps fight nausea attacks in the early stages, a large amount of glucose effectively restores and maintains the body's energy reserves. The fruits are rich potassium, necessary to maintain the normal functioning of the heart and blood vessels, namely, they experience tremendous stress during the period of bearing a child.
Peaches are rich in fiber, which gently provokes the receptors of the intestinal walls, and this is an excellent prevention of constipation, hemorrhoids, which is important for all expectant mothers, especially those who are in late pregnancy. Also fruits contain considerable amount of magnesium, which is important for the mood, the nervous system of the mother, for the correct formation of the nervous system of the fetus, as well as for the prevention of seizure activity.
Contraindications
A woman who takes multivitamins as prescribed by her doctor, you should limit the number of peaches consumed in the first trimester. They are rich in vitamin A, and in the early stages, an excess of this substance can lead to the formation of malformations in the baby. The optimal amount that does not harm can be considered 1-2 fruits a day.
The number of peaches should also be limited to the point of completely rejecting them for expectant mothers who are overweight, obese, or gain weight very quickly during gestation. Rapid and pathological weight gain is a direct contraindication to the use of peaches, since they contain a lot of sugar.
Peaches are not recommended for pregnant women with diabetes mellitus, including gestational diabetes mellitus, expectant mothers with liver diseases.
How to use it correctly?
Seasonal peaches are best suited for a pregnant woman, which means that from late June to early autumn, the fruits are most useful and nutritious. Imported peaches at other times of the year are treated with special chemicals that allow them to keep their appearance for a long time, but the peach peel is thin, and many of the chemicals penetrate into the pulp, which makes them unsafe to use during pregnancy.
For the expectant mother, only ripe fruits should be chosen. Unripe can cause intestinal upset, and they do not taste as good as ripe. If the peach is overripe, it has cracks, dents, and dark spots. Such a fruit is also not worth buying, because it can cause food poisoning. Intoxication during pregnancy is highly undesirable.
A pregnant woman who does not have the above contraindications should consume no more than 2-3 fruits per day for the 2nd and 3rd trimester and 1-2 fruits per day in the 1st trimester.
Nectarines
Nectarine is a subspecies of peach. It's believed that the fruit is the result of crossing a peach and a plum, but some researchers point to a different origin, suspecting that the crossing occurred between plum and apricot. In the southern regions of our country, nectarines have been grown for over 100 years, and it is wrong to consider the fruit exotic on this basis.
Pregnant women are allowed to eat nectarines. The calorie content of the fruit is low, which makes the fruit more affordable for women with weight problems than regular sugar-rich peaches. Nectarines are rich in ascorbic acid, which contributes to better absorption of iron... Fruit pulp contains a large amount potassium, magnesium, folic acid.
The plant fiber of nectarine is softer than peach, but it is also effective in treating constipation. It is believed that nectarine contains more antioxidants, which contributes to the prevention of cancer, however, official medicine does not have such data.
Nectarines improve skin color, help fight stress and have a positive effect on digestion during toxicosis.
Contraindications
As in the case of peaches, you should limit the use of nectarines in the first trimester against the background of multivitamins, so as not to cause a state of hypervitaminosis A, which is dangerous from the point of view of the likelihood of developing defects in the baby.
The fruit is not recommended for women with diabetes. Pay special attention to the bone. If it is cracked, the fruit cannot be eaten - it can be toxic, since the nectarine bone contains hydrocyanic acid.
How to use it correctly?
The fruit chosen for the expectant mother should not be rumpled, its skin should not be damaged, it should not have dark spots and a characteristic “wine” smell. But the nectarine should not be too hard either, this indicates that the fruit is not yet fully ripe.
Summer is the time for seasonal fruit. For nectarines, it starts in July and ends in early September. It is recommended to eat fruits fresh; before eating, they should be kept at home for no more than 5 days. You should not subject nectarines to heat treatment - in this case, only vegetable fiber will remain in them, and most of the nutrients will disappear when exposed to high temperatures.
It is allowed to make homemade juice from nectarines, but you need to drink it right away. The finished juice is stored in the refrigerator for no more than 3 hours. It is especially beneficial to drink it before meals. This will be the best prevention of constipation, which torments expectant mothers in the second half of pregnancy. The daily amount, which is considered optimal, is 2-3 fruits per day.
Apricots
Apricots during pregnancy are real natural "healers" that help fight edema and prevent hypertension. The fruits are rich in vitamins B1, P, carotene and pectin. Ripe fruits contain quite an impressive amount of sugar. In addition, apricots are rich in potassium, iron, iodine and magnesium.
The presence of potassium in a fairly high concentration helps to lower blood pressure, eliminate edema and shortness of breath. Dried apricot (dried apricot) has the same properties, and after dehydration, the amount of potassium in it is greater than in fresh apricot.
Apricots are often recommended for women at risk of thrombosis, as it is believed that this fruit thins the blood and prevents blood clots.
The amount of fiber in it is also high, and therefore the fruit is considered an excellent way to cleanse the intestines, prevent difficulty in defecation. Fruits may be most useful in the third trimester, when women experience physiological anemia of pregnancy. Even 2 apricots a day almost completely cover a woman's daily need for iron.
Magnesium in the composition of the fruit relieves excess muscle tone, prevents the threat of miscarriage, and also normalizes the mood of the expectant mother, as it participates in numerous neural and synoptic processes.
Precautions and contraindications
You cannot eat apricot pits. The poison they contain can adversely affect both the health of the mother and the development of the baby.
I would also like to note that eating apricots increases the acidity of gastric juice, and therefore it is not recommended for women with an initial high acidity, and vice versa for women with low acidity of gastric secretions.
It is not recommended to eat apricots for expectant mothers who suffer from low blood pressure. With hypotension, after them, increased weakness, dizziness, and a decrease in the heart rate are often observed.
Women with obesity or too intense weight gain should also avoid eating these fruits, replacing them with apples or pears. Due to the high sugar content, apricots should not be consumed by women with diabetes and diagnosed gestational diabetes.
Fruits are not recommended for expectant mothers with acute or aggravated diseases of the digestive system, especially in case of peptic ulcer disease, pancreatitis, gastritis with high acidity.
Rules for correct use
Apricots will not harm if a woman who has no contraindications eats 3-5 fruits a day. You can make apricot juice yourself and consume it in an amount of no more than half a glass per day. It is permissible to mix it with apple juice. A woman in "position" should not eat apricots on an empty stomach or wash them down with cold water. This is a sure way for diarrhea and other digestive disorders.
You can add pieces of apricots to porridge, cottage cheese, thermostatic yogurt. If you want to pamper yourself with a dessert, you can make a delicate curd mousse with these fruits, it will be both healthy and tasty.
Choosing fruits to feed expectant mothers, overripe apricots, as well as greenish unripe fruits should be avoided... The former create increased risks of food poisoning, because it is possible that bacteria are already multiplying under the burst skin. The latter are difficult to digest, many fractions of fiber in an immature fetus injure the intestinal receptors too much, and this causes diarrhea.
The best time for seasonal apricots is late June and July-August. At this time, the fruits are fresh, for their cultivation, nitrate-based fertilizers, which accelerate growth, are not used. At other times of the year, apricots are unsafe for the expectant mother due to the very likely presence of chemicals in the composition.
For information on how to choose apricots, nectarines and peaches, see the next video.
