Cooking a Healthy Pregnancy Meal

Melanie Raposo: Hi, everybody! Welcome to The Pregnancy Show, I am Melanie Raposo and we are here again with Nutrition Consultant Lianne Phillipson-Webb, who is going to be showing us some healthy meals that you can make when you are pregnant, that are easy and quick to prepare. So, what are we going to be doing first, Lianne? Lianne Phillipson-Webb: Today, we are going to be making a fast dinner, it could be lunch. We are going to use some organic salmon, we need some arugulas, some sprouts and a very quick baked potato. Melanie Raposo: Okay, so what are the first steps? Lianne Phillipson-Webb: First, very easy step, is to get your baked potato, any size. The best potatoes to use are russets I find, for baking. And just give them a little bit of a scrub, a bit of a wash, all organic obviously and then you just put them straight in the oven. Depending on how big they are, if you have a really big baked potato it could take up to an hour. Otherwise it only takes about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes. So, with the time everything else is prepared on the plate, then these should be done and ready to go. Melanie Raposo: Alright! Lianne Phillipson-Webb: Okay. So, we are going to start off with some salmon which comes from Ireland actually. I will say, off the coast of Ireland. And salmon is one of those foods that a lot of people stay away from during pregnancy, because of the potential toxicity of it. So, this salmon is a very fatty salmon, which is fantastic, because you are getting a lot of the essential fats for the development of the baby's brain, retina and also for to help against the mommy brain, because your baby is going to take everything that it needs from your brain and leave you not feeling quite as alert as you were before. Melanie Raposo: So, salmon is okay to have when you are pregnant? Lianne Phillipson-Webb: Yes. Melanie Raposo: Okay. Lianne Phillipson-Webb: A lot of the recommendations are to stay away from fish. Really, the recommendation that I think should be put in place is stay away from farmed fish. But really it's all about the way that you jazz it up. This is a very mild salmon, so putting something like some fresh herbs, which I have chopped up a little bit, I will just chop a little bit more. So, here I have got some parsley and some dill. Dill goes really, really well with salmon. You can dress this with a little bit of olive oil, a little bit of lemon juice and maybe even a little bit of garlic. Some people like to put something a little bit sweeter on it, you can use honey, you can use agave syrup, even maple syrup on this is really quite delicious. Melanie Raposo: Oh! Even maple syrup? I haven't heard of it. Lianne Phillipson-Webb: Even maple syrup will just make it a little bit more palatable, if you are really not feeling to like fish while you are pregnant. So, I want to just put a little bit of olive oil, you don't need much. Sprinkle a little of the herbs on top, I will chop a little bit of garlic. Garlic I find is a really important addition to whatever it is, that you are cooking or making. I recommend everybody, put lots of garlic into everything that you are making. It's so important for your immune system and when you are pregnant sometimes, because your immune system is doing so much while you are making this baby, making sure that your immune system is really strong to fight off colds, flu's, all of those things really quickly. It's really important. So, you don't have to put much on, but I do, like I said, I do recommend putting garlic in anything and everything that you possibly can for those immune boosting properties. Onto your baking tray and then in the oven. Melanie Raposo: That's pretty simple. Lianne Phillipson-Webb: It is.