When we advise following a healthy diet during pregnancy, we don't mean counting calories or trying to lose weight because dieting to lose weight during pregnancy can cause health risks for you and your baby, especially since weight loss can lead to losing important nutrients like iron, folic acid, vitamins, and other minerals. The diet we recommend during pregnancy is just about improving eating habits to ensure proper nutrition for your health and your baby's health. Healthy nutrition during pregnancy is crucial for your baby's growth and development. To get the nutrients you need, you should eat a variety of foods including fruits, vegetables, bread, grains, protein sources, and dairy products. You'll need about 300 extra calories a day. Here are some examples of healthy foods you should eat during pregnancy.
Fruits and vegetables:
It's always important to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables during the day to make sure you and your baby get all the nutrients you need. Fruits and vegetables contain many important nutrients during pregnancy, especially vitamin C and folic acid. Pregnant women need at least 70 mg of vitamin C daily, found in fruits like oranges, grapefruit, and honey, and in vegetables like broccoli, tomatoes, and kale. To avoid neural tube defects, we recommend 4.0 mg of folic acid daily. Good sources of folic acid are green leafy vegetables and legumes like beans, cowpeas, and veal. You should eat at least two to four servings of fruit and four or more servings of vegetables each day.
Bread and grains:
The main energy source during pregnancy comes from carbohydrates found in bread and grains. Whole grains and nutrient-rich products provide important nutrients like iron, vitamin B, fiber, and some protein. You can get a good amount of folic acid from enriched bread and grains. Depending on your weight and nutritional needs, you should eat between six and eleven servings of bread or grains daily.
Protein:
Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and grains all have protein, vitamin B, and iron you need during pregnancy. Your baby needs protein especially in the second and third trimesters. Iron helps carry oxygen to your baby and your muscles, helping you avoid symptoms like fatigue, weakness, irritability, and depression.
The US food authority recommends about 27 mg daily from beef, poultry, goat meat, liver, turkey, and veal, all good choices. Fish and some seafood are also good food options during pregnancy. But avoid fish high in mercury because of its toxicity. You should have at least three servings of protein daily.
Dairy products:
You need at least 1000 mg of calcium daily to keep yourself and your baby healthy and support the pregnancy. Calcium is key for building and strengthening teeth and bones, normal blood clotting, muscle building, and better nerve function. From the start of your baby's growth, you must get enough calcium. If you don't eat enough, your body will take it from your bones, which may cause problems like osteoporosis later.
Good calcium sources are milk, cheese, yogurt, and cream soup. There is also some calcium in green vegetables, seafood, legumes, and peas. So you should eat at least four servings of dairy products daily.
Dietary supplements:
Even though your main source of vitamins and nutrients during pregnancy should come from what you eat, prenatal vitamins help fill gaps of some nutrients. So you should take them throughout the last three months before delivery if possible. You can ask your nutritionist which supplements suit you best. Remember prenatal vitamins or any supplements only help support your diet during pregnancy.
Daily meal plan example:
The following meal examples give you ideas of what to eat daily during pregnancy for a healthy diet. Have three small but balanced meals and also three light snacks throughout the day. This helps make sure you and your baby get all the needed nutrients.
Breakfast: A meal of oatmeal, a banana, one slice of whole wheat toast, two teaspoons of jam, one cup of skim milk.
Snack: A cup of yogurt, grapes.
Lunch: Turkey meat - if fresh meat, don't eat it undercooked, or steam it to avoid germs (listeria) -, cheese sandwich with whole wheat bread, pear, a cup of skim milk.
Snack: Uncooked low-calorie vegetables.
Dinner: Poultry meat, a cup of rice, a cup of vegetables, a cup of fat-free milk.
Snack: Fresh fruit, or low-fat frozen yogurt.
