Useful ways to eat well and maintain a healthy diet during the various stages of your pregnancy.

1. Eating Tips
for Your
Pregnancy

2. The nutritional status of
women when becoming
pregnant and during
pregnancy can have
significant influence on infant
and maternal health problems.
Numerous studies of
nutritional education and
counseling before and during
pregnancy have demonstrated
beneficial effects in terms of
improved gestational weight,
increased head circumference,
reduced risk of preterm birth,
and reduced risk at birth of
maternal anemia.

4. Caloric intake grows with pregnancy and weight gain varies
considerably. For the average healthy
woman, ideal weight gain is 25-35 lbs during the nine month
pregnancy.
Either excessive or insufficient
weight gain can be deleterious to the health of both the baby
and the mother.
In general, mother’s diet needs to be balanced and nutritious,
involving right proportions of protein, carbohydrate, and fat
while consuming a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

6. Specifically, fat should provide no more than 30% of
daily calories with monosaturated fats being
preferable.
Examples are foods such as olive oil, peanut oil,
sesame oil, canola oil, avocado, and many nuts and
seeds.
Excellent sources of carbohydrates are potatoes, rice,
pasta, and bread. Animal-sourced protein includes
lean meat and fish, as well as eggs.

10. Quinoa is notable as a
source of all the
essential amino acids.
As far
as fruits and vegetables,
fresh and frozen
produce usually have
higher vitamin and
nutrient content as
well as being excellent
sources of fiber.

13. Micronutrient deficiencies can be addressed through diet as well
as supplements.
The value of prenatal
vitamins cannot be overemphasized. Folic acid, iron, vitamin D,
calcium, iodine, and zinc are especially
important during pregnancy.
Adequate folic acid before and during pregnancy is critical in
preventing neural tube defects which affect the brain and spinal
cord. Recommended daily intake is 400-600 mcg.

14. Sources of Vitamin D

15. Sources of Zinc

17. During pregnancy, maternal blood volume increases
significantly and adequate iron supplementation is
required to prevent anemia and promote adequate oxygen
carrying capacity.
Vitamin D deficiency is
common even in the non-pregnant state. Adequate Vitamin D
during pregnancy is critical for normal
fetal skeletal development and may be beneficial in mother to
prevent preeclampsia.
Recommended
dose is controversial and ranges from 600-4000 IU/day. Iodine
is important for normal fetal thyroid
development and function.

19. Clearly, pregnancy
places impressive
metabolic demands on
the mother’s body.
Only through
nutritional
education and
counseling can the best
outcomes for both
mother and baby be
achieved.