The foods you eat contain different amounts of the basic groups of nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and fluid). Each nutrient has specific functions for you and for your baby. Your body breaks down foods you eat in the digestion process and the nutrients are absorbed into your blood stream. Some of the nutrients may go directly to the placenta where they are channeled through the umbilical cord into the fetus’ circulation. Others may pass in and out of "storage" in your tissues, while still others may be used immediately by your body for its own needs.

During pregnancy, special nutritional needs must be met. You will be expending more energy doing the breathing and digesting for the fetus. This will require more calories. But it should be calories that supply the additional nutrients you will need and not just empty calories. For example, you will require more iron, protein and folic acid because your body needs to produce more blood in order to circulate more blood through the placenta. Extra minerals such as calcium and phosphorus are needed for the growing bones of the fetus.

Fluids

You need two quarts (8 glasses) of fluids each day. This can include milk and juices. Do not however, include alcohol, coffee or tea as part of your fluid intake. Any type of alcohol should be eliminated entirely during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Coffee and tea intake should be limited. It is advisable to drink water or juice with you meals, as milk, coffee, tea and soda can interfere with absorption of important nutrients such as iron.

Forget Diets

Your baby should have the best of starts if you are not over or underweight when you get pregnant. Cutting down the calories that you eat while you are pregnant in order to control your weight should only be done under the guidance of a general practitioner (GP) or dietician, as unsupervised dieting will not help your baby. If you think you are overweight or underweight, mention it to your midwife. What is certain is that dieting, often going hungry or eating mostly junk food will not help your baby and might even be harmful. Pregnant women who diet excessively or who live through famines tend to have difficult pregnancies, problems in labour and small babies. Even women who are overweight or who put on a lot of weight early in pregnancy do not benefit from dieting and nor do their babies.

You may find that your GP or midwife no longer take regular recordings of your weight during pregnancy, as the evidence about this suggests that this may not be helpful.

Vitamins

You need vitamin D from sunlight or your food to absorb calcium effectively. Some women may not have enough exposure to sunlight either because of their natural skin colouring or because their culture or religion requires them to keep their skin covered. If you are a vegetarian you may also have a low intake of the foods that contain a lot of vitamin D, such as eggs, margarine or enriched spreads and oily fish like salmon. In this case, you can choose to eat more of the foods that are vitamin D rich, ensure you have some exposure to sunlight or you can take vitamin D as a supplement. If you feel you are at risk of vitamin D deficiency, discuss this with your doctor.