Pregnancy: Food for Two

What do you eat in pregnancy? When it comes down to it, eating for two isn’t that different from eating for one. Dr Joe Kosterich explains the things to avoid, what’s fine to eat, and how much you should eat.

Pregnancy is really a normal part of life and we spoke about aspects of exercise in pregnancy in another video. Today we’re going to be talking about what to eat in pregnancy. The overriding principle in this is that what you eat in pregnancy is, with some exceptions, pretty much what you would normally eat. Why is that the case? You’re still you.

So, you’ve got another little human being growing inside you but babies, being human beings of course, pretty much need exactly the same thing that you are going to need. It’s really quite unfortunate that eating in pregnancy has become so confusing and difficult for people.

Now, let’s look at the few simple exceptions first. Things to avoid: soft cheeses, salads that have been out of the fridge for an extended period of time, things like salad bars particularly if they’ve got mayonnaise-type dressings on them, some forms of seafood are best avoided, and some processed meats or salamis, again, maybe if they’ve been out of the fridge for a little long. If you think about it you probably shouldn’t be eating a lot of those sorts of things anyway, particularly stuff that’s been out of the fridge for a while.

Ok, what can you eat? Pretty much most normal things in a normal way: fruits and vegetables are fine; salads are fine; meat, fish, chicken, make sure they’re properly cooked, but that’s all fine; breads, grains and cereals are all fine; eggs are ok; dairy products are ok. Pretty much most normal things that you would normally eat are ok.

Often people ask: How much should I be eating? Am I eating for two? Yes, the answer to that is you are. However, small developing fetuses don’t need a huge amount of food so you don’t necessarily need to eat a lot more than you normally would. Be guided by how hungry or not hungry you are. Some days, particularly in the early stages of pregnancy, you may have some nausea; you may not feel like eating a lot at all. That’s quite ok – you don’t have to force it. Later on, particularly the last 12-13 weeks of pregnancy when the growth is fastest for the baby, that’s when you probably will be hungry and be eating more.

Some women do get cravings. You hear these stories about people wanting chocolates with pickled onions at 3 o’clock in the morning. Yes, it does happen. And if you do feel like it, there’s no point of really resisting it if that’s going to make you feel a bit better it’s going to be quite ok. Please don’t stress about it.

If you need to eat out, yes you can eat out and pretty much just select things that you like to eat and don’t go for sashimi, particularly in the earliest stages of pregnancy. So, again, using your common sense. Drink plenty of water, try and avoid the soft drinks and the diet drinks, they are not a major drama but they’re probably not going to provide any goodness for you or for baby.

Some women might need some supplements whilst in pregnancy, particularly iron supplements, and that’s something you can have a chat about with your doctor.

Most importantly, pregnancy is a normal part of life, eating is a normal part of life. Essentially, you can eat, with a few of the exceptions we’ve touched on: the soft cheeses, the raw seafood, some of the uncooked and particularly processed foods, be wary, often avoid and food that’s been out of the fridge, but other than that pretty much eat normal things in a normal way and enjoy yourself doing so.

More information

	For more information on what to eat and not eat during pregnancy, visit Nutrition in pregnancy.
	For more information about pregnancy, including preconception advice, stages of pregnancy, investigations, complications, living with pregnancy and birth, see Pregnancy.