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| Home > Nutrition and Health > Special Concerns
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| | Special Concerns during pregnancy
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Pregnancy always demands good nutrition. You need to be scrupulous about your diet. If your pregnancy is a "special pregnancy" or if you are on a special diet, your nutritional requirements will be greater than normal.
Seek nutritional counseling under these special circumstances. Your physician or a nutritionist will be able to plan your diet in a practical way.
Special Pregnancies
 Multiple pregnancies
You need to consume more calories if you are carrying two or more babies. Your nutritional requirement also increases.
Adolescent pregnancy
A teenager is in the growth phase and has greater-than-adult requirements for most nutrients. She needs to eat particularly well when she is pregnant to maintain her own growth while providing nourishment for her fetus.
Pregnancies in rapid succession
Pregnancy de-pletes your reserves of certain nutrients like calcium and iron. Your body makes up for this deficit in due course. So if your successive pregnancies are properly timed, no nutritional deficiency occurs. If you become pregnant in quick succession, your reserves may be depleted and you may need extra calories and nutrients. The length of time needed between successive pregnancies to correct deficien-cies depends on your overall health, your age, the quality of your diet and your nutritional status.
Special Diets
A vegetarian diet
If you are a vegetarian and consume milk and eggs you can, with know-ledge and careful planning, provide adequate nourishment for yourself and your unborn baby. Your prime concern is the need to take in sufficient calories, to supplement B12 found mostly in animal meats and to combine protein-rich foods to obtain all the essential proteins.
Milk intolerance
 Milk intolerance may lead to calcium deficiency. Try cultured forms of milk such as acidophilus milk and yogurt, which are often well tol-erated by people who are not able to digest milk.. Alternatively eat other foods high in calcium, such as, cheese, whole grains vegetables, egg yolk and whole canned fish. If you simply do not like the taste of milk try cooking with dry powdered milk or eating cream soups. These alternatives will give you the benefits of milk without its taste. If you are unable to meet your requirements through your diet, you may need calcium supplements .Your physician will offer you the best advice in this matter.
Allergies
If you have significant food allergies, you need to be guided by a nutritionist, who will plan a proper diet for you, so that you do not lack in any nutrients. Eliminating problem foods may lead to an inadequate diet.
Medical problems
If you are pregnant and have a medical prob-lem, such as diabetes, anemia, heart or lung disease, you will need to take care of your illness along with the growing needs of the developing fetus. You must be monitored closely by your physician and your diet should be charted by a qualified nutritionist.
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