What to expect when you're expecting (38 page)

While calories count during pregnancy, keep in mind that they don’t have to be literally counted. Instead of adding them up at every meal, step on a reliable scale every once in a while (once a week if you’re really curious, once every two to three weeks if you’re more scale-phobic) to check your progress. Weigh yourself at the same time of day, either naked or wearing the same clothing (or clothing that weighs about the same), so that your calculations won’t be thrown off by a heavy meal one week or heavy jeans the next. If your weight gain is going according to schedule (an average of about one pound a week in the second and third trimesters), you’re getting the right number of calories. If it’s less than that, you’re getting too few; if it’s more than that, you’re getting too many. Maintain or adjust your food intake as necessary, but be careful not to cut out nutrients you need along with calories.

Count ’Em Once, Count ’Em Twice

Many of your favorite foods fill more than one Daily Dozen requirement in each serving, giving you two for the caloric price of one. Case in point: A slice of cantaloupe nets a Green Leafy and a Vitamin C in one delicious package. One cup of yogurt yields 1 Calcium serving and half a Protein serving. Use such overlappers as often as you can to save yourself calories and stomach space.

Protein foods: 3 servings daily.
How does your baby grow? Using, among other nutrients, the amino acids (the building blocks of human cells) from the protein you eat each day. Because your baby’s cells are multiplying rapidly, protein is an extremely crucial component of your pregnancy diet. Aim to have about 75 grams of protein every day. If that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that most Americans (including you, most likely) consume at least that much daily without even trying, and those on high-protein diets pack away a lot more. To get your share of protein, all you have to do is eat a total of three servings of Protein foods from the list that follows. When tallying your Protein servings, don’t forget to count the protein found in many high-calcium foods: a glass of milk and an ounce of cheese each provide a third of a Protein serving; a cup of yogurt equals half a serving. Whole grains and legumes contribute protein, too.

Every day have three of the following (each is 1 Protein serving, or about 25 grams of protein), or a combination equivalent to three servings. Keep in mind that most of the dairy options also fill calcium requirements, which make them especially efficient choices.

24 ounces (three 8-ounce glasses) of milk or buttermilk

1 cup cottage cheese

2 cups yogurt

3 ounces (
³
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cup grated) cheese

4 large whole eggs

7 large egg whites

3½ ounces (drained) canned tuna or sardines

4 ounces (drained) canned salmon

4 ounces cooked shellfish, such as shelled shrimp, lobster, clams, or mussels

4 ounces (before cooking) fresh fish

4 ounces (before cooking) skinless chicken, turkey, duck, or other poultry

4 ounces (before cooking) lean beef, lamb, veal, pork, or buffalo

Calcium foods: 4 servings daily.
Back in elementary school, you probably learned that growing children need plenty of calcium for strong bones and teeth. Well, so do growing fetuses on their way to becoming growing children. Calcium is also vital for muscle, heart, and nerve development, blood clotting, and enzyme activity. But it’s not only your baby who stands to lose when you don’t get enough calcium. If incoming supplies aren’t keeping up, your baby- making factory will tap into the calcium in your own bones to help meet its quota, setting you up for osteoporosis later in life. So do your best to get your four servings of calcium-rich foods a day.

Can’t stomach the idea—or the taste—of four glasses of milk each day? Luckily, calcium doesn’t have to be served in glasses at all. It can be served up as a cup of yogurt or a piece of cheese. It can be enjoyed in smoothies, soups, casseroles, cereals, dips, sauces, desserts, and more.

For those who can’t tolerate or don’t eat dairy products at all, calcium also comes in nondairy form. A glass of calcium-fortified orange juice, for instance, efficiently provides a serving of Calcium and Vitamin C; 4 ounces of canned salmon with bones provides both a serving of Calcium and Protein; one portion of cooked greens yields not only a Green Leafy and a Vitamin C serving, but a bonus of calcium. For women who are vegans or lactose-intolerant, or who for other reasons cannot be sure they’re getting enough calcium in their diets, a calcium supplement (one that includes vitamin D as well) may be recommended.

