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Pregnancy nutrition differs a lot from regular nutrition. If the future mother is already used to a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet, she will need to make very little adjustments to her meals, and she won’t need much guidance for the right food choices. Yet, for other women the nine months of pregnancy may be a fight against junk food or a surrender to it. By natural nutrition we refer to those foods that have not passed through a too complex manufacturing process and which do not contain chemicals like additives, preservers or colorants.

A pregnant woman’s body needs are special. She uses a lot more calories per day, a larger amount of nutrients, and these can only be taken from a balanced diet that includes plenty of dairy products, protein, vegetables and fruits, pasta and breads and healthy fat from seeds, cold-pressed oil, nuts, almonds or hazelnuts. There are many guides available for pregnancy nutrition, because you have to be careful not to eat some foods too. We will just enumerate some dos and don’ts of pregnancy nutrition.

Raw eggs as prepared in mayonnaise or eggnog are dangerous because they can contain salmonella,   a bacterium that can cause digestive infections.

Some ocean fish foods have a high content of mercury that is toxic both for mother and baby.

Raw fish like in sushi dishes is one other example of foods that can make you ill.

Alcohol, caffeine, soft drinks, junk food and sweets are very far from what we’d refer to as healthy pregnancy nutrition.

Keep a middle course for your diet and there won’t be any problems. You can have an ice-cream or a bar of chocolate when you crave for it, but these are not substitutes for healthy meals. Give your baby quality nutrients not pseudo-foods that only contain calories. Thus, even if the caloric needs are higher, you have to consume calories in the form of nutritious foods.

Although junk food abounds in calories it cannot satisfy the energy needs of your body. The specificity of pregnancy nutrition may differ depending on the different stages of pregnancy. The food choices are limited to what the body tolerates during the first months of pregnancy when you experience morning sickness.

Pregnancy nutrition improves with the second trimester, when you will feel a lot of energy and you will eat heartily. And with good food and the mother’s state of well-being, the baby should grow very well.