Benefits of Catfish during Pregnancy Every Mother Should Know

During pregnancy consuming healthy foods with high nutrients is highly recommended. It is because during pregnancy is not only the mothers who need all the nutrients but also the baby growing inside the womb. The deficiencies of some essential compounds could be really fatal like baby born with birth defect or even premature birth. Fish is one of the sources of some essential compounds important during pregnancy and catfish is among fish which benefits are amazing for mothers during pregnancy.

What Is Catfish?

Catfish is one of the freshwater fish which species could be found in almost every corner of this world. So, it is not an expensive fish, easy to find, healthy and the health benefits of catfish during pregnancy is not something you could doubt anymore. Moreover, catfish is also super tasty and you could cook it whatever you want because during pregnancy sometime mothers could be really picky when it comes to food.

Nutritional Values of Catfish

Since it is a freshwater fish you cannot expect this type of fish to be super high in omega 3 fatty acid health benefits like saltwater fish but it is quite high in omega 6 fatty acid. Moreover, catfish is also rich of vitamin D and several vitamin B complex including folic acid which is prominent for mothers during pregnancy. To find out more about all the amazing things about catfish the list of benefits of catfish during pregnancy below will tell you in details.

1. Low in Calories

Compared to other kind of foods recommended to be consumed during pregnancy, catfish is excellent because it is low in calories. The calories are enough to provide energy especially when you consume it with rice which is rich of carbohydrate. However, the amount is not enough for mothers to gain excessive weight because some obesity could be dangerous for mother during pregnancy.

2. Excellent Source of Healthy Fats

One of the health benefits of fish for pregnancy is because fish is excellent source of healthy fat such as omega 3 fatty acids and omega 6 fatty acids. Compared to omega 3 fatty acids, omega 6 fatty acid is not that popular. However, this fatty acid is also essential to help optimizing the infant development though further study about this subject is still strongly required.

3. Source of Protein

Protein is essential during pregnancy because protein may help optimizing the development of baby brain. As for the mothers enough protein during pregnancy may help reducing the risk of postpartum depression which is also well known as baby blue syndrome.

4. Low in Mercury

There are a lot of health benefits of fish during pregnancy but mercury is one of the reasons why mothers during pregnancy should be super careful in choosing type of fish to consume. As freshwater fish, catfish is low in mercury content so it is quite safe to be consumed by mothers during pregnancy.

5. Source of Vitamin B Complex

Vitamin B complex are essential for mothers during pregnancy. Vitamin B9 which is also well known as folic acid is good to optimize the brain development and nerve system of the baby inside the womb. Furthermore health benefits of folic acids are also preventing baby born with birth defect. Besides vitamin B9, catfish is also rich of vitamin B12 which helps optimizing the production of energy from the foods you consume.

6. Source of Vitamin D

During pregnancy making sure that vitamin D intake is fulfilled is super essential because it help boosting the immunity system. During pregnancy, even common flu or cold could be super annoying because mothers cannot just consume medicine. That is why preventing the conditions by improving immunity system is the only way the mothers have to protect both themselves and the babies.

Healthy Catfish Recipe for Happy Mother to Be

During pregnancy sometime is not easy for mothers to control their appetite. Some of mothers should deal with severe morning sickness so eating sounds like a torture while others even cannot stop eating. Each mother is unique but whatever it is consuming healthy food is mandatory during pregnancy to ensure the fetus is growing healthily inside the womb. As mentioned above there are some essential benefits of catfish during pregnancy and below is the best catfish recipe, a Caribbean inspired meal every mother could make at home.

Catfish Fillet with Jalapeno-Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients:

Fish

1 Pound catfish fillet

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon virgin olive oil

Salsa

1 small ripe pineapple

¼ cup minced scallions

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons minced fresh jalapeno

1 tablespoon canola oil

¼ teaspoon salt

Preparation:

For Salsa:

• Finely dice the pineapple and place the diced pineapple in a medium bowl.
• Add scallion, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno and canola oil.
• Mix them while adding the salt.
• Refrigerate them for 1 hour.

For Fish:

• Combine all-purpose flour, salt, ground white pepper.
• Thoroughly dredge the catfish fillet and make sure all sides were covered with flour.
• Heat the virgin olive oil in the frying pan over medium heat.
• Cook the fish until all sides were lightly browned and the fish is easily flaked with fork

How to Serve:

Serve each portion of catfish with about ¼ cup of jalapeno-pineapple salsa.

The salsa is a great touch of mother during pregnancy because it will improve appetite and great to reduce the symptoms of morning sickness. Moreover the combination of healthy catfish, fresh ingredients like pineapple and healthy herbs like cilantro and scallions are great combination for mother during pregnancy. Furthermore the vitamin c benefits contained in pineapple and lime juice are great to protect the immune system of mother during pregnancy.