The Most Important Things to Eat During Your Pregnancy

There’s so much information floating around out there when it comes to eating during pregnancy—everything from tips for curing morning sickness to fine-tuned recipes to satisfy cravings. Though this info might be helpful, it usually doesn’t give a good explanation of a woman’s nutritional needs during pregnancy.

This post is in no way a complete primer, but here’s my list of the most important things to eat during pregnancy to get you started.

1. A Nutrient-rich Diet

Though you might find yourself craving Cheez-Its and Fruit Roll-Ups (or pickles and ice cream?), maximizing nutrient intake during pregnancy is important. In order to make sure you’re able to consume all the different nutrients that the body needs not only to sustain your own health but that of your growing baby as well, it’s important to ditch the empty calories.

Quality is more important than quantity, so you should do your best to ditch processed foods that are rich in salt, sugar, fat and artificial chemicals and preservatives. A diet rich in whole foods is the way to go.

2. A Balanced Diet

A combination of carbohydrates, fats and proteins are essential for health, and these needs change a bit during pregnancy. This means an increase in required carb intake as pregnancy progresses, plus a significant increase in protein requirements during the second and third trimester.

Eating a balanced diet that includes healthy and nutrient-rich carbs, fats and proteins at every meal will help you to meet these needs.

3. A Varied Diet

A study conducted about fifteen years ago, but still frequently cited today, claims that the diet of the mother can influence a baby’s preferences for certain foods after birth. The assumption is that mothers who eat a highly-varied diet during pregnancy and expose their babies to a wide variety of flavor sensations in the womb might give their offspring a head start in terms of their ability to avoid becoming picky eaters.

Wouldn’t that be great?

Whether or not this proves to be consistently true, a varied diet is also likely to be more nutritionally complete than a more repetitive diet.

4. More Healthy, not Necessarily More

Though pregnant women are “eating for two”, this does not in any way mean you should feel compelled to double your food intake. In fact, pregnant women need to add fewer calories to their diets than you probably think.

There’s typically no calorie increase required during the first trimester, with an average weight gain somewhere around two pounds. After that, women need to eat enough to gain an average of 25-26 pounds over the remaining 26 weeks. This adds up to about 340 additional calories per day in the second trimester and 450 additional calories during the third.

5. Meat and Fish, if You Can

Even though it’s true that women are advised against eating raw fish during pregnancy, or large predatory fish since they may contain high levels of methylmercury and other contaminants, fish are an important part of a healthy diet. Here’s how you can enjoy this important source of nutrients:

• Avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish (a.k.a. golden bass/golden snapper).
• Limit albacore tuna and locally caught fish.
• Eat up to 12 oz. per week of fish with lower methylmercury content, including light tuna (canned), cod, catfish, pollack, salmon and shellfish including crab, scallops and shrimp.

Fish and lean meats are great sources of essential fatty acids like omega-3s. They’re required for brain and nervous system health, an important part of fetal development.

If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, you’re going to want to pay extra-special attention to these nutrients, as well as vitamin B12, since they’re more difficult for non-meat eaters to obtain.

6. Increase Intake of Key Vitamins and Minerals

Even though pregnant women may not need to ramp up their calorie intake right away, they do have an immediate need for increased levels of certain nutrients. These include calcium, copper, folate, iron and zinc.

Though taking vitamins daily can help to make up the difference, most nutritionists agree that the best way to maintain healthy nutrient levels is by obtaining them from one’s diet—namely through nutrient-rich whole foods like leafy greens, fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors, lean meats, dairy, nuts, legumes and whole grains.

However, pregnancy is one time when obstetricians recommend supplementing with a daily vitamin in order to meet the needs of pregnant women. Eating a healthy diet that’s supplemented with the appropriate multivitamin can help you to cover all of your nutritional bases. Rely on the advice of your healthcare practitioner to guide you, and never make any extreme changes to your diet without consulting with a healthcare practitioner first.

Here’s what you should be eating to make sure you’re getting adequate amounts of some of the nutrients necessary for a healthy pregnancy:

Calcium

If you’re not lactose intolerant and this appeals to you, switch out one glass of water a day for a glass of milk instead. If you’ve outgrown your taste for the stuff as a beverage, try adding it to hot whole grain breakfast cereal in the morning, topped with fresh fruit and nuts.

While we’re on the subject of switching out your beverages of choice for healthier options, ditch the alcohol, soda, and caffeinated beverages if you haven’t already.

Copper

This one might be a bit of a disappointment – organ meats and shellfish are probably the best dietary sources of copper. If that’s your thing, great. If not, supplementation with a vitamin is possible, and there are other food sources that you might find more palatable as well. To add copper to your diet, you can also ramp up your intake of nuts and seeds.

Chocolate is another good source, but proceed with caution. Though dark chocolate contains copper and some healthy antioxidants, it also contains caffeine, which should be consumed in moderation.

Folate

Just in case you’re confused about the terminology (and you’re definitely not alone on this one!), folic acid is the synthetic form of folate, which occurs naturally in foods. Folic acid intake is essential during the earliest stages of pregnancy in order to avoid neural tube defects.

400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid per day is recommended for women, particularly during the first 3-4 weeks of pregnancy. This is also recommended for women who “may become pregnant”, mostly because many women do not immediately realize that they are pregnant.

It’s true that many grain products like processed breads and cereals in the United States are fortified with folic acid. These are not typically the most nutritious sources of the nutrient since they tend to be high in added sugar. Focus on healthier whole grains instead as well as leafy greens and citrus.

Iron

Not only is this mineral essential for fetal growth and development, it’s required to help boost the production of red blood cells, which is essential during pregnancy. This is one of those nutrients that the experts say may be easiest to obtain in adequate amounts through supplementation.

Healthy food sources of heme iron, the type of iron that our bodies absorb the most efficiently, include fish, shellfish, meat and poultry. Vegetable sources like spinach, beans and lentils (as well as fortified grains and other foods) contain nonheme iron, which we absorb less efficiently.

Zinc

Oysters are the best food source of zinc by far, coming in at 74 milligrams per 3 oz. serving of breaded and fried oysters. Unless you develop a craving for them though, chances are you won’t be dining on fried oysters very often (if at all) during your pregnancy.

In addition to supplementing with a vitamin, other types of shellfish also contain zinc as do beans and meat. You’ll also find a bit in dairy products.

Last but not least…

A Final Tip on Morning Sickness

Nutrient intake is so important during pregnancy, but it’s a complete wash if you’re not able to keep that good food down. Though my mom says that she only experienced mild morning sickness during pregnancy, she recommends having something to nibble on nearby, hopefully before that first wave of nausea hits.

Though the severity of this common problem is different for everyone, and it doesn’t always occur in the morning, it’s a great idea to keep a box of cereal or Saltines on your nightstand. That way, you can reach for them before your head even leaves the pillow. Your body has been working hard to make a baby all night long, and your stomach is super empty. Breaking that fast is more important now than ever before!

Also, try to eat small, frequent meals. An empty stomach makes those waves of sickness more likely, so do whatever you can to have healthy nutrient-rich snacks and meals ready at a moment’s notice.

So, did this piece spark any inspiration for your next recipe search? Or, are you still dreaming about those Cheez-Its? Either way, happy eating! Let me know in the comments section what foods you recommend during pregnancy.