The best food to eat during pregnancy
Fresh food that's as close to its original state as possible is best for you and your baby. Eating good-quality food should be your goal throughout, as well as after, your pregnancy.
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When you're out shopping, choose fresh produce; seasonal fruit and vegetables are always fresher, as well as cheaper, than imported, out-of-season items. Pick out sound fruit and vegetables and reject any that look tired or are going bad. Buy your meat and fish from shops you can trust - don't run the risk of getting a food-related illness (see Food hazards). If you can afford it, go for free-range or organic foods grown without pesticides and hormones (used particularly in beef and intensively farmed poultry), but try to check that organic foods have been properly approved (by the Soil Association, for example). Look at the labelling of processed foods to see whether they include any genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Until the scientific research into the safety of these foods has been completed and fully debated, it's sensible to avoid GM foods during pregnancy.
Always keep some packs of frozen vegetables - they're good standbys when you can't get to the shops. Avoid tins, except for plum tomatoes and fish such as sardines. Read the labels on any other packaged foods you buy and remember that the nearer an ingredient is to the top of the list, the more there is of that one ingredient. Sugar has many different names (see Carbohydrates and calories) and can appear on a list more than once.
Foods that have been over-refined, such as white flour and white sugar, have had all of the natural goodness stripped out of them and fill you and your baby with nothing but excess calories. Choose wholemeal bread and flour rather than “enriched” refined products; it's highly unlikely that the enrichment puts back in all that's been taken out. The two “waste” products of flour refining are bran (the fibre) and wheatgerm (the heart of the wheat) and these contain most of the goodness. Bran is probably an unnecessary addition for the average pregnant woman (although it will help prevent constipation), but wheatgerm contains lots of vitamins and minerals that are good for everyone. Wheatgerm is crunchy and nutty and can be added to salads and sandwiches, as well as to cooked and baked dishes. You can buy packets of wheatgerm from health food shops and good supermarkets.
Best eating habits during pregnancy
You'll probably need more than willpower if you're going to stick to your healthy regime. The first step is to avoid eating food you know you shouldn't have because there's nothing else available. Keep sugar-free fruit and nut bars, and decaffeinated tea bags with you so you don't give in to temptations like biscuits and a cup of caffeinated tea in the afternoon. If possible, prepare a batch of meals at the weekend that you can store and eat in the week. That will keep you from ringing for a take-away pizza when you're too tired to cook. Banish junk food from your kitchen.
Make the right choices
Think before you eat - a chicken and lettuce sandwich on wholemeal bread that's rich in fibre and folic acid is much better for you than fat-rich bacon and mayonnaise on fibreless white! Invest in a healthy-eating cookbook and try some dishes that are lower in fat and sugar but still taste delicious. Get in the habit of snacking on nutritious foods and eat little and often. Towards the end of your pregnancy, you'll find that eating large amounts is difficult anyway.
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Posted 16.11.2010
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