Ensure While Pregnant
Nutritional drinks, especially the ready-to-drink variety, offer a quick, healthy alternative to getting in the nutrients, vitamins, and calories that we all need to stay active, energized, and healthy. If you are pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant and are a fan of these drinks or interested in using them during your pregnancy, you may have wondered, can you drink Ensure while pregnant?
Luckily, the answer in most cases is that you can. Below, we will discuss what Ensure is, how it benefits your body, and whether it is safe to consume during pregnancy.
We will also go over its ability to help gain weight or lose weight postpartum.
What is Ensure?
Ensure is a nutritional supplement that is consumed as a drink. It is available in ready-to-drink and powder forms. The goal of the supplement is to help bridge the gap in a person’s diet that is not allowing them to get the adequate calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals they need. Ensure provides all nine of the essential amino acids that are necessary for optimal muscle growth. It also has vitamins and minerals to help build strong bones and support muscle, organ, tissue, nerve, and immune system health. Ensure has been on the market since 1973. It has long been the #1 recommended brand among doctors who recommend oral nutritional products to their patients. If you have ever wonder, can you drink Ensure while pregnant, the below information will be beneficial.
What Does Ensure Do for Your Body?
The goal of all the products Ensure makes is to fill in any nutritional gaps that a person may not get through their diet. Reasons for the gaps can be illness, inability to eat certain foods, and other circumstances. Ensure offers complete nutrition with nutrients to support the immune system, muscle, heart, digestion, and bone health. These drinks provide all this due to the ingredients below:
- Immune health – Zinc, Vitamin A, and antioxidants (Vitamins C and E and Selenium).
- Muscle health – Up to 30 grams of high-quality protein.
- Heart health – An excellent source of the plant-based omega-3 fatty acid ALA.
- Digestive health – 4 grams of Comfort Fiber Blend with prebiotic fiber.
- Bone health – Vitamin D and Calcium.
The abundance of vitamins and minerals in Ensure makes it a great supplement to help where your diet lacks.
What Are the Benefits of Drinking Ensure?
According to Harvard Health Publishing, most people can get all the nutrition they need from the food in their diet. There is currently no evidence that these supplement drinks improve health or prevent disease in people who do not suffer from specific nutritional problems. But, if you are losing weight involuntarily or cannot take in adequate nutrition, Ensure may be very beneficial. The benefits of drinking Ensure are providing concentrated calories and protein to help gain or maintain a healthy weight. It can benefit those suffering from malnutrition, at nutritional risk, or are experiencing weight loss involuntarily. Ensure has complete, balanced nutrition, which can help you stay healthy, active, and energetic. It may be a daily habit that could help you feel better.
Ensure Powder vs. Ensure Drinks
Ensure Original powder and the ready-to-drink shake differ slightly in their micronutrients but only by about 30 calories or so. The powder only contains 9 grams of protein, so it is on the lower end of their product range.
Though both are nutritionally sound, the convenience of the ready-to-drink products is typically what wins consumers over. They can easily be thrown in a purse or lunch bag and taken anywhere.
Ensure drinks are shelf-stable so they can be consumed at room temperature. Most people like the shakes best when they are cold. If you need a quick shake and prefer the powder, you can bring powder in a shaker bottle and fill it with water whenever a craving or hunger hits.
Ensure During Pregnancy
If you feel you lack in meeting all your nutritional needs during pregnancy, Ensure can be a safe and easy way to get in the calories, vitamins, and minerals you need. It is safe for both pregnant and breastfeeding women as long as consumed in moderation.
Ensure can be beneficial if you have cravings for low-protein foods, such as white bread or chips. It may mean you are missing out on protein. Having one or two servings of Ensure a day can help you meet your protein needs.
If you are experiencing morning sickness and nausea, Ensure can give you a much-needed nutritional boost.
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Can You Drink Ensure While Pregnant?
The answer to this question is yes, you can. Pregnant and lactating women can consume these products. According to registered dietician Samantha Broghammer, Ensure does contain a moderate amount of vitamin A, so it’s best to moderate your intake depending on how much of the vitamin you get from other sources, including prenatal pills.
If you consider using them as a supplement more than once per day, you should consult your doctor. The company that makes Ensure also offers Similac Mom. It is a product specifically made for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Is Ensure Good for Pregnancy?
Ensure can be suitable for pregnancy if you are having a hard time getting in all the nutrients you and your doctor would like you to consume throughout your pregnancy. It may also be helpful if you are active during your pregnancy and are looking for a shake you can get in quickly and still have something healthy. It may help you avoid unhealthy fast food and convenience foods.
Does Ensure Make You Gain Weight?
Ensure was designed to help those struggling to gain weight or keep weight on to reach those goals. So, in short, yes, it can make you gain weight. Per the manufacturer, Ensure Plus shakes are clinically proven to help individuals gain weight.
How Many Ensure Can I Drink a Day While Pregnant?
Ensure makes several different product formulations of their drinks for various nutritional deficiencies that an individual may be dealing with. Because of this, the recommended maximum servings that should be consumed vary. The recommendation from Ensure on several are below:
- Ensure Enlive – 2 servings per day
- Ensure High Protein – 3 servings per day
- Ensure Max Protein – 1-2 servings per day
Ensure is intended to be used as a snack or occasional meal replacement. Their products are not meant to be a sole source of nutrition. It is important to remember to utilize it as a supplement.
Can You Drink Ensure Plus While Pregnant?
Ensure Plus is safe to drink while pregnant. Because this formulation is meant to help people gain and maintain a healthy weight, it is best to speak to your doctor first to make sure it is the right Ensure for where you currently are in your pregnancy. There is no evidence that you cannot drink any Ensure product, including Ensure Plus, when pregnant.
Best Ensure Products on the Market
Ensure has more than a dozen products that can help meet nutritional deficiencies and maintain energy on the go. The most popular are ready-to-drink shakes and bars. They also have drinks tailored to those preparing for and recovering from surgery.
Ten of their most popular products and their details are below.
- Ensure Original – 9 grams of protein, 220 calories
- Ensure Plus – 16 grams of protein, 350 calories
- Ensure Complete – 30 grams of protein, 350 calories
- Ensure Max Protein – 30 grams of protein, 350 calories, 1 gram of sugar
- Ensure High Protein – 16 grams of protein, 160 calories
- Ensure High Protein Bars – 15 grams of protein, 210 calories
- Ensure Plant-Based Protein – 20 grams of protein, 180 calories
- Ensure Light – 12 grams of protein, 70 calories
- Ensure Original Nutrition Powder – 9 grams of protein, 250 calories
- Ensure Enlive – 20 grams of protein, 350 calories
Can Ensure Help You Lose Weight Postpartum?
Ensure was not designed for weight loss. It was developed originally for patients having a hard time gaining or keep weight on them. Although this is true, it can be used as part of a calorie-reduced diet for weight loss. This is possible as long as the total calories for the day are within the weight-loss calorie level recommended for you.
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Bottom Line,
Ensure has long been an effective and quick way to supplement your diet with the calories, protein, and vitamins you need, whether pregnant or not. Luckily, we have seen that it is a safe and easy way to help you reach your nutritional goals while pregnant.
Hopefully, the above information has allowed you to feel more comfortable incorporating it into your diet and answering the question, can you drink Ensure while pregnant. As with any food or drink you are interested in consuming during pregnancy, it is always best to direct any questions you may have to your doctor. They know your health, body, and pregnancy best.
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