A Trimester Guide To Eating Right For Your Baby

Confused about what to eat during pregnancy?

My general rule is to listen to your body and use it as a guide.   There is an inherent wisdom at work here, and your body’s intelligence will send strong signals when it’s not getting what it needs.

Now, having said this, that doesn’t mean you should give-in to cravings for a greasy burger, passing it off as, “but my body said so!”  In reality, the need for comfort foods may just be your body telling you to relax.  Better to take a warm bath or get your significant other to rub your feet!

Cravings for greasy food may also indicate your need for more fat.  So let’s opt for the healthy kind.  Foods like walnuts, avocado, and olive oil can serve this purpose.

There are also foods that become more valuable to you and your baby at various stages of your pregnancy.

Although you should be eating a variety of healthy foods throughout, it’s best to put an emphasis on the following foods during your first, second and third trimesters:

First Trimester

During your first trimester, your baby is beginning to form. Her heart starts to pump blood, while her head, neck, fingernails, genitals and toes take shape. During this stage, it is important to eat foods rich in folic acid, which can be found naturally in green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach and romaine lettuce. Other foods high in folic acid include asparagus, turnip greens, beans, sunflower seeds, pineapple juice, honeydew melon, grapefruit, strawberries, bananas, some cereals, beets, broccoli, and bok choy.

Second Trimester

Important landmarks for your baby are the development of bones and fat accumulation. Because this process takes increased blood flow from you, it is important to get enough iron and vitamin C (which helps iron to absorb into your body). Some iron rich foods include red meats, salmon, beans, iron fortified cereals, kale, spinach, broccoli, Swiss chard, chicken, nuts, and egg yolks. To boost your vitamin C levels, increase intake of foods like citrus, tomato, papaya, mango, red and orange peppers, kiwi fruit, and broccoli.

Third Trimester

Calcium is important throughout your pregnancy, but because your baby’s bones are growing rapidly during the third trimester, it is especially important to increase your calcium intake.  You can get plenty of calcium from non-dairy foods, so don’t feel like you need to drink gallons of milk.  Spinach, peas, sesame seeds, almonds, and bok choy all contain loads of calcium.  If you choose dairy, choose the low-fat varieties such as plain yogurt or kefir.

During my pregnancy, my favorite morning meal was oatmeal or hot rice cereal mixed with strawberries, 1/4 of a banana, a sprinkling of almonds, sunflower seeds and a little bit of honey.  It was a bit tough for me to eat during my first trimester, so I would get most of my fruit by drinking smoothies with Kefir and protein powder. Vegetables were sketchy – I could really only tolerate spinach, broccoli and roasted yams, and butternut squash – so I ate them lightly cooked and mixed into warming brown rice.

By my second and third trimesters my appetite was back to normal and I loved salads and tons of fresh food at every meal.  As a result, my son’s first food was pureed butternut squash and he LOVED it!

If you’d like ideas on how to fit the recommended foods into your diet, please leave a comment below and I’ll make sure to get back to you with some recipes and meal ideas.

Have a wonderful day and Live Your MaxLife!