Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday

I have received another question – what are the best foods to eat during pregnancy and why?

While I’ve blogged before about some of the foods you shouldn’t eat in pregnancy (for example caffeine and the mercury in some fish), and I’ve discussed the importance of folate . . . I haven’t actually mentioned the foods you should eat.

What to eat when you’re pregnant

The most important thing in pregnancy is to be eating a healthy diet, full of a variety of foods.

• Vegetables: in pregnancy you need at least five servings of vegetables, but preferably more. Vegetables provide important fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
• Fruit: 2 – 4 servings of fruit per day. You can include both tinned and fresh fruit, although I would minimise fruit juice.
• Protein: in pregnancy it’s important to get enough protein. Eat a variety of sources, choosing from meat, chicken, legumes, tofu and eggs. Fish is also an excellent source of low fat protein, but you need to be careful of the type you eat.
• Carbohydrates: in pregnancy it’s best to choose low GI, wholegrain carbohydrates, for example wholegrain or sourdough bread, pasta, basmati rice, quinoa, noodles.
• Calcium: it’s also important to get enough calcium containing foods.
• The good fats: while we don’t need a lot of fat in our diet, small amounts of the right kinds of fat are important for general health. In pregnancy they also play a role in the neurological development of the baby. Include regular amounts of fish, avocadoes, olive oil, nuts and seeds, and tahini. There’s more on the vegetarian sources of fat here. For the non-vegetarians, fish is an excellent source of Omega 3s and while you do have to be careful of the mercury content, I would strongly advise you to include it in your diet.
• Folate: is particularly important in the pre-pregnancy and early pregnancy stages, for preventing neural tube defects. Folate containing foods include lentils and legumes, green leafy vegetables, rice, beetroot, parsnips, asparagus, cauliflower, sunflower seeds, sprouted mung beans, corn and oranges.
• Iron: pregnancy increases your need for iron as your baby will draw enough iron from you to last the first 5 – 6 months after birth. Without adequate iron you’ll feel more tired than you should. Good sources of iron include red meat, duck (with the skin removed), green vegetables and cooked legumes. Please note chicken is not a good iron source. Eating foods high in vitamin C will also help you absorb iron.

More information

• There’s some useful information on the Victorian state government website
• Melanie has written a good post on nutrition in pregnancy over at Dietriffic
• The Diet Dish has a post about weight gain and loss during pregnancy

02 August, 2007