Your Healthy Pregnancy Food Plan

Food, Fruits, vegetables you should eat before, during and after pregnancy?

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables in pregnancy as these provide the vitamins and minerals, as well as fibre which helps digestion and prevents constipation. Eat them lightly cooked in a little water or raw to get the most out of them. Frozen, tinned and dried fruit and vegetables are good too. Aim for at least five portions a day.

Pregnancy and Starchy foods like bread potatoes, rice, pasta, chapatis, yams and breakfast cereals are an important part of any diet and should, with vegetables, form the main part of any meal. They are satisfying, without containing too many calories, and are an important source of vitamins and fibre. Try eating wholemeal bread and wholegrain cereals when you can.

Lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, beans and pulses are all good sources of nutrients in Pregnancy. Eat some every day.

Dairy foods in Pregnancy like milk, cheese and yoghurt are important as they contain calcium and other nutrients needed for your baby's development. Choose low-fat varieties wherever possible. You can get 4 litres or seven pints of cow's milk free per week if you receive Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance.

Try to cut down on sugar and sugary foods like sweets, biscuits and cakes and sugary drinks like cola. Sugar contains calories without providing any other nutrients the body needs. It also adds to the risk of tooth decay.

Cut down on fat and fatty foods as well. Most of us eat far more fat than we need. Fat is very high in calories and too much can cause excess weight gain and increase the risk of heart disease, and it can contribute to being overweight.

Foods to avoid in Pregnancy: Avoid fried foods, trim the fat off meat, use spreads sparingly and go easy on foods like pastry, chocolate and chips which contain a lot of fat. Choose low-fat varieties of dairy products, for example semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt and half-fat hard cheese.

CAFFEINE and Pregnancy

Have drinks which contain caffeine – coffee, tea and colas– in moderation. This is because high levels of caffeine low birth weight, or even miscarriage. Caffeine occurs naturally in a range of foods, such as chocolate; it's also added to some soft drinks and ‘energy' drinks and can also be found in certain cold and flu remedies. It's important not to have more than 300mg a day. Each of these contains roughly 300mg of caffeine:

3 mugs of instant coffee (100mg each)
3 cups of brewed coffee (100mg each)
6 cups of tea (50mg each)
8 cans of cola (up to 80mg each)
8 (50g) bars of chocolate (up to 50mg each)
Try decaffeinated tea and coffee, fruit juice or mineral water.

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