To deal with pregnancy challenges, it is crucial for you to visit a nutritionist and plan a healthy, balanced, and nutritious pregnancy diet plan or chart trimester-wise.

What To Include in Your Pregnancy Diet Plan?

You must include the necessary vitamins, calcium, folic acids, etc as an essential part of your pregnancy diet. Here is how you can introduce the above:

Introducing Folate or Folic Acid Into Your Pregnancy Meal Plan

Well! You can get folate or folic acid from leafy greens, citrus fruits, lentils, etc during your pregnancy. Including enough folate in your diet shall prevent your baby from developing some major brain as well as spine-related birth defects. Therefore, it is necessary for you to have at least 600 to 1000mg of folate or folic acid during pregnancy.

Introducing Calcium Into Your Pregnancy Meal Plan

Calcium and pregnancy have a very close relationship with each other. It does not just help in developing your musculoskeletal and nervous systems, but it also passes down to the developing baby inside you and helps in forming the nerves, the heart, and the baby’s hormones. Therefore, take in 1000 mg of calcium from milk and milk products, dates, almonds and other fruits, fortified orange juice as well as oats or oatmeal every day.

Introducing Iron Into Your Pregnancy Meal Plan

If you do not consume iron in sufficient amounts during your pregnancy, there are chances that you will develop anaemia. As a result of anaemia during your pregnancy, you might be at increased risk of postpartum depression, and premature birth as well as a low birth weight baby. Therefore, it is essential that you consume cereal, meat, spinach, beans, etc.

What To Include In The Early Pregnancy Diet Chart (4 to 13 Weeks)?

As you step into the first trimester of your pregnancy, the soaring pregnancy hormones may give rise to nausea or morning sickness, and trigger constipation and acid reflux. Well! Having some salty crackers, toast, and high-protein foods like eggs and fish during your pregnancy can help.

First-Trimester Pregnancy Diet Plan

Start your day with some wholewheat toast or oats biscuit and tea. Tea with a dash of ginger would be great for you.

Wheat or oats will keep you energised, provide you with fibre, and will certainly keep your constipation at bay. Ginger might improve your nausea and vomiting.

As you proceed with the day, you can make yourself some sprouts or mixed dal, or dry fruit salad. 

• Pulses are good sources of protein, but dry fruits are rich sources of zinc, magnesium, and potassium. 

For lunch, you can try out some vegetable khichdi along with onion, mint, cucumber raita, and roasted papad.

• Vegetables are healthy for your digestive system. Also, the fibre in veggies can manage cholesterol levels. 

• Onion detoxifies your body, boosts your immunity, treats constipation, and keeps blood pressure regulated.

• Cucumbers can prevent obesity, reduce swelling, and keep you hydrated.

• Curd is a probiotic and is wholesome for you.

Well! For dinner, you can have some Daliya or uttapam with some paneer.

What to Include in the Second-trimester Pregnancy Diet Plan Chart (13 Weeks To The End of the 26^th Week)?

As you move forward with your pregnancy and enter the second trimester, the discomforts of the first trimester have already passed. This is the time when the baby’s organs develop inside you. Therefore, making the right choice of food is necessary.

Second-Trimester Pregnancy Diet Plan

• Make yourself some wheat cereal, and add some milk and sliced naturally fresh and sweet fruit salad for your breakfast. Wheat cereal has a good amount of folic acid and high fibre in it. From milk, you will get the right amount of calcium and you can stay hydrated from fresh fruits.
• As the day proceeds make a snack with 2 hard-boiled eggs, some sliced carrots, and cucumber. While eggs are a good source of proteins and provide amino acids for your baby’s development, carrots are rich in vitamin C which helps in preventing anaemia.
• Make some lentil soup with sunflower seeds and salad for lunch. Lentils are after all a good source of folic acid.
• Have some fresh fruit juice or a smoothie for your evening meal.
• For dinner, you might have some baked potatoes, some butter, and some steamed broccoli.

What To Include In The Third-trimester Pregnancy Diet Plan Chart (32 to 42 Weeks)?

The moment you enter the third trimester of your pregnancy, your skin and ligaments continue to stretch to accommodate your developing baby. Along with this, you can get tired easily, your sleeping becomes very difficult and your heartburn and breathlessness might even grow.  Moreover, in the last stage of your pregnancy, you might even feel worried about labour and childbirth. Therefore, you must include food in your diet during the third trimester that will give you energy, fibre, folic acid, iron, and calcium. 

