So as many of you might know I work at a Women's Hospital and I end up working with quite a few pregnant women. It is so important to make sure that you are eating healthy foods while pregnant because your diet has a huge impact on your baby's health and wellness. I wanted to outline just a few of the recommendations that we had displayed in our cafeteria today.

Variety of Foods - This is key! Variety helps to ensure that you are getting different vitamin and minerals in your diet to help protect maternal stores and promote appropriate fetal development. It is essential to consume folic acid when pregnant to help prevent neural tube defects - the recommended amount of 0.4mg per day. Folic acid is found in dark, left vegetables (lettuce, spinach, kale, etc) and beans (legumes, lentils and black beans. Try to work in 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. The goal would be to consume 3 servings of protein a day. This is minimum and honestly if you are carrying multiples then you need to eat more protein. You need 1000mg of Calcium each day to support pregnancy. Some women aren't big milk drinkers so trying to include other dairy items in your diet is essential (like cheese and yogurt).
Prenatal Vitamins - Taking your vitamin everyday is a must! This helps to ensure that you are getting ALL of the nutrients your body needs during pregnancy. I like to think of taking a vitamin as an insure policy. Even if we try to eat healthy and get enough fruits/vegetables in each day we aren't always perfect and taking that vitamin helps to make sure that you are still getting enough B Vitamins, Vitamin C, Folic Acid, etc. Prenatal vitamins now include added DHA (omega 3 fatty acid) to help with brain and eye development.

Hopefully you found some of these pregnancy recommendations helpful. If you are wondering what to eat during pregnancy and how to plan meals this is a great video from Baby Center and has a dietitian talking about meal planning. CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO