Food guide for pregnant mothers

Eat healthy in your pregnancy
Nutrition during pregnancy is important. The foods a pregnant woman eat are the main source of the nutrients for the baby .It is important for pregnant women to understand what kind of food is best for them and their baby.

Variety And Types of Food To Eat

It's important to try to eat a variety of foods including:

• Fruit and vegetables should be eaten as at least five portions a day.
• Plenty of starchy foods such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes – you need six to ten servings a day and at least half of those servings should be wholegrain.
• Foods rich in protein such as lean meat and chicken, fish, eggs and pulses which help build your baby’s immune system while supporting your own and are good sources of iron.
• For pregnant women, it’s important to consume lots of fibre to prevent constipation. This can be especially important if you are taking iron supplements which can cause constipation. Fibre is located in wholegrain foods, pulses and fruit and vegetables.
• Dairy foods like milk, cheese and yoghurt contain calcium to help build healthy bones for you and your baby. Some experts advise drinking full fat milk in pregnancy as there is some evidence that skim or half fat milk may have some hormonal differences which may affect health. However there is no clear evidence yet one way or the other.