Third-Trimester Pregnancy Diet Plan

• Start your day with oats porridge, and some fresh fruit smoothie.
• As the day proceeds you can have some veggie wrap or egg paratha for energy and protein contributions both for you and your baby.
• You can have some methi/fenugreek rice or pulao, rajma, stir-fried or grilled green vegetables, and pudina raita for lunch.
• Well! For dinner, you can have some chicken salad, multigrain roti, and some light soup.

Remember to try to limit the intake of caffeine (like coffee, tea, and aerated drinks) and sugar. If in case, you need to change a specific diet, consult your nutritionist immediately. Along with the pregnancy diet, if you need some more information on pregnancy, postpartum, baby care and the benefits of cord blood banking, follow our blog page.

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Indian cooking was once considered as a great source of nutrition for the pregnancy diet. We knew that we wouldn’t have much to worry about our diet containing green vegetables, increased our whole grain intake through Indian Bread and Dalia, and maintained a healthy intake of dairy products.

However, our lifestyles have changed dramatically over the past decade or so.  We travel more with multiple incomes in single households and are much more adventures with inviting new foods and new experiences into our lives.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines organic food as food produced without weed killers, pesticides or chemical fertilizers. it is the type of food that is not genetically modified, and the organic food that does not contain added hormones or antibiotics, especially for meat.

Organic foods are good for you as well as good for the environment. Natural fertilizers replace those based on chemicals, resulting in healthier foods. The soil is also less contaminated while there is a boost to biodiversity. Organic products do not contain food additives, and they are in limited amounts, even if they do. By looking at certification labels, the best way to ensure the food is organic.

You reduce the risk of chemicals passing to your baby in utero when you eat organic products. Eating seasonal products will also help you and your child benefit from the benefits of vitamins, fiber, folic acid and potassium found in fruits and veggies. This is because food in the season is much fresher than food in the off-season. Make it a point when you go shopping to ask your local grocer what foods are in the season.

An organic diet is said to be the best choice during pregnancy as it helps to minimize the inadvertent consumption of pesticides, which can adversely affect the health of the mother and the baby.

One previous study estimates that women who are pregnant and consumed organic food had a 58% lower chance to give birth to a boy with a urogenital birth defect called hypospadias compared to mothers who did not adhere to organic pregnancy diet.

An organic diet also helps to avoid the use of antibiotics in farm animals. In animals treated with antibiotics, bacteria may become resistant to these antibiotics over the long term. Subsequent exposure to such bacteria in humans may prove harder to treat.

Organic foods should also not contain additives such as artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives that, according to some studies, have been associated with attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

However organic foods are also having some disadvantages such as their high cost compared to conventional foods. Organic foods also have a lower shelf life, because they do not include preservatives and might not taste nice as foods supplemented with taste modulators to some people.

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Food is a very important thing for the pregnant lady. While you and your baby are fed with good food, potentially harmful food can pose a serious risk. It is therefore important to determine to what to eat when pregnant after seeing the second line on the pregnancy test.

Healthy food for pregnant women is vital for a healthy pregnancy. There are several things you should avoid as many different types of food can pose a threat to your child. We simplify your food choices by bringing you this list of what to avoid eating during pregnancy.

Fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that must be part of your diet because it helps in the growth of the baby’s brain. You only need to be more careful when eating fish during pregnancy. A good idea is to eat fresh seafood during your pregnancy. which includes salmon, shrimp, sardines and trout. Also, try cooking fish at 145 ° F instead of raw fish. Cooking helps to destroy many potential seafood infections and toxins, that will protect you and your baby from any type of harm.

When cooked perfectly, eggs can be almost irresistible. Many of us enjoy eating eggs that are soft or undercooked. They are definitely a big no – no during pregnancy, however, because they can be infected with salmonella, a type of bacteria that causes diarrhoea and vomiting. Other foods and desserts made from raw eggs, including custards and mousse, should also be avoided.

Including meat in your diet is vital for a non-vegetarian mother, but it should be done with some care and restrictions as well. Raw meat contains Listeria bacteria and other parasites in uncooked meat such as Toxoplasma gondii, which can cause vomiting, damage to the fetus, as well as miscarriages. Make sure it is properly cooked whenever you eat meat. It is also advisable to use a thermometer to cook your own meat at home. Wash the meat with salt and water properly to ensure the removal of all bacteria.

