Dates during pregnancy: benefits and harms

Most women who are having a baby have changes in their eating habits. Many expectant mothers note that they began to crave sweets. Despite the fact that pregnant women can eat sweets, it is not recommended to abuse them, because this can lead to excessive weight gain. It is recommended during pregnancy to exclude flour products and chocolate from your diet. But not to eat sweets for the entire nine months, many expectant mothers cannot do it at all. If the desire to eat something sweet is very high, it is desirable to choose natural sweets.

The perfect tasty and healthy snack for pregnant women will be the date - a unique product, revered since ancient times, and even bearing the name of the East, "bread of life. Since ancient times, people believed that the date palm fruit promoted health. But it should be taken into account that, despite their vegetable origin, dates cannot be attributed to dietary products at all, because they are high in calories.

In this article, we will analyze in detail whether it is allowed to include date palm fruits in the diet of a pregnant woman, how many of them can be eaten, so that they do not harm your health.

What are the benefits of dates

Dates are called the fruit of the date palm, cultivated in Eastern countries. Many people love this delicacy for its great sweet taste. In addition, dates are very healthy, since they contain many vitamins, minerals, more than twenty amino acids, digestible fats, fiber, dietary fiber and antioxidants. The fruit is rather high in calories, contains almost no fat, and mostly consists of carbohydrates and proteins.

Consumption of date palm fruit is an excellent preventive measure against many diseases. Dates have an antimicrobial effect and even reduce the risk of cancer. Just a few eaten fruits a day help to increase strength and energy, as well as improve health.

Dates are very beneficial for the human body:

1. Have beneficial effects on the health of the heart and blood vessels.
2. Normalize the functioning of the liver and kidneys.
3. Are an excellent prevention of iron deficiency anemia.
4. Normalize the intestinal flora.
5. Can be part of a healing diet during the treatment of inflammatory and infectious diseases, due to the presence of special substances.
6. Help get rid of coughs by promoting the expectoration of sputum.
7. Help people who suffer from hypertension, because the useful elements in the composition help reduce cholesterol.
8. Due to the large number of vitamins in the composition, strengthen the immune system.
9. They improve brain function and stimulate memory thanks to the tryptophan contained in the date palm fruit.

To get the maximum benefit from dates, you should include them in your diet correctly, not abusing and not exceeding the recommended amount.

Can I Eat Dates During Pregnancy

The date palm fruit is a useful product, which is recommended to include in your diet to all people who look after their own health. Below we will separately consider what benefits dates bring to the body of a pregnant woman. During different periods of pregnancy, the date palm fruit has different effects.

In the first trimester

Dates in the first weeks of pregnancy are of great benefit, because this product contains a large amount of folic acid. This substance is necessary for the proper development of the fetus. With the daily consumption of date palm fruit, the need of the body of the future mother in vitamin B9 will be fully satisfied. In addition, the product contains iron, which is necessary for normalizing the hemoglobin level in the blood of a pregnant woman.

Also, future mothers in early pregnancy are recommended to include dates in their diet for the reason that they help to reduce the unpleasant manifestations of toxicosis. This happens due to the presence of potassium, an element that removes harmful substances from the body, normalizes blood pressure and promotes the flow of the necessary amount of oxygen to the brain.

Despite the fact that the fruit brings a lot of benefits for the expectant mother, you should not consume an excessive amount of it, because it can cause uterine contractions, which can result in an abortion. Up to 12 weeks, it is maximum allowed to eat 2-3 fruits per day.

In the second trimester

The date fruit in the second trimester of pregnancy is also of great benefit, because the load on the body of the future mother increases significantly:

1. Calcium and phosphorus contained in dates contribute to the proper formation of the fetal bone system.
2. Vitamin A is also useful for women who are pregnant with a baby, helps to maintain good vision and improves dental health.
3. Vitamin B has a favorable effect on the nervous system, so that the mother-to-be remains calm and balanced.
4. The date palm fruit also contains beta-carotene, which has a strengthening effect on the immune system and a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, reduces the risk of varicose veins, a phenomenon that often accompanies pregnant women.
5. In addition, dates, unlike many fruits, contain a large amount of protein. This feature of this oriental sweet makes it a unique product with great health benefits, especially during pregnancy.

After the 12th week of pregnancy, the number of dates can be increased - per day at this term is allowed to eat 5-6 fruits, but no more than 10, so as not to allow excessive weight gain.