Aim for four servings of calcium-rich foods each day, or any combination of them that is equivalent to four servings (so don’t forget to count that half cup of yogurt, that sprinkle of cheese). Each serving listed below contains about 300 mg of calcium (you need a total of about 1,200 mg a day), and many also fill your protein requirements:

¹
/
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cup grated cheese

1 ounce hard cheese

½ cup pasteurized ricotta cheese

1 cup milk or buttermilk

5 ounces calcium-added milk (shake well before serving)

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cup nonfat dry milk (enough to make 1 cup liquid)

1 cup yogurt

1½ cups frozen yogurt

1 cup calcium-fortified juice (shake well before serving)

4 ounces canned salmon with bones

3 ounces canned sardines with bones

3 tablespoons ground sesame seeds

1 cup cooked greens, such as collards or turnips

1½ cups cooked Chinese cabbage (bok choy)

1½ cups cooked edamame

1
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/
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tablespoons blackstrap molasses

You’ll also score a calcium bonus by eating cottage cheese, tofu, dried figs, almonds, broccoli, spinach, dried beans, and flaxseed.

Vegetarian Proteins

Good news for vegans: You don’t have to combine to conquer vegetarian proteins, as long as you have some of each type (legumes, grains, and seeds and nuts) every day. To be sure you are getting a full protein serving at each meal, double or choose two half servings listed below. And keep in mind that many of these foods fulfill the requirements for Whole Grains and Legumes as well as Protein.

The following selections are nutritious foods for all pregnant women—you don’t have to be a vegetarian to tap into them and count them in your daily total. In fact, many may be soothing protein alternatives when early-pregnancy queasiness and aversions push meat off the menu.

Legumes (half Protein servings)

³
/
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cup cooked beans, lentils, split peas, or chickpeas (garbanzos)

½ cup cooked edamame

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cup green garden peas

1½ ounces peanuts

3 tablespoons peanut butter

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cup miso

4 ounces tofu (bean curd)

3 ounces tempeh

1½ cups soy milk*

3 ounces soy cheese*

½ cup vegetarian “ground beef”*

1 large vegetarian “hot dog” or “burger”*

1 ounce (before cooking) soy or high-protein pasta

Grains (half Protein servings)

3 ounces (before cooking) whole-wheat pasta

¹
/
₃
cup wheat germ

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cup oat bran

1 cup uncooked (2 cups cooked) oats

2 cups (approximately) whole-grain ready-to-eat cereal*

½ cup uncooked (1½ cups cooked) couscous, bulgur, or buckwheat

½ cup uncooked quinoa

4 slices whole-grain bread

2 whole-wheat pitas or English muffins

Nuts and Seeds (half Protein servings)

3 ounces nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, or almonds

2 ounces sesame, sunflower, or pumpkin seeds

½ cup ground flaxseed

*Protein content varies widely, so check labels for 12 to 15 grams protein per half serving.

Vitamin C foods: 3 servings daily.
You and baby both need vitamin C for tissue repair, wound healing, and various other metabolic (nutrient-utilizing) processes. Your baby also needs it for
proper growth and for the development of strong bones and teeth. Vitamin C is a nutrient the body can’t store, so a fresh supply is needed every day. Lucky for you, vitamin C usually comes from foods that naturally taste good. As you can see from the list of Vitamin C foods below, the old standby orange juice (good as it is) is far from the only, or even the best, source of this essential vitamin.

Aim for at least 3 Vitamin C servings every day. (Fruit fanatic? Help yourself to more.) Your body can’t store this vitamin, so try not to skip a day. Keep in mind that many Vitamin C foods also fill the requirement for Green Leafy and Yellow Vegetables and Yellow Fruit.