For your child’s proper development, it is extremely important that you consume milk on a daily and regular basis. It provides important nutrients such as minerals, calcium, and proteins to you and your baby. But make sure you only eat pasteurized milk. Unpasteurized milk may contain severe food poisoning pathogens. It is recommended that you avoid all kinds of non-pasteurized dairy products.

There are papayas, pineapples and grapes in the fruits not to be eaten during pregnancy. In fact, papayas are on the list of natural foods in some cultures to avoid pregnancy and are thought to cause miscarriages. Unripe papaya can be particularly dangerous because it has some compounds that cause uterine contractions.

Alcohol reaches the baby through the placenta without filtering. Through a condition called Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), this can cause your child not only miscarriage and stillbirth but also a range of lifelong physical and intellectual disabilities. So, it is best to avoid alcohol consumption during pregnancy entirely.

So, here’s a brief idea of the food that can harm the foetus if eaten during pregnancy. Before you decide to avoid any of the above mentioned foods in your pregnancy diet, it is advisable to consult your doctor. It will help you put together a balanced meal by consulting a nutritionist about the best pregnancy diet.

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Have you heard of “Green” pregnancy? As an expectant mother, you may have gone through all the practices to protect your baby in the womb. Healthy lifestyle, balanced eating, proper sleep, positive thinking are some of the measures we all take to safeguard our babies. Having done all these, there are still some external hazards that your baby may face, which remain even unknown to you. Here enters the effectiveness of “Green” pregnancy.

Katherine Sutherland, from the Women Physicians OBGYN Medical Group in Mountain View, CA said, “Going green is what will save the future environment which, in the long run, is the best thing we can give to our children. It is also a good time for couples to raise their awareness of what is important in their lives. They will be making many lifestyle changes with their pregnancy and the birth of their child, so it is an excellent time to include a long term commitment to the health of our world.”

So, in simpler language, it’s important for every expectant couple to adopt an environmentally safe lifestyle during pregnancy. Elizabeth Davis, a Chicago-based chiropractor and acupuncturist said, “You can’t have a sweet, healthy baby if you are poisoning it from day one. It’s not a hobby to be green. It should be a lifestyle. We don’t get to survive independent of our environment. If the terrain is toxic, than we get toxic. If it’s clean, we can hope to be clean.” And your diet and cleanliness play a crucial part in this.

An unborn baby depends entirely on its mother’s eating habits. What a mother eats provides nourishment to the baby. If a mother’s food contains significant amount of chemicals, some of them can be observed by the placenta. So, it’s always recommended to go for organic food products, as there are lower amount of toxins. A local farmer’s market is also a great place to find fresh organic vegetables and fruits during pregnancy. Water is a very important ingredient to keep your body hydration in place during pregnancy. However, instead of tap water, go for distilled water and bottled water to avoid toxins.

It’s also suggested to avoid taking fish, as they may be polluted with mercury, which can prove dangerous to your baby. However, it’s also true that a pregnant woman needs a good amount of protein in her daily diet. In this scenario, you can opt for vegetarian options like fresh beans and tofu, which are rich in proteins and at the same time safe for the environment. Elizabeth Davis advised to avoid food items with antibiotics and hormones as well.

Apart from food items, there are several other factors that expectant dads need to take care of. One such thing is cleaning products. Avoid products with strong ammonia odor, which is harmful for the environment and also may affect the lungs. If any of your family members come in contact with AJAX, wash immediately before it penetrates your skin. Apart from all these, Davis advised all pregnant women to get proper rest and exercise and not to sit beside the computer for the entire day.

Let’s move on to “Green” pregnancy to protect our future. Eat organic food, use products with fewer chemicals, and keep an eye on your soundings. The process may sound a little detailed and time-consuming but it’s only to gift your baby a better future ahead.

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Certain foods might trigger an allergic reaction in your system. While you can deal with your allergies at other times, you might need special care during your pregnancy.

Being pregnant introduces a wonderful new chapter in a woman’s life. She goes through myriad of emotions and bodily changes as the baby grows inside her womb. Whatever she eats, her state of mind, her level of activity, the amount of noise and air pollution she is exposed to – her every act influences the development of her child.

