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The Pregnancy Food Guide
10 Tips to Help Moms-to-be Eat Healthier and Manage Their Weight
By Laura Cone
Lorelei Vitulli from Wesley Chapel, Fla., ate for two when she was pregnant with her infant son, Caelan. "I gained too much when I was pregnant," Vitulli says, adding that she packed on 59 pounds. "I was too big to begin with."
Vitulli now exercises on the treadmill 30 minutes a day and breastfeeds her son. Her greatest challenge is being around her husband, Jason, who eats carrot cake, crackers and frozen dinners. "I love eating any kind of food," she says. "My problem is with dinners and my husband. The challenge is making something he will eat that's still healthy. When I'm home alone with the baby, I eat healthy."
While pregnant women have cravings and an increased appetite, members of the new Pregnancy Food Guide panel hope to dispel the myth that women need to eat for two when they are pregnant.
Kathy McManus, a member of the Pregnancy Food Guide panel and director of the department of nutrition at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, says pregnancy is an ideal time to review your nutrition because what you eat will affect your health and your baby's health for years.
"One message we want to get across is that it's important for women to eat enough for a healthy weight gain but you don't have to eat for two," McManus says. "Some of those myths are out there. Women should eat healthfully and not for two."
She says the panel did not specify how many pounds a woman should gain. However, she says women should consult with their OB/GYN and a nutritionist to determine the appropriate weight gain for them.
Obesity has been linked to gestational diabetes and other complications such as an increased risk for C-section.
"We did state it is important to have steady, gradual weight gain and that by eating balanced and healthy nutrition, that's the way to achieve it," McManus says. "We emphasized pregnancy is also not a time to lose 
weight. It is important for women to gain a moderately healthy amount of weight. Part of weight gain will depend on how much the woman weighs pre-pregnancy. If she is overweight she will gain less than if she has a healthy weight or is underweight."
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