Nourishing Your Pregnancy: Essential Foods and Nutrition Tips for a Healthy Body & Baby

Is it taboo to talk about what to eat for a healthy pregnancy? I don’t mean the usual advice about which foods to avoid or limit that you’ll easily find all over the internet. Rather, I’m asking about the other side of the coin – the foods you should be eating to nourish yourself and your baby during pregnancy. That’s the part I don’t see talked about enough, so it’s exactly what we’re going to cover today. 

Now, I realize this might be a touchy topic for some. Maybe food has always been a sensitive subject for you, and pregnancy has amplified that. Or perhaps you had a really hard 1st trimester and couldn’t keep anything down. Or maybe your doctor is hounding you about weight gain and you’re taking it to heart. There are so many reasons why what TO eat for a healthy pregnancy gets less attention than what NOT to eat. But at its core, it’s because diet is a sensitive subject and has been for a long time. However, if it IS taboo, well, we’re going to bulldoze right over that barrier anyway and talk all about what a healthy diet for pregnancy looks like. This topic is simply too important to ignore. 

As I argue in this blog post, proper nutrition during pregnancy is not only important, it’s essential for both mom and baby. It’s also potentially the most important factor you can control to impact your pregnancy experience positively. But while that post covered a general overview of nutrition during pregnancy, today, I want to dive into some of the specifics of what exactly to include in a healthy prenatal diet. 

Before we jump in, let me start by clearing up some of the confusion around pregnancy diets. As with everything else health-related these days, there’s a ton of conflicting information online about this topic.

Common confusion and myths around pregnancy diets

• Should you be worried about weight gain? Answer: if you’re eating a balanced whole food-focused diet, you probably don’t need to spend too much time worrying about your weight. I firmly believe that if you stay active and feed your body a healthy balanced diet during pregnancy, your body will gain the right amount of weight for you.
• Should you choose low-fat dairy? Answer: no, just the opposite. If you do eat animal products, the standard recommendation is still that lean meats and low-fat dairy products are the healthy options for pregnancy, but that doesn’t line up with the science (or common sense). The process of growing a baby requires increased amounts of fat and protein, so choosing the fattier cuts of meat, fatty fish, eggs with the yolks, and full-fat dairy is actually the healthier option in this case.  
• Is eating fruit good or bad? Answer: it depends. Fruit in general is healthy and babies benefit from mom eating fruit regularly throughout pregnancy. That being said, people metabolize fruit differently, with the sugars in fruit impacting some people’s blood sugar much more than others. For this reason, there’s no one size fits all when it comes to how much fruit should feature in your prenatal diet, but some amount is likely healthy for everyone.
• Can you follow a plant-based diet during pregnancy? Answer: yes, you can. But you may not want to eat a 100% plant-based diet during this time. If you do, you’ll want to monitor your nutrient levels very closely, and make sure you take high-quality supplements that fill potential nutrient gaps including iron and algae oil DHA. Meeting the RDA for iron during pregnancy on a plant-based diet in particular is especially difficult.
• What about eating for two? Answer: while this concept sounds nice and is easy to remember, it really isn’t accurate. A growing baby doesn’t need even close to the number of calories you do. So while you do need to slightly increase your caloric intake (by 0-100 calories in the first trimester, 200-340 calories in the second trimester, and 300-450 calories in the third trimester), you don’t need to double the amount of food you’re eating. 

Now that we’ve cleared up some of the confusion that surrounds pregnancy diets, let’s get into what you should eat for a healthy pregnancy. 

General Nutrition Guidelines & Good Practices for a Healthy Pregnancy

First, three general pieces of advice to follow. If you’re only looking for general guidelines and don’t need specifics, simply following these three good practices will go a long way to ensuring you have a healthy prenatal diet. 

First, it’s important to prioritize balanced meals. 

That means you should include a source of protein, fats, and carbs in each meal (and snack). Aim to choose sources of carbs that are high in fiber to support your digestive system and stabilize your blood sugar. Additionally, include a few types of fruit and/or veggies in each meal. I wrote a whole blog post about creating nutritionally balanced meals that’s just as applicable for pregnancy as at any other time, so check that out if you need help with this. 

And here’s a little secret: if you were eating a healthy, balanced diet before pregnancy, your diet during pregnancy won’t look much different. A balanced diet before pregnancy means much the same thing as a balanced diet during pregnancy, with perhaps a slight increase in protein and fats and a decrease in carbohydrates. 

Second, do your best to eat regular, smaller meals and snacks.

When you feed your body at the same times every day, your body comes to expect food at those times. During pregnancy, your digestive organs get pushed upward as the uterus grows, significantly reducing the amount of space available for each meal. This means that while you may have previously eaten 3 larger meals and 1 snack a day, you simply won’t be able to consume the same amount of food in one sitting during pregnancy. Consequently, you’ll need to increase the number of meals to accommodate the smaller portion sizes.

