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| Sunday, 26 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Health guide Vegetarian diet for a healthy, happy pregnancy by Dr. D.P. Atukorale
Energy Increase your calorie intake by about 300 calories per day in the second and third trimesters. This increase is easy to achieve and these calories are best derived from wholesome food that will nourish you in other ways as well. Calories are most certainly obtained from carbohydrates and fats. The body readily converts these to energy that is not stressful to your body especially if the carbohydrates are complex, from unrefined whole foods. The carbohydrates are used for immediate and short term use, and fats for storage of energy. We all need both and especially in pregnancy, women must ensure that their body has appropriate amounts that they may deal with the demands of a body that is changing and a baby that is growing. In addition to calorific value, complex carbohydrates and fats are rich in other vitamins and minerals which improve the nutritional value of the diet. Complex carbohydrates are also rich in fibre which helps to maintain your health in other ways. Useful snack ideas to help you meet your additional calorie requirement healthily are: (a) Ripe bananas, (b) a cupful of mixed nut and dried fruit, (c) a serving of avocado, (d) soya milk, (e) a bowl of fresh fruit salad, and (f) a bowl of lentil soup. Each of these examples are wholesome yet provides calories as well as other nutrients essential to health. Pregnant women should be given fruits like apples, guava, pineapples, oranges "jambu", "veralu", "lowi" etc. Protein Increase your protein intake throughout pregnancy and lactation. Don't overload on protein rich food to the exclusion of carbohydrates and fats. If you do this your body will have to convert the proteins into calories just to get enough calories and this can create health problems. Aim for a diet high in complex carbohydrates, adequate in fat and just enough protein (one gram per kg per day) to do the job of growing your baby almost and making essential motherly changes to your body. Grains, legumes, nuts and seeds are all protein rich foods which you can combine easily in meal form. Some excellent easily digested sources of extra proteins are : (a) Soya products such as soya sausages, soya meat balls, tofu, TVP and soya meat, (b)peanut butter, (c)baked beans,and (d)all types of legumes. Vitamins and minerals Fresh vegetable juices are an excellent source of vitamin and mineral rich whole foods that give you the nutrients immediately and are easy to digest (and easy to hold down if you are suffering from morning sickness). Fresh vegetable juices tend to have a very healthful effect on the elimination processes. You can use carrot, beetroot, spinach and cucumber etc. and these vegetable juices are rich in minerals such as-calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium sulphur, zinc, magnesium and manganese, iodine and trace minerals such as selenium and copper. Green vegetables will increase your intake of folic acid and most vegetables will also increase your intake of vitamin A,B and C. Calcium Increase your calcium intake by about 400mg per day to a total of about 1200mg per day. Try to meet this increase using calcium-rich foods rather than supplements. Calcium is necessary for the proper development of baby's bones and teeth and for maintenance of your teeth and bones during this time. Calcium is best absorbed when you have adequate Vitamin D in your body and when plenty of boron, a trace mineral is also present in the diet. Boron is available in apples and other fresh fruits and vegetables. Thus an apple a day during pregnancy may well have more to do than keep you regular. Some ideas for calcium-rich meals include: (a) Fresh vegetable juices, (b) hummus, (c) dhall (lentils), (d) broccoli, and (e) soya milk. Vitamin D Vit. D is made when a substance (dehydro-cholesterol) in the skin reacts with sunlight. Vit. D is essential to maintain appropriate levels of calcium in the blood stream and should be gained by regular exposure to sunlight. Some margarines, breakfast cereals and soya milk are fortified with Vit. D for those who wish to supplement this vitamin, but a daily walk or sitting in sunlight for at least 15 minutes with face, hands and arms exposed is usually considered sufficient to manufacture this vitamin. Iron Increase your iron intake during pregnancy. Iron is necessary for the formation of new red blood cells for you and your baby, so it is reasonable that you require more during pregnancy. Vitamin C helps your body to absorb iron especially if it is present in the same food as the iron. Fresh vegetable juices as mentioned earlier are ideal to boost your intake of this essential combination. Cooking your food in iron pots will also increase the presence of iron in your food, Iron rich foods that you may include in your diet are: (a) dried foods such as apricots, prunes and currants, (b) fresh or roasted nuts and seeds, (c) whole grains such as oats and breads, (d) Niwithi, and (e) Gotukola. Vitamin C Increase your intake of vit. C on a daily basis to assist your body's absorption of iron, and to help protect against infection. Vitamin C is essential for the development of your baby. It is available in fruits and green vegetables, as well as to a lesser extent in potatoes and tomatoes. Out of the local fruits "nelli" and guava have high concentrations of vitamin C. Increase your intake easily with these foods. (a) fresh vegetable juices, (b) fresh fruit juices, (c) salads and (d) fruit snacks Folic Acid This vitamin is crucial to the development of baby's nervous system. Try to double your intake of folic acid by greatly increasing your consumption of green leafy vegetables. Some folate rich foods are spinach, green leaf sandwiches, fresh or dried dates, mixed nuts, fresh vegetable juices, avocado and soya. Vitamin B12 is essential for the development of normal blood cells and for healthy nerve function. Lacto-vegetarians have no problem with regard to vitamin B12 deficiency. Fortified cereals and fortified soya products such as soya milk and TVP are other examples of foods containing B12. Zinc This mineral is necessary for your baby's normal growth and development. Only half of the zinc you consume will be absorbed depending on the level of other nutrients in your body as well as the form in which zinc is taken. The best option is as always to consume fresh whole foods (rather than supplements). Foods especially rich in zinc include. (a) roasted pumpkin seeds (b) rice and peas (c) marinated tofu (d) pea soup (e) porridge with soya milk Of course these are only some of the nutrients which your body requires. To eat an excellent diet throughout your pregnancy follow these guidelines: (a) Eat whole unrefined foods whenever possible. (b) Eat them raw with minimal cooking to preserve nutrients. (c) Buy fresh organically grown fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables whenever possible. (d) Eat as great a variety of plant foods as possible (e) As much as possible gain your nutrients from food rather than supplements. Heart bypass surgery with stomach artery Surgeons at Nawaloka Hospital have performed a heart bypass surgery using an artery to the stomach (gastro epiploic artery) for the first time in Sri Lanka. The patient, a 55-year-old male was admitted with a heart attack and required an urgent triple bypass operation. As he was suffering from severe varicose veins of both legs, these veins could not be used for the bypass. The operation was performed using the Mammary artery, radial artery from the hand and the gastro epiploic artery from the stomach, thereby giving the patient all arterial grafts. The heart-lung machine was not used and the entire operation was performed on the beating heart. Doctors said that this type of operation in which only arteries are used (instead of vein) gives better long term results for patients. Operations using the stomach artery is widely performed in Japan and some western countries. The operation was performed by a team of doctors led by Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. A. G. Jayakrishnan and Cardiac Anaesthetist, Dr. C. Mendis. The patient has fully recovered and has been discharged. You & your baby Hypertensive disorders on pregnancy Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH), in pregnancy is one of the commonest problems during pregnancy. One in 10 women are having this problem. In milder version, there would not be such serious problems to the mother and baby, but at times the pressure can go up giving rise to problems for the mother as well as the baby. Hypertension during pregnancy can be classified as blood pressure more than 130/90 in a patient with previously normal blood pressure. There is another type called Chronic Hypertension (CH). Patients who have had hypertension even before becoming pregnant are prone to CH. However, both may affect the mother as well as the baby. If you have hypertension it's nothing to worry about. Because, no mother is exempted from developing hypertension during pregnancy.But it can happen in: First pregnancy, abnormal pregnancies like 'hydatiform mole' pregnancies, mothers with previously hypertension disorders, mothers with diabetics and mothers with any existing medical problems like renal diseases, RH negative and elderly pregnant women in their late 30s. These patients carry a higher risk of developing pregnancy induced hypertension but it is very important in diagnosing this condition and the mother should record the blood pressure before pregnancy which is called pre-pregnancy blood pressure. If the mother is suffering from blood pressure, it can be associated with many problems such as swelling of the body, passing proteins in urine, changes in the blood clotting system, changes in the liver and the renal system and the worst out of these is developing fits called Eclampsia. It carries a higher mortality but with the recent technological developments and innovation of new medicines in this modern world, the deaths due to Eclampsia has been reduced significantly. When the pregnant mother is suffering from hypertension, there will be a reduction in the blood supply to the baby. As a result, water around the baby will be reduced and this will hinder the growth of the baby. This is called Intra Uterine Growth Restrictions. In serious situations the blood pressure cannot be controlled and the pregnancy may need termination or the baby will be born prematurely. Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) can be controlled. But, in worst cases, the only treatment will be the removal of the baby and the placenta. In situations where hypertension cannot be controlled the doctor may have to decide to deliver the baby early. If the PIH develops during the latter part of the pregnancy and if the baby is mature enough, the best option for the doctor is to deliver the baby. In between, the doctor generally tries to reduce the PIH by asking the patients to rest and with certain medication. However, during this period the doctor will keep a tab on other complications like liver and renal failure while the PIH is being controlled. But, the doctor will not prescribe a wide range of medicines because they are bad for the baby. There are some well known drugs which can be used during pregnancy. The responsibility of the patient to prevent PIH is to giver her fullest support to the doctor by producing her pre- pregnancy records of blood pressure which is very useful to the doctor to get the correct decision. Though it is not yet proved as a preventive measure of PIH the patient can have bed rest.It is important to remember that a mother who had PIH in her first pregnancy, will not develop it in her second pregnancy. Generally, this is most restricted for the first pregnancy but if you are a person who has any chronic disorder you are prone to PIH. Holistic healing : Interpretations of three doshas by Dr. Danister L. Perera Understanding the function of Vata, Pitta and Kapha is the foundatio for all Ayurvedic knowledge. