Healthy Foods to Enjoy

Eating healthy foods is a big part of staying healthy. Make sure your meals have foods from the five groups.

• Grains — choose whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice and pasta.
• Vegetables — eat more dark green veggies like broccoli and spinach, orange veggies like carrots and sweet potatoes, dry beans and peas like pinto beans, kidney beans and lentils.
• Fruits — eat different kinds of fruit that are fresh, frozen, canned or dried; limit fruit juices that have a lot of sugar.
• Dairy — eat foods with lots of calcium and choose low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt and other milk products; you can also choose lactose-free products or other products with added calcium.
• Protein — choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry that can be baked, broiled or grilled; choose more fish, beans, peas, nuts and seeds.

Make sure to wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly before consuming.

Snacks to Have on Hand

• String cheese
• Yogurt
• Dried fruit and nuts
• Avocado and whole-grain toast
• Hummus and crackers
• Cottage cheese
• Hard-boiled eggs

Omega-3 Fats Are Important

These fats are found in salmon, chunk light tuna, sardines and anchovies. They do many good things for your body, especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding, in particular:

• May help the baby build healthy eyes and brains
• May lowers the baby’s chance of premature birth
• May help lower your risk of heart disease
• Help you keep a better mood during and after pregnancy

Foods to Avoid during Pregnancy

• Raw fish and raw shellfish (sushi containing raw fish and oysters), smoked fish
• Undercooked meat, hot dogs or deli meat
• Raw or lightly cooked eggs and foods containing them
• Unpasteurized milk, other milk products, juices (apple cider)
• Unpasteurized and pasteurized soft cheeses (Camembert, feta, Brie and blue-veined cheeses)
• Refrigerated pâtés and meat spreads
• Raw sprouts (alfalfa sprouts)
• Fish with a high mercury content: shark, tilefish, mackerel and swordfish

Foods to Limit

• Limit solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening and lard
• Check the nutrition facts label to keep saturated fats, trans fats and sodium low
• Choose food and drinks low in added sugars to avoid extra calories
• Limit salty foods that can make your body hold on to fluids