Journal Category: pregnancy nutrition

What to Eat During Pregnancy: How Nutrition Shapes Your Baby’s Future (and Yours Too)

what to eat during pregnancy

Why what you eat during pregnancy matters more than you think

It makes sense and is intuitive knowledge that what you eat during pregnancy (and before!) will have a significant influence on the growth and development of your baby.

But did you know that pregnancy nutrition (i.e., what you eat before and during pregnancy and how this impacts your overall nutrition status) can also influence: 

  • Healthy implantation
  • Normal placental growth and function
  • Healthy pregnancy outcomes (including pregnancy duration)
  • Your health during pregnancy (sleep quality, microbiome health, quality of life, mood, body composition and metabolic health) 
  • Your healthy after pregnancy (recovery from birth, mood, bone health, future fertility)
  • Breast milk supply and composition (and baby’s microbiome)
  • Your child’s long-term health (brain function, mood, metabolic, bone health)
  • The health of future generations. 

This is because food literally contains the building blocks needed to support: 

  • The healthy function of all your body organs and systems to support the healthy growth of your baby 
  • The development and function of your baby’s precious tissues and organs. 

Key windows in pregnancy when nutrition really counts

There are several key windows during each trimester where healthy levels, particular nutrients, are essential for your baby’s growth and development including (but not limited to): 

  • Trimester 1: new blood vessel growth, initial foetal brain, skeletal and thyroid organ growth (while baby relies on maternal thyroid hormones) and healthy neural tube development 
  • Trimester 2: expanded foetal organ growth (including brain and gastrointestinal systems), skeletal hardening  and foetal thyroid hormone synthesis 
  • Trimester 3: baby acquires the majority of its iron stores from maternal supply, significant deposition of DHA (and key beneficial fat) in baby’s brain, immune changes to promote labour

Just like an orchestra, so many macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients) all play their own important role in all this unfolding throughout your pregnancy. 

It really is a case of your body in all its wisdom knowing what it is doing during pregnancy to support your baby’s growth!

It’s not about perfection, it’s about nourishment

Perfection is not required for a healthy pregnancy – but there are particular nutritional considerations to best support you and your baby as you progress through your pregnancy. 

Want to go deeper? Access your pregnancy nutrition shortcut…

Want to learn more and dive deeper into learning about key pregnancy nutrition recommendations throughout each trimester? ‘Eat for Two (and Thrive)’ is an advanced nutrition course specifically designed to package all of this information into six online, on-demand modules, so you can watch these in your own time, and develop clarity and confidence around what you are eating, to support you and your baby.

This course offers experienced, qualified information, in short, easy to follow videos and resources, to support you in digesting and integrating the advice. Pregnancy is a wonderful blessing, but we also know it can feel overwhelming, especially when you are focussed on doing everything “properly”. So please, allow this course to comfort and empower you; taking away any of the guesswork, and fuelling you with confidence and direction.

Course details

With warmth & nourishment

Georgia Marrion

Senior Fertility, Pregnancy and Postpartum Naturopath & Nutritionist at Fertile Ground Health Group

Why is Nutrition in Pregnancy Important?

Nutrition in Pregnancy

‘You are what you eat!’

It is likely that you’ve heard this saying many times, but what does it actually mean?

From the moment of conception right through to old age, our bodies require a regular supply of food to survive.

And what you are eating during pregnancy will have a significant influence on the growth, development and long-term health of your baby, as food quite literally contains the building blocks needed to grow a healthy person!

Surviving VS Thriving: How Nutrition in Pregnancy Helps Bub Thrive

If we view health as a spectrum ranging from surviving to thriving, there is a significant gap between these two ends of the spectrum that is influenced by many factors including:

  • pregnancy stage
  • age
  • genetics and epigenetics
  • activity level
  • hormonal health
  • emotional and mental health
  • the presence or absence of disease
  • use of pharmaceutical substances
  • sleep quality
  • environmental exposures.1-3

Along with these factors, the quality of our dietary intake and consequential general nutritional status also play a key role influencing where we sit on this spectrum.4, 5

In addition, during pregnancy, there are particular nutritional considerations for what to eat to best support you and your baby.

There is a significant amount of research already available (and coming out each day) about the interconnection between diet and health including how different energy intake levels, dietary patterns, macro- and micronutrients and phyto-chemicals are used by the body and their role in health and disease.

(Such research is often mis-represented or reported inaccurately meaning there is a lot of nutritional misinformation around!)

In addition, we are all individuals, meaning how our specific dietary intake pattern and nutritional status are influencing where we are sitting on this health spectrum will vary from one person to the next (and within the same person at different life stages!).

Once you know you are pregnant, you may find yourself reviewing the food you eat so as to best support yourself and your baby.

To sum all this up – there is a lot to consider to ensure how you are eating is the best fit for you and your baby, what you need to tweak to achieve optimal nutrition in pregnancy, where you currently sit on the health spectrum and where you’d like it to be.

Nutrition spoiler alert: there is no one size fits all when it comes to optimal dietary intake for health.

What does a Pregnancy Nutrition Consultation Involve?

A Fertility / Pregnancy Nutrition Consultation and a Naturopathic Consultation are suitable for different needs. A naturopathic clinical consultation involves thoroughly assessing clinical symptoms and pathologies (past and present), body systems, lifestyle, environmental and dietary intake to identify the factors contributing to your current health status and reviewing the best strategies to shift you closer towards your health goals. (If you want to get started, you can book an appointment)

However, there are times that you just want to focus on what you are eating and if it is the best fit for you. If you want to focus on a deeper dive into your dietary and nutritional intake during these crucial life stages, you can now book in for a Fertility / Pregnancy Nutrition consultation to get you what you need to achieve better nutrition for yourself and your baby.

Who is it suitable for?

This fertility / pregnancy nutrition consultation type is suitable for women who are trying to conceive or are already pregnant.

Ok I’m interested, what do I need to know?

  • This requires a commitment from you of attending two appointments.
  • At the first appointment, we will do an initial assessment of your current general health status, health goals and dietary patterns (expect it to take 30-45 minutes).
  • Between the first and second appointments you will be required to record your dietary intake for 3 weekdays and 1 weekend so I can gather more detailed information about your specific dietary and nutrient intake (you’ll get the where and how for this during our first appointment).
  • At the second appointment, we will discuss the dietary analysis results and recommendations for your specific needs which will be provided to you in written format after your appointment.
  • Added optional extra: individualised meal plans.

What isn’t included?

These appointments do not involve assessments or recommendations for pathology or full body systems – a full naturopathic appointment is where you will get that.

Written by Senior Fertility, Pregnancy and Family Health Naturopath and Nutritionist, Georgia Marrion.

Book fertility / pregnancy nutrition consult

Head to bookings > Nutrition > Nutrition for Fertility / Pregnancy – initial TELEHEALTH

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REFERERENCES:

  1. Sharma et al. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2013; 11: 66.
  2. Palomba S et al. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2018; 16 (113).
  3. Bala R et al. Reprod Sci 2020; 28: 617-638.
  4. Gaskins AJ et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2018; 218 (4): 379-389.
  5. Lakoma K et al. Nutrients 2023; 15 (5): 1180.