Good nutrition is crucial to sustain life but it’s also incredibly important when creating new life. 

In fact, if you’re pregnant, your body is the only source of nutrients your baby has to grow from a small ball of cells to a 5-8 lb baby who’s ready to be born. As soon as conception happens, your little embryo is using nutrients in your body to rapidly grow and develop. If you don’t have enough essential nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D, potassium, fiber, folate, zinc and iron, to meet the high metabolic demands of early pregnancy, your baby’s growth can be negatively affected.

That means you are the sole provider of everything needed to form every toe, blood cell, and hair follicle so maintaining a healthy diet is necessary to encourage the healthy development of your little one. Today we’ll explore the key information every mom-to-be should know when it comes to pregnancy and nutrition. We encourage you to review the info provided but talk to your doctor before changing your diet.

What Foods Should I Prioritize?

Getting a well-rounded, balanced diet takes time and intention, but sometimes it can feel overwhelming trying to figure out what you need to focus on eating while pregnant. We recommend focusing on the four following categories to ensure you and your baby’s key nutritional needs are met: Calcium, protein, folate, and iron.

1. Folic Acid

Folic acid, also known as folate, is critical to help reduce the risk of neural tube defects. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recommends 600 to 800 mcg of folate daily to help prevent major birth defects that affect the baby’s brain and spinal cord, such as spina bifida and anencephaly. The daily recommended intake includes that from every day nutrition/food and the amount of folic acid a woman should supplement with daily. So, the recommended daily supplement is 400 mcg daily, which can be found in most prenatal vitamins.

Folic acid is common in liver, eggs, nuts and peanut butter, sunflower seeds, dark green, leafy vegetables (such as turnip greens, spinach, romaine lettuce, asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli), nuts, berries, and dried beans and lentils.

2. Calcium

About 1,000mg of calcium per day helps build your baby’s bones and regulates your body’s use of fluids. In certain conditions, a woman might require more than this recommended dose. So always be sure to talk with your physician about your body's needs. Calcium can be found in: beans and lentils, milk, calcium-set tofu, figs, seeds (such as poppy, sesame, celery, and chia seeds), dark green, leafy vegetables, yogurt, cheese, and low-mercury fish and seafood, such as salmon, shrimp, catfish, and canned light tuna. Vitamin D is important to help the body regulate calcium. There is a recommended intake of 600 international units of Vitamin D during pregnancy.

3. Iron

Iron is essential because it’s used by your body to make the extra blood that you and your fetus need during pregnancy. It works with water, potassium, and sodium to increase blood flow in your body and helps ensure that you and your baby get enough oxygen. Outside of pregnancy, women need 18 mg of iron per day but that number increases to 27 g during pregnancy. It’s important to note that vitamin C supports the absorption of iron, so plenty of vitamin C rich foods are needed when focusing on iron intake. Iron and vitamin C rich foods include: citrus fruits, dark green, leafy vegetables, enriched breads or cereals, lean beef and poultry, eggs, and dried fruit.

1. Protein

Protein is essential for the proper growth of your baby's brain, tissues, and organs but it’s also good for mom because it supports the breast and uterine tissue growth during pregnancy. Protein also works alongside iron to help increase blood supply to the baby and placenta. We recommend 70 to 100 g of protein a day, which you can find in: beans, cottage cheese, nuts, salmon, chicken, lean beef and pork, peanut butter, and dairy products.

Supplemental Nutrition

Let’s start with prenatal vitamins. Everyone should take vitamins to fill nutritional gaps that their diet doesn’t fill, but prenatal vitamins are specifically formulated to provide the recommended levels of nutrients needed to support you and your pregnancy. Taking a prenatal vitamin doesn’t automatically solve any significant nutritional deficits in your diet—these vitamins are meant to be supplementary and will work well in conjunction with a healthy diet.

Prenatal vitamins supplement your folic acid levels and provide additional iron, but some vitamins also contain two “good fats” known as DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and ARA (arachidonic acid). These fats help with your baby’s development, especially during the final trimester of pregnancy.

Prenatals also supplement key vitamins and minerals such as calcium, vitamin D, choline, omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins and vitamin C. To help build up key nutrients in your body, we recommend beginning a regimen of prenatal vitamins at least a month before you start trying for a baby and follow your doctor’s recommendations for supplements you should take during and after pregnancy.

What Foods Should I Avoid?

