Health and wellness are especially important for the pregnant mom. In this episode of The Lab, Daddy Clay travels to Whole Foods to get a lesson grocery shopping for healthy food during pregnancy. Buying groceries is one of the chores in which dads can help out while parents wait for the arrival of their new baby. What foods are best for healthy living for expecting moms? A healthy eating specialist weighs in and offers suggestions on the best health food for mothers. Vegetables like kale are full of nutrients like calcium, fiber and vitamins. Fish, specially salmon, is another great option. Learn which fish expectant mothers should avoid. Beef, beans and cheese also provide nutrition. Watch and learn what foods you should be adding to your shopping list. Special thanks to Whole Foods. DadLabs Ep. 548 The Lab is brought to you by Baby Bjorn.

DADDY CLAY Hey, welcome back to a very special episode of The Lab. I'm Daddy Clay. Daddy Brad is away on paternity leave. So, if your wife is expecting, it's a good time for you to start participating in the domestic chores. And a great one that you can pick up is doing a little bit of grocery shopping. But what kind of healthy food items should you be picking out for your expecting wife? We've come here to Whole Foods in Austin to get a few ideas.

 

DADDY CLAY So I'm here with Mary Olivar, who's the healthy eating specialist here at Whole Foods in Austin. And she's gonna give us some tips on how to fill up a healthy grocery cart for a pregnant mom.

 

DADDY CLAY Okay Mary, what's the first thing that's going in this cart?

MARY OLIVAR My personal favorite is kale. The dark leafy greens are nutrient powerhouses. Not only do they have that super important folic acid, but they also have calcium - easy to absorb, non-dairy form, iron, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and lots of other super supportive nutrients for mom and baby. Looks a little daunting at first, but once you saute it, steam it, put it in soups, it's gonna be much easier to eat and it's also delicious.

DADDY CLAY Beautiful.

MARY OLIVAR I recommend it for everyday for mom.

DADDY CLAY In it goes.

 

DADDY CLAY Okay, what's going next into the cart Mary?

MARY OLIVAR Salmon is one of my favorites. Moms hear a lot about eating enough essential fatty acids, particularly omega 3's and DHA, all of which are found in salmon. Now, these are the healthy fats that are essential for baby's brain development and for the nervous system.

DADDY CLAY Great. Good fats.

MARY OLIVAR Good fats. And salmon is a good fish to eat because it is considered to be a low mercury fish, so it's safe for moms to eat two times a week.

DADDY CLAY I've heard there are some concerns. Are there some kind of fish that moms aren't supposed to eat? They're supposed to avoid sushi?

MARY OLIVAR Well, that and the higher mercury fishes. The FDA recommends that moms do not eat shark, king mackerel, tile fish, and marlin. And swordfish when they're pregnant. Lower mercury fishes are fine though but also no sushi for moms. You want to decrease your risk of food-borne illness.

 

MARY OLIVAR I have to say, I saw your eyes light up as we walked over here.

DADDY CLAY Yeah, you know I was a little bit nervous for the kale, you know. But now in this section, I'm feeling a little more comfortable.

MARY OLIVAR Well it's all about balance. And moms definitely have an increased need for protein. Great place to get it is meat. And my favorite kind of meats for mom is the grass fed. Grass fed beef and bison, or sometimes we call it buffalo. Not only does grass fed beef contain higher amounts of those great essential fatty acids that we talked about earlier, but it's also good sources of iron and zinc, in addition to that great protein.

DADDY CLAY The color of it is just different. The color of the fats. The color of the meat. It's local. It's grass fed. I can't wait to taste it.

 

MARY OLIVAR Studies have shown that certain colors of beans actually have extremely high levels of antioxidants. Again, for mom and baby.

DADDY CLAY Okay, alright. So what kind of beans should we be looking at?

MARY OLIVAR You can really play around. There's a lot of variety. I like to soak them and cook them myself. Feeling a little bit lazy, canned beans are also an option. They're very versatile. You can put them in all kinds of dishes. If you're really lazy, you can eat them right out of the can.

 

DADDY CLAY So here were are at the amazing cheese section of Whole Foods. Man, there's gotta be like a billion and a half cheeses right here. Aren't there some kind of cheeses though, that are not healthy for a pregnant mom?

MARY OLIVAR Yes, pregnant moms are warned to stay away from soft cheeses. And from cheeses that are made from raw and unpasteurized milk and aged for less than 60 days.

DADDY CLAY But otherwise, cheese is a good thing?

MARY OLIVAR Cheese is a great thing. Because moms are looking for the calcium, extra protein, and it's delicious.

DADDY CLAY I agree with that. So we should probably load up here. So specifically the kind of cheeses you want to avoid. Is that like your brie?

MARY OLIVAR Brie, camembert, the sort of really soft gushy cheeses. Just to reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses.

DADDY CLAY Yeah, I'm gonna really recommend that you stay away from those because they're gross.

MARY OLIVAR But any kind of cheese that is firm to the touch is fine. So most of them really.

 

DADDY CLAY You know what, this has been an amazing tour. This cart is just full of beautiful, healthy food items for a pregnant mom. I really appreciate you giving us the tour around. Thank you very much Mary.

MARY OLIVAR It's my pleasure.

DADDY CLAY We look forward to shopping here again at Whole Foods in the future.

MARY OLIVAR Thanks for coming.

 

DADDY CLAY Well, that's all for us this week here in The Lab. Thanks to our sponsors BabyBjorn and of course, to the good people here at Whole Foods for showing us around and picking out some healthy food items for expecting moms. Do me a favor. Go to DadLabs.com, friend up Daddy Brad, and send him a message congratulating him on the arrival of his third child, a little baby boy. We'll see you next time here in The Lab.