Of every other factor, the most important is what the expectant mother ingests during the course of her pregnancy. This includes not just her food and drink but also any existing medication she consumes. Some women are on daily medication for such conditions as diabetes, blood pressure and respiratory issues even before they get pregnant. Hence, they may be required to continue with the medication even after they are pregnant.

Many pregnant women fear that their medication can adversely impact the health of their unborn baby. But abruptly stopping medication for pre-existing major and minor health conditions can result in the symptoms of that disorder worsening or escalating quickly. Hence, it is better to show the doctor the medicines being consumed and taking advice on whether one may continue with them or not, as early in the pregnancy as possible.

However, a significant research conducted in Melbourne, Australia in the year 2014 found that certain food allergies in newborn babies could be created during the pregnancy itself. A team of doctors and researchers studied the genetic make-up of newborn children that exhibited food allergies, and found that the molecular structure of their blood samples was different from that of non-allergic newborn babies. This could indicate that the food allergenic behaviour was ‘programmed’ into these children during pregnancy itself – a key finding that could explain how their mothers’ environment impacted the foetus into developing allergies.

The study analysed the food and lifestyle habits of these babies’ mothers, such as smoking, eating junk food or consuming nuts during their pregnancy. In the last known development of the research, which has now been upscaled to include over 5,000 newborn babies with food allergies, the babies were being screened for egg and peanut allergies.

While some women experience lesser than usual food allergy during pregnancy, for others the symptoms are extremely severe. Blame this on hormonal changes during the pregnant state – it happens because of the body’s natural increased immune tolerance to ‘foreign organisms’, which also includes the foetus, when the body shows a heightened response to normal allergic triggers.[3] Some women may also exhibit symptoms of disorders they have never experienced before pregnancy, such as an allergic reaction to certain types of seafood, for example.

Another contrary explanation for some women suddenly developing a food allergy during pregnancy is that when the body becomes extremely vigilant about protecting the foetus from injection or rejection, it becomes slightly lax about protecting the mother from other allergenic triggers. These triggers include pollen, the albumin in eggs, or peanuts, which are common allergy triggers. Some women realise that they cannot eat foods that they are generally fond of – these can now cause many symptoms such as low blood pressure and breathing problems.

Looking at Allergies with New Respect

For too long, food allergies have not been accorded the kind of recognition that other illnesses and disorders have been given. Most people are aware of food allergies, but it is not considered a serious enough phenomenon even today. Hence, it is important to re-examine the problem of food allergies, especially food allergies during pregnancy, to eliminate their occurrence and catch their symptoms before they turn dangerous or even fatal.

This week marks Food Allergy Awareness Week, whose theme for the year 2016 is ‘Food Allergies: React with Respect’. An apt theme, considering that a food allergy can result in a person being admitted to the emergency room every three minutes, somewhere in the world. It is time to take the phenomenon of food allergies seriously, since they can make living with allergies extremely uncomfortable.

As a start, parents and teachers must be in total sync when it comes to sharing information and resources about the specific food allergies that children suffer from, and how to deal with them in an emergency. Children themselves must be educated about the kinds of food they must eat or avoid and how to administer quick medical aid to themselves if they can. Besides this, workplaces must also be sensitised to treating food allergies with the utmost regard, and have stringent guidelines in place about contacting a doctor or rushing a person to hospital in case of a severe reaction.

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An expectant mother is constantly reminded to eat well, because she is “eating for two”. This is partly true: the mother does provide nourishment to her child from her body. But she need not eat double her normal portions of food. At best, the pregnancy diet may include about 300 calories more than the usual intake, half of which is consumed by the baby.

Pregnant women are advised to eat all the food groups, but their nutrition must come via fruits, vegetables, whole grains and good fats. However, some nutrients are to be included in the pregnancy diet no matter what. The good news is, these can be obtained from various plant and animal sources. They include:

Calcium: The pregnant woman and her baby need to develop their bones. Calcium is a key ingredient in achieving this goal. It is also great for developing the nervous and circulatory systems. It tends to induce feelings of calmness, which is essential for the mother. Calcium is best derived from milk, cheese, unsalted butter, paneer, yoghurt, green leafy vegetables and oranges.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D is needed for your baby’s strong bones. An expectant woman can get her daily Vitamin D fix by taking a walk in the soft morning sunlight for half an hour. As regards food sources, Vitamin D can be consumed via boiled eggs, orange juice, a glass of milk and steamed oily fish.

