What to Eat

Here is an easy guideline to follow for the next 6 months. More information can be found here.



1. Nine or more servings (fistfuls) of fruits and vegetables
Good choices:
☑ Leafy green vegetables
☑ Cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, broccoli, arugula, cabbage, and brussels sprouts (They help detoxify your liver so it can metabolize chemicals from the outside world.)
☑ Foods that contain flavonols, like broccoli, radishes, onions, tomatoes (Try this tasty vegetable satay.)

2. Three or more servings of whole-grain products
Good choices:
☑ Cereal grains
☑ Oats (Make easy overnight oatmeal.)
☑ Whole-grain wheat products
Bad choices:
☒ Refined bleached flour or non-100% whole grains

3. Three or more servings of lean protein
Good choices:
☑ Fish (especially salmon and trout)
☑ Lean poultry (skinned and nonfried)
☑ Lean meat (Meat that has less than 4 grams of saturated fat per serving; anything with loin in the name usually works.)
☑ Legumes (Cook up this slow-cooker lentil stew.)
☑ Beans (with Beano, to reduce accompanying gas cramps)
☑ Nuts (especially walnuts, which have more omega-3s than other nuts)
☑ Soy products (tofu, tempeh, edamame)
Bad choices:
☒ Bottom-feeding fish, such as shark, swordfish, tuna (higher risk of mercury)
☒ Saturated fats (from four-legged animals; palm and coconut oils)

4. Three or four servings of calcium-rich foods
Good choices:
☑ Low-fat yogurt and pasteurized cheese
☑ Organic skim milk (Watch calorie counts on alternative milks such as rice milk; you may choose to limit soymilk to one to two glasses daily because of phytoestrogens; there's concern about the feminization of the brain and other organs, including sex organs.)

5. Five or more grams of fat in the form of omega-3s (like walnuts, flax, or avocados); five grams of omega-9s (olive oil); and five grams of omega-6s (corn and nut oils).
Bad choices:
☒ Saturated fat (palm and coconut oils) and trans fat (anything "partially hydrogenated")

Other bad choices:
☒ Simple sugars
☒ Syrups
☒ High-fructose corn syrup
☒ Soda, carbonated drinks
☒ Foods that have any potential safety issues, like undercooked meats and eggs, and foods for which there is any question about refrigeration
☒ Alcohol
☒ More than 200 milligrams caffeine per day (1 cup of regular coffee or 2 cups of black tea)

While it is your job to provide a good nutritional environment for your growing baby, you don't have to feel bad if you occasionally stray from our recommendations. Forty weeks is a mighty long time, and if on some days you stray from the ideal, that's perfectly normal -- and perfectly okay. The important thing is to eat well most of the time.