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Food Facts, Cravings and Cautions

The Formula for a Healthy Diet During Pregnancy

By Jennifer Lacey

Your food choices during pregnancy should be made with great thought and care for both your health and your developing baby. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), based in Washington, D.C., issued specific guidelines in 1990 about the amount of weight gain during pregnancy. Depending on how much a woman weighs prior to conception, the IOM concluded that the weight gain guidelines for pregnant women are the following:

Underweight – 29 to 40 pounds
Normal weight – 25 to 35 pounds
Overweight – 15 to 25 pounds
Obese – at least 15 pounds

"Many pregnant women should be on a 2,000 calorie diet, which is what the percents are based on," says Netty Levine, a registered dietitian at the Nutrition Counseling Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Your daily caloric intake should include foods that assist in providing the vital nutrients, vitamins and minerals your growing baby needs. Calcium-rich foods, including milk, yogurt and certain cheeses, are required for Baby's bone and teeth growth, muscle contraction and nerve function and should become a staple in all of your daily meals.

Ellen Landsberger, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women's health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., says diets rich in "whole grains, fruits and vegetables, with protein and healthy fats such as from olive oil, nuts, avocadoes and some fish, provide important vitamins and minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary for proper growth and development of the baby." It's not just the overall amount of food/calories, but the quality as well, she adds.

Folic acid is an essential nutrient that assists in the production of blood and protein, which plays an extremely important role in the prevention of neural tube defects (spina bifida). Consume plenty of folic acid rich foods, including spinach and other green leafy vegetables, beans, peas and nuts.

Maintaining a healthy dietary intake that protects the health of both you and your baby should remain a top priority throughout the entire course of your pregnancy. Levine advises that during an expectant woman's second and third trimesters, she should strive for adequate calcium through low-fat dairy products and adequate protein through these low-fat dairy products and healthy meat and vegetarian protein choices. "Vegetables and fruit should always be encouraged," she says.

Want to see more?

• Pregnancy Nutrition From A to Z: A Comprehensive List of Nutrition Issues for Moms-to-be
• An Even Dozen: Tips from the Surgeon General for a Safer, Healthier Mom and Baby
• Two of Everything, Please: Debunking the Myth
  of Eating for Two
• Talk about it!

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