We eat food to get energy. Our body needs nutrition for proper functioning. Ayurveda divides food into three major categories-sattvic, rajasic and tamasic.Pregnancy diet
One must consume the highest proportion of sattvic food with some rajasic food and very little tamasic food in one’s diet. Baby develops his / her taste buds through his mother. So a pregnant woman should eat only what you want your baby to eat. It is an important part of garbh sanskar.
Sattvic gunna represents balance. Eating more sattvic food brings balance and keep you happy and calm. The sattvic food has the highest energy.
Rajasic foods bring movement to the body, permform daily tasks. You should eat rajasic food in moderation.
Tamas gunna is linked with laziness. Tamasic foods cause inertia in the body. These foods acts as a sedative and give you physical and and mental lethargy. Tamasic foods are stale, packed, deep fried, processed etc. All pregnant women must follow pregnancy diet chart strictly.
| Gunna | association | examples |
| Sattvic | balance.
It brings balance and calming effect to the body |
All fresh fruits and vegetables, salads, freshly cooked home made food, honey, ghee, dates, turmeric, coriander, ginger, fennel, cardamom, green gram, pumpkin, wheat etc. |
| Rajasic | Activity
It brings movement to the body. |
Tea, coffee, pulses, onion, garlic, green chillies, black pepper, tobacccoy, cocoa, soda, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, pickles etc. |
| Tamasic | Laziness
It brings stability and repairs the body. |
chocolates, ice cream, chips, biscuit, cheese, samosa bread, kachoris etc. |
Vegetables which you must take in ample quantity (pregnancy diet)
Pumpkin, bottle gourd, pointed gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd, snake gourd, apple gourd, spine gourd, ash gourd, ivy gourd, bitter gourd, drumstick, broccoli, French beans, leafy vegetables, water chestnut, Jackfruit, Fenugreek leaves, gooseberry, cilantro, celery
Vegetables which you must take in moderation (pregnancy diet)
Cabbage, cauliflower, potato, tomato, cucumber, brinjal, onion, garlic, radish, sweet potato, capsicum, beetroot, carrot
Vegetables which you must avoid
Okra, cluster beans, corn, green chickpeas, green pigeon peas, peanuts
You must eat food which is local and seasonal. They are best for your body. You must add curry leaves wherever you can, they help in digestion hugely
Fruits ( pregnancy diet)
Don’t take fruit juices, you should chew your fruits and veggies.avoid these fruits or take in small amount – watermelon, muskmelon, pineapple, papaya
Take coconut water before noon. Don’t drink it on empty stomach.
Don’t ever drink sugarcane juice, chew the sugarcane if you want to consume.
Take only 2 mangoes in a day and eat only during its seanson.
Avoid fruits after 5 pm.
No milkshakes, according to ayurveda fruits and milk are opposite in nature and shouldn’t be mixed together.
Flours
Take whole wheat flour, rice flour and sorghum ( jowar) as much as possible.
Take finger millet flour ( ragi), cornmeal flour (makki), bengal gram flour ( besan) pearl millet flour (bajre), semolina flour (rawa), water chestnut flour and amaranth flour in moderation.
Avoid all purpose flour (Maida), corn flour as much as possible.
Pulses
Green gram whole ( moong), green gram split, yellow gram split, horse gram, pink lentil (masoor) and pigeon peas split ( tuvar dal) should be taken in ample quantity.
Black gram (urad), Bengal gram (chana), chickpeas (chhole), hyacinth beans (Val), white peas ( vatana), Bengal gram split and tapioca pearls (Sabudana) must be consumed in moderation. Soyabeans and sprouts should be avoided.
It would be better if you take unpolished rice with pulses (Dal). Avoid basmati rice as it causes vatta. Brown rice and red rice can also be taken as they are rich in many nutrients.
Wonderful constipation cure
You can take one tablespoon of psyllium husk (isabgol) with lukewarm milk at night to cure constipation and indigestion problem. If you have severe constipation then you can take this two times a day.
Dry fruits
You must take dry fruits only after soaking them for overnight. You can take dry fruits in the following quantity daily.
Almonds – no of your pregnancy month
Cashew – 3
Wanut – 1
Fig – 1
Black grapes – 10
Monakka grapes – 10
You can also consume watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and flaxseed in moderation.
Liquid
For pregnancy diet one can consider these liquids
Milk, buttermilk, lemon water and fennel water.
Add a lot of ghee to your diet as it helps in digestion, energizes body and keep constipation away.
Things to avoid during pregnancy
While considering pregnancy diet one must avoid these products.
Bakery products, restaurant foods, fast food, junk food, stale food, all packaged food, sweets fermented foods and bottled water as it contains micro plastic.
Avoid watching t.v, mobile phone, laptop etc during eating. Chew 32 times for proper digestion of food.