Eating During Pregnancy

Your diet influences not only your health but also the physical and cognitive development of your baby. Throughout pregnancy, you two share everything: you breathe, eat and drink together! A balanced diet will improve your health and promote your baby's development.

Since no single food contains all the nutrients necessary for a healthy pregnancy, variety is the key to a well balanced diet. Vary your food choices from the four food groups of Canada’s Food Guide. These groups complement one another in the essential nutrients they provide to your body, promoting optimal health and development for you and your baby.

During the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of your pregnancy, you also need an extra amount of food since your caloric needs are higher. Therefore Canada’s Food Guide recommends that pregnant women consume an extra 2 to 3 food guide servings from any of the food groups each day in addition to the recommended number of servings per day according to age. These extra servings can either be consumed as additional snacks or added to your usual meals.

Without eating like two, have your three daily meals and round them off with healthy snacks... trust your appetite!

The recipe for a healthy balanced diet is simple if you follow Canada’s Food Guide. Include foods from all four food groups at every meal and from one to two food groups for snacks:

• Vegetables and Fruit
• Milk and Alternatives
• Grain Products
• Meat and Alternatives

Milk and Alternatives food group

Milk and milk products help you maintain your body’s reserves of calcium while ensuring the normal development of your baby’s skeleton.

It is very important to meet your recommended 2-3 daily servings of Milk and Alternatives. Drinking milk provides you with an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D along with 16 nutrients essential to you and your baby. Milk products like yogurt and cheese are a very nourishing alternative to milk. However, unless they are made with milk fortified with vitamin D, they may not contain vitamin D. Read the Nutrition Facts Table on the packaging to find out.

What about vitamin supplements?

Health Canada recommends that all pregnant women take a daily multivitamin containing 0.4 mg of folic acid and 16-20 mg of iron.

Preventing food borne infections during pregnancy

Although all individuals are susceptible to foodborne infections, pregnant women are at a higher risk. In fact, due to the hormonal changes that accompany pregnancy, the immune system is exceptionally sensitive to listeriosis, an illness caused by an infection from the Listeria bacterium.

Pregnant women should therefore be cautious when selecting certain “high risk” foods, and ensure good hygiene and safety measures when storing, preparing or handling their foods to prevent food contamination.

Here are some precautions to take during your pregnancy:

• Avoid raw or undercooked meats (uncooked smoked sausages or hot dogs, prosciutto, pink ground beef, tartare, etc.), as well as pâté and meat spreads;
• Choose pre-packaged cold cuts over those cut at the counter, and reheat before eating;
• Avoid raw or undercooked poultry or fish (pink poultry, sushi, ceviche, smoked fish, etc.);
• Avoid raw or undercooked eggs, as well as homemade dishes that contain them (homemade Caesar dressing, béarnaise or hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise, tiramisu, cookie or cake batter);
• Avoid raw or unpasteurized milk and milk products, including soft and semi-soft cheeses such as Brie, Camembert and Blue;
• Avoid raw sprouts, such as alfalfa, clover, radish and mung bean sprouts;
• Avoid unpasteurized fruit juices and cider;
• Thoroughly clean raw fruits and vegetables under cold running water, use a brush as needed for foods with a firm peel, like carrots and melons;
• Refrigerate or freeze perishable foods, prepared foods or leftovers as soon as you can, and discard any of these foods that have been left at room temperature for two hours or more;
• Make sure that work surfaces, utensils and cutting boards are clean;
• To prevent contamination, avoid getting liquids from raw food packaging onto other foods, chopping boards, utensils, dishes and kitchen surfaces;
• Wash your hands before and after handling raw foods like meat, poultry, eggs, fish and seafood;
• Wash your hands in warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds. This prevents bacteria from spreading from your hands to food or food preparation surfaces.