Protein: Protein is crucial for the baby’s mental and physical development. Expectant women must take care to include protein in their daily diet during the second trimester onward. There are many sources of protein. The mother must have a glass of unsweetened milk twice a day, or eat egg whites in fresh vegetable salad once a day. Additionally, protein can be consumed via boiled chicken, fish, paneer and peanut butter.

Folic acid: This is a type of Vitamin B that helps prevent defects in the baby’s brain and spinal cord. It is responsible for keeping the baby’s nervous system in good condition. The doctor will prescribe folic acid tablets in the pre-natal vitamins daily dosage. The mother can also get folic acid from leafy green vegetables (steamed are best), brown breads, wheat rotis and whole wheat pastas. Oranges and limes are good fruit sources of folic acid.

Iron: The mother’s blood may become deficient in iron as her blood volume expands for the baby. An iron deficiency during pregnancy can make the woman anaemic and harm the baby’s growth. It can also lead to complications during delivery or a premature birth. Good sources of iron are red meat and fish. Vegetarians can get iron from beans, green vegetables like spinach and cereals.

What is important to remember is that apart from including these nutrients, the pregnancy diet must be cooked in less oil, less salt and less sugar. It is advisable to consume raw fruit and vegetables daily. While it is okay to give in to a craving for sweet treats occasionally, the woman must stay away from junk food, smoking and alcohol during pregnancy at all costs.

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Pregnant women in India often ‘eat for two’ – this is mistakenly interpreted as consuming the diet of two people.

The nutrition a mother provides to her unborn child, helps the foetus grow healthily in the womb. The right balance of nutrition and moderate exercise can help the baby develop a healthy weight with less risk of disease.

But in India, pregnant mothers are advised to eat more while they are expecting, since they are ‘eating for two people’. While it is true that a pregnant woman needs nutrition for two – herself and her unborn child – it does not mean that she must consume the diet of two people. Overeating, indeed, may have serious repercussions on the health of the baby, and the mother.

On the occasion of National Nutrition Week, we examine three reasons why expectant mothers must watch their calorie intake and portion sizes:

Weight gain: Eating more than normal meal sizes can cause her weight to rise. Doctors normally advise pregnancy-related weight gain only for thin women with a low BMI (20 or lower)[1]. If the woman has a BMI of 40 or more at the start of the pregnancy, there is no further need to gain weight. Gaining weight at this juncture can cause back and knee pain, varicose veins and heart disease.

Overeating linked to child’s future obesity: Research conducted in the US in 2013 shows that the higher the mother’s weight gain during pregnancy, the higher the chances that the child will be overweight at age 12[2]. This also means that overeating or consuming large portions for every meal has a direct bearing on the weight of the foetus. “A growing baby needs the right amount of nutrients so that it may grow into a healthy infant,” says Dr Manjusha Birje, paediatrician. “The mother should exercise portion control and stay away from fattening food. Giving in to a craving is fine occasionally, but it should not become a habit.”

Difficulty giving birth: Dr Biplab Majumdar, a gynaecologist, recalls a patient whose in-laws plied her with a lot of food at every meal. “When I saw her in her second trimester, she had put on a tremendous amount of weight. I inquired about her meals and calculated her estimated calorie intake. Finally, I explained to her that her baby might be larger than normal. This would cause problems during labour, as the baby would expand the birth canal beyond safe limits. In some cases, the baby might be underweight. An overweight mother may develop diabetes and blood pressure, which can further complicate the birth process.”

What should be eaten?

Home cooked meals that include fresh vegetables are recommended. When the mother feels hungry, she may snack on fruit, nuts, or whole wheat crackers with a cup of green tea. The intake of coffee, fizzy drinks and sweetened fruit juices should be avoided. Alcohol, cigarettes and self-medication are a strict ‘no’ during this period. Consulting a nutritionist for a pregnancy diet chart is a prudent move. However, a general diet rule to follow is: less sugar, less salt and less oil. The diet should be balanced with moderate exercise and recommended pre-natal vitamins.

[1] Corleone, Jill, ‘The effects of over-eating during pregnancy’, www.livestrong.com, July 1, 2015

[2]Barclay, Rachel, ‘Overeating During Pregnancy Predicts a Lifetime of Obesity for Children, Research Shows’, October 1, 2013.

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