Pregnancy and healthy eating

• I am what you eat!
• What does a ‘portion’ of fruit or vegetables mean?
• What foods are naturally rich in Folic Acid?
• What foods should I avoid in pregnancy?
• Health concerns - caffeine
• Health concerns - alcohol
• Health concerns - constipation
• Health concerns - iron
• To receive a copy of the HiPP free Personal Pregnancy calendar full of hints and tips on healthy eating and the development of your growing bump add your details on our registration page and please tick the box requesting the calendar

• Mums and health visitors agree: an organic diet during pregnancy is beneficial 58% of health visitors agree that during pregnancy the unborn baby can benefit from mum eating organically* 71% of mums agree that an organic diet is best for baby during pregnancy.**

  Try to eat as healthily as possible during pregnancy - your unborn baby is relying on you!
• Don’t skip breakfast
• Make the effort to eat properly at other mealtimes too
• If you are nauseous during early pregnancy, try to make sure that the meals you are able to eat are good quality and nourishing.
• Eating small, healthy meals also helps later on in pregnancy when you can quickly feel very full or if you suffer from heartburn.
  

Piling up the veggies

• Eating healthily doesn’t have to be complicated or take up lots of time.

• Look at the labels! You may be surprised by the numbers of additives used in prepared foods in an effort to make them smoother, longer-lasting, more colourful or tastier. All additives must be approved for safety before use, but there are still concerns about some of them. Choosing organic foods can help you to plan a healthy balanced diet without worrying about

  A quick steak will help to keep up your iron levels.
• A jacket potato with cheese, or pasta with sauce, plus salad, is easy and nourishing.
• Pile extra vegetables onto a pizza - spinach, sweetcorn and red peppers are all great choices - to help ‘eat five’ portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
• Enjoy a rainbow of different coloured fruit and vegetables for lots of different nutrients - red tomatoes, orange oranges, green greens!

Best for your baby - and for the world

• Even better, try ‘going organic’ - on average, organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium and iron as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants. And you can also be sure of avoiding any potentially harmful pesticide residues

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• Iron When you are pregnant, include good sources of iron in your diet, such as red meat, pulses, green leafy vegetables and fortified breakfast cereals.some fruit juice or other food high in vitamin C at the same meal as iron-rich foods - vitamin C helps the body to absorb iron better.

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  80g (a small handful) of vegetables - raw, cooked, fresh, frozen or tinned(but potatoes don’t count)
• One apple, pear, orange, banana, or other similar size fruit
• 2-3 smaller fruits such as plums or apricots
• A small bunch of grapes, a handful of cherries or half a punnet of raspberries or other berries
• Remember, though, however much fruit juice you drink in a day, it only counts as one portion

Fruit is a super convenience food and full of goodness for those between-meal snacks - remember, there’s no need to peel organic apples and pears

• Folic Acid
  As well as taking a daily supplement of 400mcg folic acid, you can also help to increase your intake by eating foods that are fortified (check the packs) or naturally rich in folic acid:

  • 30g serving fortified breakfast cereal (average) = 75mcg folic acid
  • Wholemeal bread, 2 slices from a large loaf = 30mcg folic acid
  • White bread, 2 slices from a large loaf = 20mcg folic acid
  • 100g serving of broccoli = 65mcg folic acid
  • 100g serving of spinach = 80mcg folic acid
  • 175g serving boiled potatoes = 35mcg folic acid
  • 150g serving boiled brown rice = 15mcg folic acid
  • 1 glass of orange juice (170ml) = 30mcg folic acid
  • 200g serving baked beans = 45mcg folic acid

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• Cheese

  • Blue cheeses
  • Camembert, Brie, Chèvre (a type of goats’ cheese) or other cheeses with a similar rind.
    (But it’s OK to eat hard cheeses, including feta and parmesan) and also soft cheeses such as cream cheese, ricotta, mascarpone, mozzarella, cottage cheese and processed cheese such as cheese spreads.)
•   Pâté
  • All types of pâté, including vegetable.
• Liver
• Vitamin supplements containing Vitamin A
• Fish liver oil (eg cod liver oil)
• Raw or partially cooked eggs
  • Eggs should be cooked enough for both the white and yolk to be solid.
  • Home-made mayonnaise contains raw egg, but jars of mayonnaise or salad cream contain pasteurized egg which is safe to eat.
• Raw or undercooked meat
  • This is especially important with poultry and products made from minced meat, such as sausages and burgers.
• Fish
  • Avoid shark, swordfish and marlin.
  • Limit the amount of tuna you eat to no more than two tuna steaks a week (weighing about 140g cooked or 170g raw) or four medium-size cans of tuna a week.
  • Have no more than two portions of oily fish a week. Oily fish includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which does not count as oily fish), mackerel, sardines and trout.
• Raw shellfish (but shellfish, including prawns, are OK when cooked as part of a hot meal)

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• There is no need to stop taking caffeine, but you are advised to limit the amount you have in a day to a total of no more than 300mg.
  • 1 mug of tea = 70mg caffeine
  • 1 mug of instant coffee = 100mg caffeine
  • 1 cup of ‘real’ coffee = 100mg caffeine
  • 1 can of cola = 30-56mg caffeine

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• The Department of Health and the Royal College of Midwives now recommends that pregnant women and those trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol completely.
• Although there is no scientific evidence that a couple of alcohol units once or twice a week will do any harm to a baby, there is no proven 'safe amount' of alcohol either as any amount can pass through the placenta to the baby

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• Bring on the prunes!
• Constipation is a common problem in pregnancy. To help avoid it eat plenty of fresh and dried fruits, raw and cooked vegetables, and wholemeal cereals.
• Also, make sure you drink plenty of fluids - 6-8 mugs or glasses per day

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• We all want our children to grow up healthy and happy in clean air in an unpolluted world. Choosing organic foods where possible will help towards that aim. Organic crops are grown without the use of synthetic fertilisers or pesticides and without the routine use of antibiotics for livestock. Instead, organic farmers work to develop a healthy, fertile soil, growing a mixture of crops and encouraging a diversity of beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife. This all contributes to lower pollution and a healthier world.

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  Help guard against iron-deficiency by including plenty of foods that are rich in iron in your diet. Drinking fruit juice (or some other food or drink high in vitamin C) at the same time as iron-rich foods will help your body to absorb iron better.
• Good sources of iron:
  • Red meat
  • Pulses
  • Green vegetables
  • Breakfast cereals fortified with iron
  • Bread