Pregnancy Diet Overview

What you eat is always important, but during pregnancy your diet is incredibly important to you and your growing baby. Your body is creating a new baby from nothing, and it takes a lot of good nutrients to do that! Some of the most important things to understand are why pregnancy diet is so important, what some of the key nutrients are, and how much you should be getting on a daily basis.

Why is Diet So Important?

Good prenatal nutrition gets you feeling good and gives you the energy to get through your day. It also builds you up to keep you healthy. But most women realize that their nutrition is giving their baby a good start, and that may be the most important reason to focus on it.

It's unfortunate that modern nutrition advice is often poor, and it's especially bad for pregnant women. Women are encouraged to obsess over weight gain and how much they're eating. This hurts mothers and babies. Pregnancy is not the time to forget about good nutrition and eat whatever you want. It is true that you should be sure you're eating good food -- but if you're eating a high-quality diet you don't need to obsess over the scale!

Dr. Thomas Brewer was a doctor and researcher who dedicated his life to pregnant women and babies. He fought long and hard not only to understand how nutrition affects pregnancy, but also to stop dangerous practices common in recent decades (such as prescribing diuretic pills to pregnant women). Dr. Brewer noted that pregnancy "creates nutritional stress for every woman." This means that no matter how well-nourished you are beginning pregnancy, and no matter how well you eat before pregnancy, you still need extra nutrition while you're pregnant!

What to Eat

You and your baby need solid nutrition. You hear a lot of pregnancy jokes about pickles, ice cream, and midnight runs for junk food. But you need to get a lot of nutrients in during pregnancy, and it doesn't leave much room for junk food. You are "eating for two" -- but you're not eating junk food for two! You need to eat real food.

The basis of your pregnancy diet should be animal foods and fats. That's right, I said you need animal products and fats. Protein is very important during pregnancy because it helps you to build your baby. There's a lot of evidence that adequate protein intake prevents many complications of pregnancy.

Fat is vital to your baby. Most moms today are terrified of fat because government and medical authorities have spent more than half a century telling us it's bad for us. It's not. Our babies are lucky -- scientific studies are showing repeatedly that fat is a vital nutrient for our babies and for our own bodies. Your baby's brain is made of fats. A low-fat diet starves your brain -- and it starves your baby's brain.

That doesn't mean that all fats are good. Modern vegetable oils are very bad for you. They're not natural and they do unnatural things in your body and when they cross the placenta. Traditional fats like butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and bacon drippings are good for you and for your baby. They increase your immune system and build strong, healthy cells. They create an intelligent baby. Use butter and olive oil with your vegetables and salads. Eat full-fat dairy products. Cook with coconut oil and other healthy fats.

It's important to get protein and fat from animal products daily. But you should also aim to get plenty of vegetables daily, especially leafy greens. These help you get other trace vitamins and minerals you need. It's important to note that if you're not getting fat from the animal products, your body won't absorb the vitamins and minerals from your vegetables!

Some other important pregnancy nutrients are Vitamin A, Vitamin K2, Vitamin D, Iron, Folate, and DHA. Some of these you'll get from your diet (like iron from animal products). Others you may want to use food-based supplements (such as for DHA and Vitamin A).

How Much to Eat

Again, it's true that you're eating for two during pregnancy. During your first trimester you may not feel as hungry, but your baby is developing rapidly. Be sure you're eating as well as you can every day, striving to get a normal caloric intake and varied nutrients throughout the day. The specific nutrients I listed above are especially important. Focus what you can get on them, and take supplements if you need to. This is when all of your baby's major organ systems form.

Throughout your second and third trimester you should be getting around 2200 to 2900 calories a day. Remember this is not junk food. You need to get the proteins, fats, and vegetables your baby needs for excellent growth. Many women feel that it's a lot of food to eat every day, so don't waste the space! You can break down your meals so that you have three meals and three modest snacks throughout the day. This will keep you feeling energized and build a healthy baby.

By the way, do you want to learn more about how to have a healthy pregnancy, free of complications, and develop skills that will let you go into labor relaxed, confident, and feeling prepared?

If so, download my free guide: Three Births: Which Is Yours?

You'll get my guide and information packed with helpful tips and ideas for a great childbirth experience and how to care for yourself and your baby during a healthy pregnancy (and enjoy it!).

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