In the third trimester

The third trimester - the ideal time when you can enjoy plenty of dates. In the last weeks of pregnancy doctors not only allow, but also strongly recommend to include in your diet this healthy sweet, as it helps to prepare the body of the future mother for the upcoming delivery. Oxytocin, contained in this product, contributes to the occurrence of contractions and accelerates the process of childbirth. The fruit of the date palm contains a healthy sugar that gives energy, the lack of which is acutely felt by future mothers in the last weeks of pregnancy.

But don't count on eating dates to shorten labor. How long contractions will last does not depend on food preferences.

How to consume dates correctly

Oriental sweetness on the store counters are delivered after being processed in sugar syrup and paraffin. This increases the shelf life, but the fruit becomes sweeter than fresh dates.

According to experts, in order for the product to be useful for the future mother, it is necessary to choose it correctly. Therefore, when choosing the date palm fruit, you should carefully inspect its skin. You should refuse to buy dates in the presence of stickiness, cracks and an incomprehensible sheen, they are not suitable for the diet of a pregnant woman. Good quality fruits have no signs of mold, strange odor, or bitter taste.

Dates can be eaten as an individual delicacy, as well as added to various dishes, such as cottage cheese casserole or stuffed apples. Many put these fruits in fruit or berry compotes, without sweetening the drink, since dates contain natural sugar.

Below are recipes for treats using dates, which are suitable for consumption by future mothers:

1. Using the fruit of the date palm, you can prepare a beneficial fruit snack for pregnant women. It perfectly copes with the unpleasant manifestations of toxicosis, helps to strengthen the immune system in the first trimester of pregnancy. To prepare a fruit snack, you should cut into small pieces an orange (first peeling it from the skin), dates and ginger. All components should be mixed and eat at signs of toxicity or as an addition to breakfast.
2. On the basis of milk and date palm fruit, mommy-to-be can prepare herself a healthy vitamin cocktail. Before that, you should heat 1/4 cup of milk on the stove, put 5-6 dates in it and boil it. After that, strain the decoction and wait until it cools to room temperature. Such a remedy perfectly copes with constipation, which plague many expectant mothers, and also helps to get rid of coughs.
3. If a woman who is carrying a baby, faced with an upset stomach, she will help rice broth with dates. For its preparation, groats and fruits should be boiled in separate containers. After boiling, remove the dates from the seeds and beat them with a blender until they are pureed. Then mix the broth with mashed dates and boiled rice, after which the dish is ready to eat. Despite not quite attractive appearance, this remedy is very useful for pregnant women.

We recommend storing date palm fruit in plastic containers, on a shelf in the refrigerator. This will ensure that they are protected from mold, which can appear on the skin.

How Many Dates Can You Eat a Day

The fruit of the date palm is valued for its unique nutritional properties. There are approximately 280 kilocalories in 100 grams of dried dates. For this reason, to avoid excessive weight gain, include the product in your diet in small quantities.

The recommended daily allowance of this oriental sweet for adults is 5-6 pieces. If you abuse it, you can face the occurrence of heaviness in the stomach, constipation and other digestive problems.

How many dates a day can women eat during pregnancy depends on the trimester of pregnancy. In the first weeks, especially if there is a risk of miscarriage, it is advisable to exclude this product from your diet completely or eat no more than 2-3 pieces per day. Limit the use of dates in early pregnancy for the reason that they can cause uterine contractions. After the 12th week, if pregnancy proceeds without complications, and a woman has no contraindications to the use of date fruits, their amount may be increased to 10 pieces per day. Dates will be of particular benefit if they are consumed shortly before the expected day of delivery, because the additional stimulation of the uterus has a favorable effect on the course of labor.

Can they be eaten at night or on an empty stomach?

Doctors do not recommend consuming date palm fruit at bedtime. Dates, although they have great health benefits, are high in calories. At the time when a person sleeps, energy is not lost in the same amount as it was gained. For this reason, the fruit eaten at night will turn into extra pounds, which is extremely undesirable for the future mother.

To get more benefit from dates, it is better to eat them on an empty stomach, 1-2 times a day before a meal. It is desirable to do this in the morning and in the second half of the day to ensure maximum absorption by the body.

The date palm fruit goes well with many drinks, such as milk, tea, yogurt. A cup of tea with a handful of dates is an excellent snack for the expectant mother. It will instantly give you strength and energy.

