You are pregnant (or your partner is) and you are wondering whether your diet should change during pregnancy, what concerns you have about your weight, how to optimise your intake so that you feel good and your baby grows well.
Here are some answers.
Weight and hunger management
There are no weight gain recommendations to the nearest kilo, as this varies from woman to woman.
It is said that for :
- For a normal weight woman, the gain is between 12 and 16kg (for a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9).
- une femme d’IMC bas (<18,5), sa prise de poids devra être un peu plus importante, jusqu’à 18kg environ
- A woman with ahigher BMI (overweight: BMI between 25 and 29.9) will gain between 7 and 12kg approximately, while for an obese woman (BMI>30), 5 to 9kg will be sufficient.
It should be taken into account that this pregnancy weight includes :
- the weight of the baby,
- that of the placenta,
- amniotic fluid,
- increase in blood volume (volumetry ) of the mother,
- water retention,
- the weight of the breasts and uterus increased,
- as well as the fat reserves made to cover any eventuality of lack of food, since the beginning of time.
As nature does things well, we can trust her...
You can eat normal amounts; you don't eat "for two" (only in the 3rd trimester, as the baby grows, do you add 500kcal of daily energy, i.e. a little more starch, vegetables or fruit, protein foods, plain cheese/yoghurt, or an extra snack).
However, make sure you eat enough to avoid hunger pangs (or to deal with nausea, if you are prone to it - see our article on the little worries of pregnancy)... But don't eat too much: learn to pay attention to your feelings of hunger and satiety.
In addition, avoid meals that are too rich (too fatty, too sweet, too large), which may cause nausea or reflux.
However, if you still feel unpleasantly hungry on a regular basis, you can introduce :
- in the afternoon, a snack: bread and a piece of cheese (pasteurised, without rind: to counter the problems of listeriosis and toxoplasmosis), or a plain yoghurt with compote, or a cottage cheese with a piece of fruit or dried fruit, or 2 or 3 biscuits with a piece of fruit...
- or during the day (morning, evening), one or more additional snacks: you can keep the yoghurt/cheese from the previous meal, or a piece of bread (especially a cereal, olive or nut roll), or the fruit/compote (or other dessert) not eaten at the previous meal.
The best drink to accompany your meals and snacks iswater.
However, an herbal tea or a glass of 100% pure fruit juice can be included in the composition of snacks.(NB: 1 glass of juice maximum per day, to leave room for whole fruit).
Beware: sodas, syrups and flavoured waters, which are very sweet, should only be consumed for pleasure, on an occasional basis - during an aperitif, for example.
(Re)learn to balance your food intake
You can eat it for breakfast:
- a hot drink if you like it (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, herbal tea)
- a cereal product: bread, rusks, a little brioche or bread pudding, 30 to 40g of cereal (rather oatmeal or muesli, to avoid the ultra-sweet breakfast cereals, in general)
- a dairy product: milk in cereals or hot chocolate, plain yoghurt or cottage cheese
- a piece of fruit, or a compote, or a glass of 100% pure juice or freshly squeezed fruit juice (don't forget to use the pulp in this case!).
The typical composition of a balanced meal (lunch and dinner) is as follows
- a starch, a quarter or a third of the plate: either a cereal product (wheat, pasta, bulgur and semolina, rice, maize and polenta, oats, spelt, millet, sorghum, quinoa, buckwheat, etc.), or tubers (or tuberous vegetables: potato, sweet potato, yam, manioc, crosne, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke...), or legumes (lentils, chickpeas, dried beans, peas...) ;
- a protein product, 1 to 2 times a day (increase to 2 times a day in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy), a quarter or a third of the plate: meat, fish, eggs. The combination of legumes and cereals can also provide protein, with this type of association to optimise their complementarity in amino acids: rice+lentils, or rice+red beans, or semolina (wheat)+chickpeas, or maize+red beans;
- a portion of vegetables (cooked or raw): one third or one half of the plate;
- a dairy product: plain yoghurt, cottage cheese, 2 small Swiss cheeses, a piece of cheese (pasteurised, therefore). No need to take a low-fat dairy product... lipids are part of the composition of these products and are important for brain development (and, if a component of a product is removed, it must be replaced by something... often useless additives, used to maintain the consistency of the product);
- one portion of fruit (raw or cooked/compote);
- a little fat, for cooking or seasoning: olive oil is the simplest for cooking. Olive, walnut, rapeseed, camelina oils, etc., for seasoning. Butter for pleasure, preferably added raw after cooking (or at the end of cooking, to avoid heating it too much, as it does not take well to cooking and quickly develops toxicity). Cream can be used raw if pasteurised, or cooked in preparations.
However, balanced eating can be done over the course of a day and even a week, so juggling this information is part of the week's variety too.
The starch in the meal may be bread only, or the pastry in a puff pastry or pie, or the flour in a cake for dessert.
For example, you can eat only one plate of pasta (as a complete dish or as a side dish) at one meal and only eat vegetables with the other meal (be sure to eat enough to avoid untimely hunger between two meals, or add bread).
And, if one has not eaten dairy products at meals/snacks, this can be made up for the next day.
When it comes to special meals, whether it's at a restaurant at lunchtime for professional reasons or in the evening with friends, a sandwich at lunchtime, an aperitif dinner, a pizza or hamburger night..., don't deprive yourself, as this brings mental joy and gustatory pleasure!
However, it is sometimes difficult to add vegetables and fruit.
To do this, we suggest that you add to your aperitif or pizza evenings: vegetable sticks to dip in tzatziki or hummus, cherry tomatoes, celery stalks, vegetables or fruit to be skewered or skewered, grilled vegetables on the pizza or next to it, a salad, verrines with vegetables, gazpacho, clementines, fruit salad, fruit mousse... In addition, the simplest pizzas (margarita, queen, Neapolitan, four seasons, vegetarian) will be the least heavy and can always be accompanied by the foods mentioned above; these additions of vegetables and fruit also allow you to limit your consumption to 1/6 or 1/4 of a pizza or quiche.
For hamburgers or other fast food, you should know that these round sandwiches are complete: starch with the bread, proteins with the steak/fish/chicken/bacon, a little vegetable with the salad, tomatoes, pickle, a dairy product with the cheese. All that's missing is a few more raw vegetables or cooked vegetables on the side, or a small portion of chips for fun, and a fruit dessert.
If you eat out often, choose what you like, following the pregnancy advice (above and in the article on toxoplasmosis and listeriosis). The simplest cooking methods and the least rich dishes will help you avoid the discomfort of nausea or reflux. But you don't have to make up a whole meal: starter+main course or main course+dessert can be enough, or even a single course, to keep dairy products and/or fruit for a snack.
If you have the opportunity totake your lunch to work (well, to eat it outside if possible, to get some fresh air, a real break and some exercise), great! Just follow the balanced menu recommendations already explained above.
Alternatively, at lunchtime at work, you can also buy a piece of savoury pie with raw vegetables and fruit/compote, or a full sandwich (see burger description: bread+salad/vegetables+cheese+chicken/egg/tuna) and fruit/compote.
In a few words, variety of foods, balance and fun will give you and your baby everything you need!
Flore Delatouche
Dietician-nutritionist
Aix-en-Provence
Visit my website