Foods to Eat During Your Pregnancy

When it comes to good nutrition during pregnancy, the pioneering work of Dr. Tom Brewer remains a good model to this day. Dr. Brewer's research and practice experience showed that good nutrition could prevent a number of problems during pregnancy, including preeclampsia, placental abruption, premature birth, anemia and even miscarriage and still birth. Many of Dr. Brewer's patients were from lower income families and had poor eating habits, but with a little nutritional instruction, they went on to have pregnancy outcomes that surpassed those of their more affluent and educated neighbors. From this research, Dr. Brewer developed a diet that’s easy to understand, easy to afford and imminently practical.

Central to the Brewer diet is eating an adequate amount of protein every single day. Protein provides the basic building blocks of the body, and you are, after all, building a new body. Our bodies can’t store protein, so we must eat enough of it every day to meet our needs. Dr. Brewer recommended that pregnancy women consume an average of 80 to 100 grams of protein each day that they’re pregnant. This is higher than hat most “modern” diet plans recommend, but the extra demands placed on the body by pregnancy justify this higher intake.

Getting adequate protein, however, doesn’t have to be expensive and it certainly doesn’t mean gorging on steak. Dr. Brewer recommended that his patients eat two eggs each day and have four cups of milk. Not only does this provide valuable protein along with a considerable variety of nutrients, but these foods are inexpensive, versatile and readily available. Eggs can be prepared in a variety of ways, and you can include eggs that are used in the preparation of other foods as well. There’s also a wide variety of milk products that you can choose from, including cottage cheese, yogurt and hard cheeses. Of course, you should avoid uncooked eggs, soft cheeses made from unpasteurized milk and blue veined cheeses which may harbor dangerous bacteria. Your remaining protein requirements should be met by consuming lean meats such as chicken, turkey and fish, as well as certain cuts of pork, beef and lamb.

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, you have a variety of foods to choose from, so boredom shouldn’t be an issue. Dr. Brewer recommended some specific foods to be included each day – two servings of green, leafy vegetables, two servings of a vitamin C rich food, and, about five times a week, a serving of a yellow or orange vegetable.

You also need to take in whole grains, about five servings daily. Whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal are all good healthy choices – just be sure to look for whole grains, not “enriched” or “wheat flour” products, as these products are typically lacking in the nutrients that make whole grain products so good for you.

And long before all the recent research about healthy fats, Dr. Brewer was recommending just that – small servings of healthy fats, such as nuts, nut butters and oils, and olive oil. Healthy fats are important during pregnancy as they assist in several vital developments, including the growth of the baby’s brain.

This may seem like a lot of food, but it’s important to remember that a serving isn’t what we typically think of as a portion size – in most cases, it’s much smaller. For example, it only takes ½ cup of cooked rice to count as one whole grain servings and only six strawberries for one fruit or vitamin C serving.

However, if you find that this diet still leaves you hungry, there’s a simple answer – just eat more. Be sure to choose healthy foods and concentrate on getting in these healthy minimums first, and then expand your diet with more servings from the plan.