Healthy eating in pregnancy
Eating healthily while you are pregnant can help keep you well and give your baby the best possible start in life. You don’t need to go on a special diet and there is no need to eat for two – even if you are expecting twins or triplets. But you should make sure that you eat a variety of foods from the eatwell plate† so that you get the full range of nutrients that you and your baby need.
What kind of foods should I eat?
Plenty of fruit and vegetables: These are a great source of vitamins, minerals and fibre – try to eat at least five portions of a variety of different fruit and vegetables every day.
Plenty of potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy foods: These are good sources of energy, vitamins and fibre and should make up the main part of every meal. Eat wholegrain varieties whenever you can – for example brown bread and brown rice or pasta – as these are higher in fibre.
Some milk and dairy foods (blue): Cheese, milk and yoghurt contain calcium and other nutrients.
Some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein: Choose lean meat. Make sure that foods like eggs, chicken, pork, burgers and sausages are cooked all the way through.
Just a small amount of foods and drinks that are high in fat and/or sugar: This includes foods such as biscuits, sugary fizzy drinks, crisps and cakes. Eating too much of these types of food could make you put on too much weight in pregnancy which can affect your health and increase your blood pressure.
What kind of foods should I avoid?
There are some foods you should avoid while you are pregnant:
- Mould-ripened soft cheeses (such as Brie or Camembert) and blue-veined varieties (such as Danish blue). These cheeses can contain listeria, a type of bacteria that could harm your baby.
- Raw or partially cooked eggs.
- Raw or undercooked meat.
- Fish like swordfish, shark and marlin. Don’t eat more than two portions (weighing about 140g cooked or 170g raw) of oily fish a week, including fresh tuna, and don’t eat more than four medium cans of tuna (with a drained weight of 140g) a week. This is because these fish contain mercury, which may harm your baby.
- Raw shellfish.
- Unpasteurised milk, including unpasteurised goat’s or sheep’s milk and any foods made from them, for example some soft cheeses.
- All types of pâté, including vegetable, because they can contain listeria.
- Undercooked ready meals. Make sure that you heat ready meals until they are steaming hot all the way through.
- Liver and liver products, as they contain large amounts of vitamin A, which can harm your baby.
- Supplements containing vitamin A, including fish liver oil, as large amounts of vitamin A can harm your baby.
- Caffeine. Limit your intake to no more than 200mg a day (about two instant coffees or teas, or two cans of energy drink). Remember that cola drinks and chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, also contain caffeine.
- Alcohol. If you do have a drink, limit it to just one or two units a week. (One unit = half a standard 175ml glass of wine, or half a pint of beer, lager or cider at 3.5% alcohol by volume.)
Peanuts and pregnancy
Research shows there is no clear evidence that eating peanuts during pregnancy affects the chances of a baby developing a peanut allergy, so it’s fine for your to include peanuts as part of a healthy balanced diet as long as you are not allergic to them yourself.
Vitamin A and pregnancy
Too much vitamin A (retinol) can harm your baby. So, while you’re expecting, don’t eat foods that are very high in vitamin A, such as liver and liver products, and don’t take cod liver oil or any vitamin tablets containing vitamin A.
Food safety
You should always make sure that you follow good hygiene practices and prepare food safely – especially when you are pregnant. Click here for more about food safety.
For more information:
NHS Choices: Pregnancy care planner (England)
Pregnancy book (Northern Ireland)
†Department of Health in association with the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland