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are the main divisions of biological intelligence that control different areas of physiological function. The knowledge of Vata, Pitta and Kapha came from the cognitions of the rishis of the ancient Vedic civilisation. The Vedic rishis formulated Ayurveda based on their personal experience of the deepest levels of natural law functioning within the human being and our environment. In modern scientific terms we could say the rishis had purified their mind and body to such an extent that they became experimentally sensitive to the finest quantum mechanical 'fields' that create the matter of our world. The rishis directly experienced and described the functioning of these most subtle and primary fields in nature. They named the three primordial fields at the basis of all natural phenomena Vata, Pitta and Kapha and gave the group the name doshas. Whereas modern medicine evaluates health issues from the molecular level, the rishis evaluated all health issues in terms of the state of balance and imbalance in the three doshas, the subtlest fields in nature. Because the fields of nature create the matter in nature Ayurveda describes how imbalances on the superficial levels of cells and tissues are caused by imbalances that first develop in the functioning of Vata, Pitta or Kapha. Ayurveda says there are two levels within us that must be coordinated and balanced in order to make us healthy. We are all familiar with the first level. It is the material level of cells, tissues and organs. But Ayurveda describes how the material level is actually just an expression of biological intelligence and that biological intelligence is a subset of the intelligence at the basis of all natural phenomena. According to Ayurveda the intelligence level creates and controls the material level. Modern medicine diagnoses and treats the material level of cells, tissues and organs. Ayurveda diagnoses and treats the intelligence level. This is the difference between the two systems. Biological intelligence in the human being has three subdivisions, which control the various activities of the physiology. These three divisions are Vata, Pitta and Kapha - the three doshas. Under normal conditions the three doshas remain in their equilibrium and regulate different physiological functions, to form the functional basis of health. When the body is subjected to extrinsic and intrinsic factors, these functional forces undergo morbid changes to manifest in the onset and progression of disease. The word dosha implies that "which can be vitiated". In order to explain the phenomenal effects of herbs, minerals and animal derivatives on the human body, Ayurveda laid its fundamental emphasis on the evolution of nature. It recognises a common structural and functional force governing the human physiology and the rest of the universe at molecular level. Interestingly, the Sanskrit entomology of the word dosha gives it the meaning of "blemish, that which darkens." This alerts us to the fact that when in balance these forces are life-supporting but when imbalanced they are the agents of disease and misery. Dosha also means, "that which changes." It is a word derived from the root dus, which is equivalent to the English prefix 'dys', such as in dysfunction, dystrophy, etc. In this sense, dosha can be regarded as a fault, mistake, error, or a transgression against the cosmic rhythm. The rishis experienced and described three fundamental fields that are the first expressions of the unified field. These fields orchestrate the functioning of the entire physiology on grosser, more manifest levels. This is the source of the Vedic understanding of Vata, Pitta and Kapha and the role they play in human physiology. Ayurveda diagnoses and treats imbalances that are present in Vata, Pitta, Kapha and their sub-divisions. Imbalance in the doshas is imbalance in the body"s inner intelligence responsible for the proper functioning of all the grosser, more material aspects of the physiology. Since Vata, Pitta and Kapha are divisions of biological intelligence treating them is equivalent to enlivening the body's natural healing, balancing and self-repair processes. From this perspective we can see the primary role that Vata, pitta and Kapha play in Ayurveda. The diagnosis is not a diagnosis of disorder in the material level of cells and tissues but an assessment of balance in Vata, Pitta and Kapha. If the cell or tissue loses its way, Ayurveda does not blame the cell or tissue. Rather, it locates the problem to the level of the body's inner intelligence, the ordering principles which are supposed to keep the cell and tissue functioning properly. Ayurvedic treatment does not take something from the outside, like drugs or surgery, to attack the disease. Rather it aims to restore the full expression of biological intelligence so that true healing may occur from within. |
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Pregnancy is the time when you first begin to pass on your dietary
choices and their effects to your children. A diet, free of animal products
can provide an ideal start for your baby. The requirements for key nutrients
will increase during pregnancy in order that you may provide all that is
necessary for yourself and your developing baby. These key increases are
approximately as follows: 