My advice above still stands though – make your meal and snack times a routine, and keep it consistent on a daily basis. You don’t want to be snacking constantly all day. For one thing, that approach doesn’t give your digestive system any time to rest in between meals, and for another, it’s extremely hard to consume a balanced diet if you’re constantly grazing. 

Third, up your hydration by drinking plenty of water.

Water reigns supreme as the drink of choice at all times, but especially during pregnancy. As your blood volume increases, so do your hydration needs. Keep a water bottle nearby throughout the day as a reminder to keep drinking. Consider flavoring your water with sliced fruits (like lemon, orange, or strawberries), veggies (like cucumber), or herbs (like rosemary or cinnamon sticks) if you get bored with plain water. Other ways you can up your hydration are drinking homemade broths and herbal teas, including liquidy soups in your diet, eating water-rich fruits and veggies like watermelon and cucumber, and including one or two mineral mocktails per day.

If you’ve read this far, way to go! You deserve a treat. Click here to access and download my free Healthy Pregnancy Foods Cheatsheet! 

Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s finally time to get into some specifics! 

Essential Foods to Eat for a Healthy Pregnancy

What follows is a list of key types of foods and specific foods I consider essential for a healthy pregnancy. Keep in mind that everyone is different, and everyone has slightly different dietary needs, so how much of these foods you feel good eating may be different from your friends. As always, I recommend educating yourself first, then listening to your body. 

Most importantly, focus on whole foods.

During pregnancy, it’s especially important to limit processed foods and increase whole foods to be the majority of your diet. Everything you eat during pregnancy gets passed to your baby. This includes all the beneficial nutrients of whole foods and the bleached oils, additives, and preservatives of ultra-processed foods. I know it can feel like a big responsibility. But know that by simply focusing on whole foods, you’re giving your baby (and your body) the best nutrition possible. 

Key whole foods to include in a healthy prenatal diet: 

1. fruits (choose in-season fresh as much as possible, plus dried and frozen) – berries, oranges, apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, melons, grapes, etc
2. vegetables (choose in-season fresh as much as possible, plus frozen) – leafy greens like spinach and romaine lettuce, cruciferous veggies like broccoli, arugula, kale, and brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, etc
3. whole grains (and whole-grain products) – farro, barley groats and flour, whole wheat flour, buckwheat groats and flour, brown rice, oats, quinoa, millet, 100% whole-grain bread and pasta)
4. unprocessed plant & animal proteins (aim for a combination of plant and animal proteins) – dried and canned beans and lentils, organic tofu and tempeh, wild-caught fatty fish, pasture-raised meat, and pasture-raised eggs
5. healthy fats – avocados, olives, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, pasture-raised butter and ghee, nuts and nut butters, seeds and seed butters, and organic full-fat dairy
6. fermented foods (choose traditionally fermented foods from the refrigerator section, or make your own) – organic full-fat yogurt and kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, organic tempeh, low-sugar kombucha, real pickles and other pickled vegetables, miso, natto

Final thoughts on what to eat for a healthy pregnancy

In addition to the list above, do your best to choose organic, in-season produce whenever possible. In-season produce has higher nutrient levels and organic produce avoids the pesticides and herbicides that are inherent in conventional options. 

Additionally, if you do eat animal products, make sure you choose the highest quality you can afford. This means organic, pasture-raised, free-range, wild-caught meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. Additionally, opt for smaller, low-mercury fish and seafood rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Avoid large predator fish like tuna. This article includes a handy graph of the best fish and seafood options for pregnancy.

And lastly, make a point to add extra fat and protein to your diet. Your swelling belly, stretching skin, tissues, and ligaments, and growing baby all need extra protein and fat during this time. So don’t be afraid of high-fat foods. Make a point to include at least one source each of protein and fat in each meal and snack.  

Eating well during pregnancy requires learning new information, prioritizing your nutrition, and (most likely) cooking at home more often. It can be hard some days when you’re extra tired or your legs are swollen (hi, third trimester 🙋🏻‍♀️), but know that it is so SO worth it. By prioritizing your nutrition during these 9 months, you’re saying thank you to your incredible body and giving your baby the foundations of an amazing, healthy life. 

More resources to support your pregnancy

1. Don’t forget to download your free Healthy Pregnancy Foods Cheatsheet here! It’s the perfect, easy-to-follow prenatal nutrition cheat sheet to help you include all the foods we discussed in today’s post in your daily diet. Print it off and pin it up in your kitchen!
2. If you found this article helpful, I think you’ll love this post on why nutrition is so important during pregnancy.
3. If you’re looking for further support, consider one of my pregnancy-specific 1:1 coaching packages. In these programs, you’ll receive tailored guidance catered to your specific nourishment needs for a healthy, happy pregnancy. If this sounds like something you’re interested in and want to learn more about, apply for 1:1 sessions with me here.