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Home › Articles › Vegetarian Lifestyle › Covering All the Veggie Bases

Covering All the Veggie Bases

Your Best Vegetarian Diet during Pregnancy

By Melanie Wilson, Vegetarian Lifestyle Expert

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  • You'll need vitamin D to help your body absorb all that calcium and for the formation of your baby's bones in utero. Your body will make all the vitamin D that you need with adequate sun exposure (one hour, three to four times per week), but since your needs during pregnancy double, it's safer to make sure you have a dietary source of this nutrient. Vegetarian sources include egg yolks, fortified dairy products and many soy and rice milks.
  • If you're vegan (don't consume eggs or dairy products) it is critical to add a source of vitamin B12 to your diet. According to Reed Mangels, a registered dietitian with the Vegetarian Resource Group, a vegan mother cannot rely on her body's stores of B12 for her growing baby but must supplement her diet with fortified foods like nutritional yeast (delicious sprinkled on popcorn), soymilk, meat analogs (vegetarian meat substitutes) or breakfast cereals.
  • Include walnuts, ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oil in your diet every day for your dose of omega-3 essential fatty acids, which play an important role in the development of the retina and brain and maintenance of the central nervous system. Avoid fish, which is often the recommended source of these oils, to avoid pesticide and mercury consumption.

    • No matter how prepared you are, morning sickness may throw a curve ball at even the best-laid plans. If like some mothers you experience the worst nausea your hormones can pitch in the first trimester, or, like others, you suffer from a constant queasiness for months on end, you may decide the situation calls for desperate measures. But don't do anything drastic until you talk to your doctor.


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