Your nutrition needs

Eating wisely

What you eat during your pregnancy has a profound effect on your baby's health and your own well-being. You'll feel better if you...

• eat often enough to keep your blood sugar stable and your energy constant. That doesn't mean overeating, however.
• eat nutritious foods in small amounts throughout the day.
• limit or avoid foods that are high in calories from sugar and fat and low in other nutrients. These include sweets, chips and salty snacks, alcohol, fats and oils (salad dressing, mayonnaise), and soft drinks.

During pregnancy, you need to eat foods high in calcium and iron. Your health care provider may even remind you. Use the information in this section to help make your shopping list.

Calcium

During pregnancy, it is important to eat 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium each day. To help you estimate how much you're getting, remember that most prenatal vitamins contain 200 mg and that 1 cup of any milk or yogurt (or 1 ounce of cheese) contains 300 mg.

Foods that have calcium

calcium-fortified cereals, juices, milk and frozen yogurt cheese and cheese sauce chocolate bar cottage cheese or ricotta cheese cream sauces and soups dried beans (white, black, kidney, pinto, soybeans) dried peas (chickpeas, black-eyed peas) English muffins, bread greens (collard, spinach, turnip, beet) ice cream, ice milk, frozen yogurt (Low-fat products contain more calcium.)

milk and yogurt instant oatmeal and other calcium fortified cooked cereals pudding, custard salmon (pink, canned, with bones) sardines (canned in water) soy milk (calcium enriched) tofu Viactiv® soft calcium chews

Iron

Aim for at least 30 milligrams a day of iron.

See our list of foods with iron and keep these tips in mind:

• Iron from vegetables, fruits, grains and supplements is harder for your body to absorb.
• Iron from meat, poultry and fish is absorbed up to three times better.
• Iron from all sources is absorbed best when the foods that contain iron are eaten at the same time as a food that contains vitamin C.

Iron is best absorbed when eaten with foods that contain vitamin C.

Foods that have vitamin C

broccoli brussels sprouts cabbage cantaloupe

cranberry juice grapefruit, grapefruit juice leafy greens (except lettuce) oranges, orange juice

peppers tomato, vegetable juice tomatoes

Vitamin D and calcium

Your body uses vitamin D to absorb calcium. You need 400 IU of vitamin D each day.

Your body makes vitamin D when you are exposed to sunlight. This is tougher between late fall and early spring when sunlight is not as strong as it is in the summer. In the summer, sunscreen use blocks the ultraviolet rays your body needs to make vitamin D.

The easiest thing you can do is to take your prenatal vitamin or a multivitamin every day to make sure you get enough vitamin D.

Fiber

A high-fiber diet can help prevent constipation and hemorrhoids.

You should eat at least 25 grams of fiber each day. Eat a well-balanced diet that includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, and unprocessed bran.

• fruits: 4 or more servings each day (2 grams of fiber each serving)
• vegetables: 2 or more servings each day (2 grams of fiber each serving)
• breads: 2 or more servings each day (2 grams of fiber each serving)
• cereal: 1 serving each day (8 grams of fiber each serving)
• beans: as desired (8.5 grams of fiber each serving)

2 grams of fiber per serving

Food	One serving	Food	One serving
apple	1/2	mustard greens	1 cup
apricots	3	nectarine or peach (raw)	1 medium
banana	1/4 small	peanuts	20
beets (cooked)	1/2 cup	pear (raw)	1/2 medium
broccoli (cooked)	1/3 cup	peas (raw)	1/6 cup
brown rice (cooked)	1 cup	popped popcorn	2 cups
cantaloupe	1 1/4 cup	potato (baked)	1/2 cup
carrots (cooked)	1/2 cup	spinach (cooked)	1/6 cup
cauliflower (cooked)	2/3 cup	sweet corn (cooked)	1/4 cup
cauliflower (raw)	1 cup	tomato (raw)	1 medium
cherries	20 large	watermelon	1 1/2 cup
cucumber	1 cup	whole grain bread	1 slice
green beans (raw)	1/4 cup	whole wheat crackers	6
green pepper (raw)	1 cup	zucchini (raw)	1/2 cup
honeydew melon	1 1/2 cup

8 grams of fiber per serving

Food	One serving	Food	One serving
All Bran®	1/3 cup	Grapenuts®	9 tablespoons
Bran Chex® or Corn Bran®	1 cup	lentils (cooked)	1 cup
brown, kidney, lima, pinto or white beans	1/2 cup	Shredded Wheat®	3 biscuits

Related Links

Top 20 foods for pregnancy

Foods that have iron

A nutritious pregnancy diet

Pregnancy & Parenting eMagazine: Registration

First published: 10/04/2002
Last updated: 06/01/2003

Reviewed by: Allina Patient Education experts