Vitamins are best absorbed from their natural sources: food! One of the most important vitamins a pregnant woman needs is folic acid. The American Pregnancy Association recommends that all women of childbearing age get about 400 micrograms of folic acid every day. Folic acid is used by the body to make the extra blood your body needs during pregnancy. A deficiency can increase your baby’s chances of developing spina bifida or anencephaly, both of which are serious birth defects.
So which foods have the most of this essential nutrient? Liver is on the top of the list, but that is definitely not on the top of everyone’s list of favorite foods. Other foods rich in folic acid include: egg yolks, chicken giblets, dried beans and lentils, split peas, almonds, nuts, whole grains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, bananas, oranges and peaches.
Here are some tasty ideas for including these foods in your diet:
For breakfast, make yourself some whole grain toast and an omelet with baby spinach and feta cheese (pasteurized). Slice a banana and use it to top your favorite fortified cereal.
Lunch offers quite a few different meal options. Many soups are full of beans, lentils, split peas, and potatoes. You could also make yourself a salad with baby spinach, sliced strawberries, slivered almonds and poppy seed dressing.
For dinner you could add a side dish like sweet potato fries (my favorite), steamed broccoli with melted cheese, or curried cabbage. One of my favorite meals, which just happens to include asparagus, is the Chicken Madeira at The Cheesecake Factory. I never liked asparagus until I had it drizzled with Madeira sauce!
Bananas and oranges make great snacks, especially since it’s easy to throw one in your purse or bag in the morning. Peaches are delectable in a cobbler for dessert.
With all these meal options and the countless others you’re bound to find on various recipe sites, it’s easy to get your recommended amount of folic acid the natural (and tasty) way.