Pregnancy Nutrition Class

[phathui5]

I'm putting together a nutrition class to teach at the birth center and I wanted to ask here: If you were to take a pregnancy health and nutrition class, what would you want to be covered? What questions would you have for the instructor?

[heatherdeg]

What's REALLY safe (and not safe) to eat while pregnant and WHY?!?!

[katelove]

I did a gestational diabetes education session this pregnancy which included dietary advice ( as you'd expect :-). ). The things I found most useful was the number of serves of each type of food to be aiming for and what constituted a serving size. The dietitian also gave us the same information for when you're breastfeeding.

[maydaymom10]

I went through the Dr Sears LEAN Expectations training (nutrition & wellness for pregnancy & breastfeeding). In my classes, we really focus on quality versus quantity of what we eat. Also, most of my students are fixated on cravings, so we've discussed some healthy alternatives to downing ice cream and cupcakes all of the time, while still explaining that it's OK to indulge from time to time. The issue of weight comes up a lot (and losing the weight afterwards) as well as constant hunger. I really try to drive home the difference between a complex carb & a simple carb and why eating the former will keep you fuller longer. We also talk about protein combos, as most of my mamas have a hard time wanting to just eat meat constantly. We've also gone over alternative sources of calcium (for those who can't do dairy). 

Even those Dr Sears has a lesson plan to follow, I try to relax it so that I have the basic info, but then expand on the particular details that the students in a specific class are interested in. 

If you do anything on postpartum nutrition & have questions about exercise, be sure to cover the importance of caloric and fluid intake and how it related to milk production. 

Good luck!

[Sol_y_Paz]

• emphasis on eating real foods
• ways to spruce up water -like adding lemon or lime or whatever
• a full list of healthy easy snacks
• discussion on benefits of proteins and what types and why, foods to stay away from and why
• foods to try to eat the most of and why
• easy meals to make - a plus if it will feed you for a couple meals - that are also super healthy for pregnancy
• how to eat out and still eat healthy - perhaps a list of the good places to eat nearby