Mediterranean diet is one of the highest ranked diet plans out there. It is not just great for weight management, it is also beyond spectacular for your overall health. Mediterranean citizens and people who have diets similar to the Mediterranean diet have been proven to live longer, healthier lives. Seafood, which makes up a large portion of the Mediterranean diet offers some specific nutrients that are hard to find from other sources, especially in the case of omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids have all kinds of benefits: they help with heart health, improve eye health, help regulate depression, fight inflammation, etc. One of the most over looked benefits of omega-3 fatty acids is its ability to help your pregnancy.
Mediterranean Diet During Pregnancy
Diet Women who eat fish at least twice a week have been shown to have a decreased rate of giving birth prematurely. When other parts of the Mediterranean diet are added like olive oil and rape seed oil, alongside a healthy portion of vegetables, the rate of preterm and early term births are also affected.
Omega-3 fatty acids are also extremely important for guaranteeing good brain development and growth in infants. DHA, one of the 3 types of omega-3 fatty acids is an essential part of brain and eye health. DHA makes up 60% of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in your eye and 40% in your brain. Infant children that have a DHA laden formula diet have been shown to have better overall eyesight than infants who don’t. Omega-3s can also increase your child’s intelligence, improve its communication and social skills, decrease its behavior problems, decrease risk of developmental delay, and decrease the risk of developing ADHD, autism, and cerebral palsy later in life. It helps if you try to add sea food to your diet especially when you are pregnant.