No two pregnant women are made the same, so your tolerance of certain foods may differ from what your pregnant friend or sister can handle. Even if a specific food doesn’t trigger your gag reflex or make you nauseated, it can cause some real harm to your baby. Here are some foods that are known to disrupt your baby’s health development or cause irreversible harm if consumed during your pregnancy.

• Raw fish - raw seafood may contain parasites or bacteria, including listeria, that can make pregnant women ill and could potentially harm their babies. All seafood dishes should be cooked to 145°F (63°C) so avoid foods like raw scallops, raw oysters, sashimi, sushi, and ceviche.
  

• Unpasteurized juice and cider -  these beverages have been linked to E. coli outbreaks and other harmful germs. 
• Raw milk - raw milk is any milk that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria such as campylobacter, E. coli, listeria, salmonella or the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Choose pasteurized milk and milk products and avoid soft cheeses like brie, roquefort, feta, queso blanco, and queso fresco.
• Undercooked eggs - undercooked eggs may contain salmonella so if you‘re making a dish that contains eggs, ensure the dish is cooked to a temperature of 160°F (71°C). Avoid foods such as homemade eggnog, tiramisu, raw batter, and homemade ice cream.
• Raw sprouts - Raw or undercooked sprouts may contain E. coli or salmonella. Avoid alfalfa, clover, mung bean, and radishes.
• Unbaked (raw) dough or batter - Since flour hasn’t been processed to kill germs like E. coli and raw eggs can contain salmonella, raw doughs containing either of these ingredients can make you sick. Ensure your batter is fully baked or cooked before eating.
• Undercooked meat and poultry - Ensure all meats are cooked to the CDC’s recommended minimum safe internal temperature to avoid exposure to E. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, and toxoplasma gondii.
• Hot dogs and luncheon meats - foods like hot dogs, fermented or dried sausage, deli/luncheon meats, and hot dogs can contain listeria, if they’re labeled as precooked. Reheat these kinds of meats to 165°F (74°C) before eating.
• Smoked seafood: Refrigerated smoked seafood presents a serious threat of listeria. Avoid refrigerated smoked seafood like trout, whitefish, tuna, cod, and salmon unless it’s in a cooked dish that reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) to kill harmful germs.

Does It Matter What I Drink? Yes it does! Aim for 8 to 12 cups (64 to 96 ounces) of water every day while pregnant and even when you’re not. Water aids in digestion, helps form the amniotic fluid around the fetus, and circulates nutrients in the body. When it comes to caffeine, we recommend staying well away from 8 to 12 cups daily. Caffeine slightly increases blood pressure and heart rate but it can also cause indigestion, light-headedness, and trouble sleeping. Additionally, caffeine can pass through the placenta to the baby. We recommend limiting coffee to 200 mg or less than 12 oz each day. Similarly, we highly recommend you limit alcohol intake while pregnant. Like coffee, alcohol passes through the placenta to the baby and can lead to fetal problems such as small head size, learning disabilities, problems with the heart, kidney, or bones, vision or hearing problems, low body weight, and poor coordination. According to the CDC, there is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy or while trying to get pregnant; we recommend abstaining until after the baby is born and you’re done breastfeeding. 

How Much Should I Eat?

While it may feel like you have the appetite of two people, you’re not actually eating for two, fully grown people while you’re pregnant! You’ll need to increase your calorie intake to maintain a healthy pregnancy, but not by as much as you might think. If you had a healthy pre-pregnancy weight, you will likely have the have the following calorie needs while pregnant:

• First trimester — no extra calories
• Second trimester — 340 additional calories per day
• Last trimester — 450 extra calories per day

These additional calories should come from a balanced diet of protein, fruits, vegetables and whole grains which can also help to reduce pregnancy symptoms like nausea and constipation. 

Weight Gain

These additional calories can contribute to weight gain, but not all weight gain during pregnancy is created equal. According to the CDC, if you were at a normal weight before pregnancy, gaining 25-35 lbs is typical. While thinking about weight gain can feel vain, pregnancy weight has some important implications for your baby. If you gain less than the recommended amount of weight, your baby might be underweight, have difficulty starting breastfeeding, may be at increased risk for illness, and may have developmental delays.

If you gain more than the recommended weight, your baby may be born overweight which can lead to delivery complications, cesarean delivery, and obesity during childhood. Your chances of obesity after pregnancy also increases if too much weight is gained while pregnant.

Talk to your physician about what healthy, well-balanced meals can look like for you. Good nutrition is within reach!

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