Guard Yourself from Common Nutritional Deficiencies

So, get your body ready, guard it against common nutritional deficiencies so that your bundle of joy can have the best possible nest to cuddle and grow.

Here is a guide that will help you identify common nutritional deficiencies and provide you with some strategies to guard against these.

Look for these signs	What could it be?	Opt for these	Do’s	Don’ts
Weakness, tiredness, decreased work performance, falling sick often, inflamed tongue	Iron- deficiency anaemia	Pulses, legumes, leafy vegetables, tofu, meat and poultry	Include citrus foods in your diet to add vitamin C, which will aid iron absorption	Don’t have tea or calcium supplements with iron-rich foods
Swelling in the neck, reduced work productivity and mental capacities	Iodine deficiency	Sea foods, milk, grains, eggs and iodised salt	Improve iron and vitamin A intake as deficiencies of these also impact iodine nutrition and thyroid function	Limit the intake of soya, cassava, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and other cruciferous vegetables as these foods contain chemicals that hinder iodine uptake
Numbness and tingling in the fingers, muscle cramps, convulsions, lethargy, poor appetite and abnormal heart rhythms	Calcium deficiency	Milk, curd, cheese, paneer, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, leafy vegetables, millets, oilseeds such as sesame seeds	Expose yourself to sun so that your body will produce vitamin D, which is important for calcium absorption	Don’t drink milk along with spinach, sweet potatoes, beans as phytates in these foods will hinder calcium absorption
Poor resistance to infections	Vitamin A deficiency	Liver, fish oils, milk, eggs, leafy vegetables, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables	Include some amount of fat to aid absorption of vitamin A as it is a fat-soluble vitamin	Avoid excess vitamin A in the form of supplements as body can store it and may have harmful effects
Irritability, mouth ulcers, cracks at the corners of the mouth, inflamed tongue, numbness, tingling of the hands and feet	B-Complex deficiencies	Whole grains, cereals and millets, pulses, nuts and oilseeds, meat fish and poultry	Improve B-complex content of foods by using methods such as fermentation and germination improves B-vitamin content of foods	Avoid cooking foods in excess water, throwing water of cooked foods, excessive boiling and use of soda because these methods destroy the B-complex vitamins
Bone pain and muscle weakness	Vitamin D deficiency	Fatty fish, eggs and sun exposure	Expose yourself to sun for 5–30 minutes at least twice a week	Don’t forget to supplement your diet with vitamin D if you don’t get enough sun exposure. Talk to your doctor about this.