Do I Need to Wash Dates Before Using Them?

Whether or not to wash the date palm before eating it is a question that provokes far from the most unequivocal reactions among people. Some people prefer to eat them straight out of the package without treating them first. But this is not always the right and safe thing to do.

If dates are sold in a separate sealed package in small batches, they usually do not need to be cleaned and washed. They can be consumed immediately after opening the package, if, of course, there is confidence in their cleanliness. In the same case, when the fruits are bought by weight, they must necessarily be washed in water, and it does not matter where they were purchased - at the market or in the supermarket. Just think about how many hands, not always clean, touched the product before it was on the counter of the store.

In addition, the date palm fruit is sweet and quite sticky. For this reason, it is easy to imagine how many different microorganisms could stick to the skin of a date while it was in transit from the producer to the consumer - particles of dust and dirt, various parasites, and in most cases it is almost impossible to see them with the naked eye. Eating such a product can lead to unpleasant consequences, including food poisoning, which is very dangerous for pregnant women. To prevent this from happening, it is still recommended to rinse dates thoroughly with water before consuming them.

Of course, when you wash the fruit, their taste changes slightly. However, we should not forget that the most important thing is health, and there is no need to put it at risk, especially when it comes to the expectant mother and her baby.

To preserve the quality and structure of the fruit when washing, you need to follow some recommendations:

1. First of all, after buying and opening the package, all dates should be hand-cleaned, since even an airtight package does not guarantee that the product is not spoiled.
2. Next, take a small container and pour cold water into it, the fruits in it rinse in small batches, especially carefully paying attention to those with shiny skin, because on their surface there may be wax or food grease.
3. After all the fruits have been washed, transfer them to a colander and once again rinse them thoroughly under running water.
4. After washing, place the fruits on a paper towel and wait until they are dry, after which they can be eaten.

Only after careful processing of dates, the future mother can be sure that she is eating a clean, nutritious, beneficial product that will not harm her or her unborn child.

The benefits of dates during pregnancy

The exceptional benefits of the date palm fruit are due to the fact that they contain a large amount of simple sugars and vegetable protein. In addition, dates have a lot of dietary fiber, which has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the intestines. The product contains many other useful substances - vitamins B and C, beta-carotene, folic acid, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium and other trace elements. This explains the fact that dates are of great benefit to the body of the pregnant woman:

1. Provide quick satiety and give energy, which is very important for expectant mothers, who often feel weak and lack of strength.
2. Strengthen the immune system, help resist viral diseases.
3. Contribute to strengthening bones and muscle tissue, prevent the development of osteoporosis.
4. Normalize stool, stimulate the digestive system, help establish intestinal peristalsis.
5. Contribute to maintaining the necessary level of hemoglobin, normalize the cardiovascular system.
6. Activate the production of seratonin (hormone of joy), so that help to combat stress and depression.
7. Contribute to the production of oxytocin, which is beneficial in the last weeks of pregnancy, preparing the uterus for childbirth.
8. They help to remove excess fluid from the body, which is important for pregnant women who are prone to edema.

Can dates harm an expectant mother?

The question "Can pregnant women include dates in their diet?" cannot be answered unequivocally positively, because any, even the healthiest, product can harm the body. Dates can harm the future mother in the following cases:

1. If a pregnant woman has any problems related to the work of the digestive system, then she should exclude the consumption of dates, because this product contains coarse fiber, which can lead to disorders of intestinal peristalsis.
2. Doctors recommend to refuse to eat these fruits to pregnant women with a history of diabetes. The fact is that this fruit can provoke an increase in blood glucose, which results in hyperglycemia.
3. Expectant mothers who are prone to allergic reactions should include dates in their diet with caution, because in the presence of individual intolerance they can lead to such unpleasant consequences as runny nose, cough, skin itching and redness, nausea and vomiting, anaphylactic shock.
4. Pregnant women who are prone to gaining extra pounds should include dates in their diet with great caution, since the caloric value of this product is very high. Excessive consumption can lead to a large weight gain, which is undesirable for future mothers.

Conclusion
Dates are a very useful product, which can be safely included in the diet of a pregnant woman. However, you should not forget that the benefits of these fruits during pregnancy will be the maximum only if they are ripe and properly processed. In addition, you can not exceed the recommended daily amount of dates, also keep in mind the contraindications, in which the use of date palm fruit can not be.