Our five tips for nourishing nutrition:
Eat colourful meals
As well as knowing the vegetables and legumes group is the main food groups on which to base each meal, we now know that you need to keep your meals colourful! Include your “greens” (brassica/cruciferous veggies), orange, raw leafy, starchy vegetables and others, such as red and yellow veggies each day.
Eat less processed foods
We need to recognise that there’s processing (making pasta, fermenting yoghurt, snap-freezing vegetables) and 'ultra-processing'. What we really want to avoid are ultra-processed foods—these generally contain multiple ingredients to enhance flavour, texture and stability. In the end, these foods resumble nothing like anything naturally grown. A good rule of thumb is to choose foods from around the outside of the supermarket aisles or only choose to eat what your grandmother would recognise.
Eat safe
Due to immune system changes in pregnancy, women are more susceptible to food poisoning. But by avoiding all foods that carry a risk for harbouring listeria, women are consuming fewer nutrients. You don’t have to go without. For every item on the “no” list, there are a number of alternatives.
Eat for your pregnancy stage
You are not eating for two, but need to eat twice as well! In the first trimester your energy (kilojoule) needs are about the same as when you weren’t pregnant. It’s only when you get into your second and third trimesters that you need more protein and energy—an extra 1400kJ (second trimester) and 1900kJ (third trimester) is all you need. Your protein needs are only 60grams per day. What is this in ‘real food’? An extra serve from the meat and alternatives group and two to three serves from the breads/cereals/grains group.
Stick with the evidence for multivitamins
Only folic acid and iodine have been shown to be essential to supplement in pregnancy. While it may seem like “more is better” with supplements, this is not necessarily correct in many cases. Most of the vitamins and minerals in a pregnancy multivitamin supplement are water soluble and end up in your urine if you don’t need them. For some women, a blood test may indicate that a separate supplement containing iron or Vitamin D may be required. It is also important to aim for the right amounts of fruit, vegetables and foods from the other food groups to ensure you provide your body with the best balance of nutrients for pregnancy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Now that I am pregnant can I eat for two?
No—this is one of the biggest myths we hear in pregnancy. Your body becomes so efficient in pregnancy that you only need a small number of extra kilojoules or calories in the second and third trimesters. Therefore, you definitely do not need to eat for two. What does this look like in ‘real food’? An extra serve from the meat and alternatives group (for extra iron and protein) and two to three serves from the breads/cereals/grains group (for folic acid, iodine, and fibre). It is important to gain pregnancy weight in the range recommended to optimise the health of you and your baby. If you eat for two you will gain more than the recommended amount of weight.
Do I need to avoid peanuts during pregnancy to stop my child being allergic to them?
Excluding particular foods (such as foods considered to be highly allergenic) from your diet during pregnancy or breastfeeding is not recommended, as this has not been shown to prevent allergies.
Should pregnant women stop eating fish?
Fish is a great food to have as part of a healthy diet. Fish is low in saturated fat, high in protein and contains high quantities of healthy fats including omega 3 fatty acids. People may worry because some fish contain high levels of mercury that can harm your baby’s nervous system if eaten in large quantities.
The key is to limit the fish potentially high in mercury such as flake/shark, marlin, swordfish and orange roughy/deep sea perch. Eat the fish that is low in mercury such as canned tuna and salmon and other fish not listed above two to three times per week.
How much extra food do I need in pregnancy?
The extra energy (kilojoules) required to support your growing baby is small and changes depending on your stage of pregnancy. This surprises many women.
In your second trimester the extra energy you need increases by about 1,400 kilojoules (kJ) per day. This is equal to an extra serving of baked beans and toast, two extra hardboiled eggs and toast or a couple of extra pieces of fruit and some low fat yoghurt each day.
In your third trimester your energy needs go up a small amount again, to an extra 1,900kJ per day. The increase from the second trimester is equal to half a cup of cooked pasta, a cup of low fat milk or 100 grams of tinned tuna.