Pregnancy can be one of the most important, highly anticipated event, in a mother’s life. It is naturally affectionate to care about this special period of life where you give great attention towards putting things in order. Taking the right food at the right time? This can be one of the most basic rules during the time of pregnancy.
Considering the woman feels responsible to the new life growing inside of her, she’ll make sure to keep the baby as healthy as possible. However, a very worrying situation is the risk of developing conditions that could affect the process. For that reason, platelet count is one of the most routinely monitored data during this period for it can be a subject of great concern as women experience a natural shift to a lesser amount in favor of more plasma, among other reasons.
Normally, an unpregnant woman will have a normal count of somewhere between 150,000 to 450,000 per microliter of blood. However, a gestating woman can have so much less than a reading of somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 per microliter. It can be common but would make a notable concern, much more in lower amounts—that is, anything lower than 100,000 per microliter.
Having subpar levels during gestation can significantly alter management and put not only the mother but also the developing baby at risk. For instance, an individual with a below-normal count could experience a premature or painful labor and delivery.
While regular dips caused by the pregnancy itself will not affect the child in the womb, a low count induced by an immune disorder, however, significantly puts the baby’s life at risk. Many pregnant women who suffer from low count do not necessarily require treatment to address their condition, but a pair of good oversight and diet can prove to alleviate it.
Food & Nutrition Diet (Meal Plan)
#1 Recommended Breakfast Diet
After a long night’s slumber, the patient is expectedly in a state that requires good refreshment. Essentially to break the fast, breakfast makes highlighted not only being the first meal of the day but also as its most important. For something as valuable, the patient can never go wrong with typical morning meals, such as fried or boiled eggs and/or fortified cereals.
#2 Recommended Lunch Diet
The time between breakfast and supper is a long one which could leave the person starving if not having a smaller meal in between, which is recommended especially for those in their mid- to late-stage pregnancies. Nevertheless, lunch is also an important meal as it paves the way for the long hours before the next meal of the day. As such, lunch can be particularly special, too, and would be even more if served with sumptuous foods, such as with a serving of dishes based on lean beef or beef liver as well as a serving of some grubs made from dark, leafy vegetables, like spinach or kale, in addition to black-eyed peas and lentils.
There are studies showing that if your food will be a little salty, the capacity of the body to digest food becomes easier. When the food introduced to the body is digested properly, and a bit faster than the normal time it takes for digestion, the body’s capacity to extract nutrients from the food becomes higher. However, it is important to keep in mind that increase in salt consumption may not be recommended especially when suffering from certain conditions like increased blood pressure.
#3 Recommended Dinner Diet
Dinner is the last meal of the day. But even when the waiting period between it and breakfast the morning after may be the longest for the patient, it serves more as comfort food for sleep than a moment to overindulge in food. With that in mind, dinner is often best in the least amount compared to the previous two meals or, if already going through small but frequent feedings, would be of the same amount just to keep the body well-fueled. For dinner, the pregnant will want to eat something that takes long to digest, particularly meat, like beef, egg, or fish, as well as leafy greens, like turnip greens, collards, kale, or spinach, or another veggie like broccoli or pumpkin.
#4 Recommended Snacks Diet
While snacks are often considered an optional part of the human diet, for the pregnant, they can be as important as the meals she is having. As mid- to late-stage pregnant women are incapable of consuming large chunks of food, it is paramount that her consumption of food remains sparing but frequent throughout the pregnancy. Fortunately, snacks do not always connote being unhealthy as certain foods can be consumed as such but are nonetheless one of the best nourishments out there, like natto.
#5 Recommended Drinks
If there is one thing that a pregnant with low count will want to consume for drinks to improve her condition, it would be fortified dairy alternatives, like almond milk or soy milk.
#6 Recommended Herbs
The papaya, especially its leaves, is widely known for its ability to enhance the body’s production of the cell component. Other herbal options to consider would include pumpkin, beetroot, and wheatgrass.
#7 Recommended Fruits
In general, citrus fruits such as orange and grapefruit, as well as other fruits such as pomegranate, kiwifruit, and strawberries are recommended for consumption as far as inducing the body’s ability to produce more of such of healthy cells.
The importance of Vitamin C cannot be emphasized enough. It is highly recommended that the woman should include a substantial amount of Vitamin C in her diet. Citrus foods are rich in Vitamin C and the citric quality of the fruit follows to help in maintaining several blood components. The vitamin is also beneficial in preventing the medical condition called Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Vitamin B12 is readily available in meats, making it a very common deficiency in women who are vegetarians. The vitamin can help increase counts in a considerable short span of time. It is also essential in the proper production of the blood component, along with RBCs and WBCs.
#8 Recommended Vitamin/s
A boosting diet is rich in the following vitamins: B9, B12, C, D, and K. A diet containing green leafy vegetables, if consumed in moderate amount, can be one of the finest ways to keep counts in normal levels. This approach should also be considered, not only by pregnant women, but by all individuals. Green leafy vegetables provides a good source of Vitamin K, which helps regulate normal clotting.
It has been a growing practice of today, in this continually innovative changing world, for people to substitute nutritional supplements as the main source for vitamins and minerals instead of taking natural food. This practice can also be observed in many pregnant women. However, it is best if the intake of nutritional supplements is alternated with natural food in keeping counts at normally optimal levels.
#9 Recommended Mineral/s
There is only one mineral known in science that is credited for boosting the body’s production of the blood component—Iron. To promote supplementation, iron rich foods like garlic, beetroot, apricot, whole grain foods, can be helpful in maintaining a normal count. Iron also helps in the formation of oxygen-carrying proteins in the body.
Nutritional zinc is helpful in increasing cell reactivity. A would-be mother should include a considerable amount of zinc in her diet. It is found that zinc deficiency in pregnant women can affect pregnancy and may cause birth abnormalities. Zinc is important in rapid cell growth that takes place during pregnancy. It is also essential for wound healing and support of the immune system.
#10 Discouraged Foods
Known to affect blood components, which would only aggravate the person’s situation, it is generally advised that the following be avoided for consumption: alcohol, cow’s milk, cranberry juice, quinine, and tahini.
With the intake of the right food, the condition can be controlled and maintained within normal levels during the entire, precious nine months. Before considering any changes in your diet plan, it’s best to seek for proper consultation.
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