½ medium-size grapefruit

½ cup grapefruit juice

½ medium-size orange

½ cup orange juice

2 tablespoons orange, white grape, or other fortified juice concentrate

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/
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cup lemon juice

½ medium-size mango

¹
/
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medium-size papaya

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small cantaloupe or honeydew (½ cup cubed)

¹
/
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cup strawberries

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cup blackberries or raspberries

½ medium-size kiwi

½ cup diced fresh pineapple

2 cups diced watermelon

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medium-size red, yellow, or orange bell pepper

½ medium-size green bell pepper

½ cup raw or cooked broccoli

1 medium-size tomato

³
/
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cup tomato juice

½ cup vegetable juice

½ cup raw or cooked cauliflower

½ cup cooked kale

1 packed cup raw spinach, or ½ cup cooked

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/
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cup cooked collard, mustard, or turnip greens

2 cups romaine lettuce

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cup shredded raw red cabbage

1 sweet potato or baking potato, baked in skin

1 cup cooked edamame

Green Leafy and Yellow Vegetables and Yellow Fruits: 3 to 4 servings daily.
These bunny favorites supply the vitamin A, in the form of beta-carotene, that is vital for cell growth (your baby’s cells are multiplying at a fantastic rate), healthy skin, bones, and eyes. The green leafies and yellows also deliver doses of other essential carotenoids and vitamins (vitamin E, riboflavin, folic acid, and other B vitamins), numerous minerals (many green leafies provide a good deal of calcium as well as trace minerals), disease-fighting phytochemicals, and constipation-fighting fiber. A bountiful selection of green leafy and yellow vegetables and yellow fruit can be found in the list that follows. Those with an anti-vegetable agenda may be pleasantly surprised to
discover that broccoli and spinach are not the only sources of vitamin A and that, in fact, the vitamin comes packaged in some of nature’s most tempting sweet offerings—dried apricots, yellow peaches, cantaloupe, and mangoes, for example. And those who like to drink their vegetables may be happy to know that they can count a glass of vegetable juice, a bowl of carrot soup, or a mango smoothie toward their daily Green Leafy and Yellow allowance.

Can’t Find Your Favorite?

Is your favorite fruit, grain, or protein food nowhere to be found on these lists? That doesn’t mean it doesn’t rate nutritionally. For reasons of space, only the more common foods are listed. There are longer food lists in
What to Expect: Eating Well When You’re Expecting,
and even longer ones on the USDA National Nutrient Database:
nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
.

Try to eat at least three to four servings a day. If possible, aim to have some yellow and some green daily (and eat some raw for extra fiber). Remember, many of these foods also fill a Vitamin C requirement.

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cantaloupe (½ cup cubed)

2 large fresh apricots or 6 dried apricot halves

½ medium-size mango

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/
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medium-size papaya

1 large nectarine or yellow peach

1 small persimmon

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/
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cup pink grapefruit juice

1 pink or ruby red grapefruit

1 clementine

½ carrot (
¹
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cup grated)

½ cup raw or cooked broccoli pieces

1 cup coleslaw mix

¹
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cup cooked collard greens, Swiss chard, or kale

1 packed cup green leafy lettuce, such as romaine, arugula, or red or green leaf

1 packed cup raw spinach, or ½ cup cooked

¹
/
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cup cooked winter squash

½ small sweet potato or yam

2 medium-size tomatoes

½ medium-size red bell pepper

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cup chopped parsley

Other fruits and vegetables: 1 to 2 servings daily.
In addition to produce rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene (vitamin A), aim to eat at least one or two “other” types of fruit or vegetable daily. While “Others” were once considered nutritional B-listers, they’re now getting a second look. Turns out they’re rich not only in minerals, such as potassium and magnesium, that are vital to good pregnancy health, but also in an impressive host of other up-and-coming trace minerals. Many also have phytochemicals and antioxidants in abundance (particularly those that sport the colors of the rainbow, so pick produce that’s brightly hued for the biggest nutritional return). From that apple a day to those headline-making blueberries and pomegranates, “Others” are definitely worthy of a spot in your daily diet.