Want to make sure you get all the nutrition you and your baby need while you're pregnant?
Canada's Food Guide can help.
When you’re pregnant, your body needs more nutrients and food choices become more important.
Follow Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide to help you make healthy selections. For example:
- Choose a variety of foods from the four food groups every day
- Grain Products
- Vegetables and Fruit
- Milk Products
- Meat and Alternatives
- Eat three meals and two to three small snacks every day
- Eat foods rich in nutrients
- Limit foods and beverages high in calories, fat and sugar or sodium (salt) such as cakes, pastries, doughnuts, potato chips, fruit flavoured drinks, soft drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks.
- Avoid foods that contain trans fat
Also, pay attention to your hunger cues. Eat when you're hungry, and stop when you feel just “full.”
Want to know how well you’re eating? Write down everything you ate and drank yesterday and follow the Canada Food Guide Servings Tracker to determine your intake. Note how much of each food or drink you consumed for each meal and snack throughout the day. For example: ½ cup of cereal and ¾ cup of milk, ½ cup orange juice for breakfast. Once you have this information, use it to:
- Find out how many servings you ate from each food group in Canada’s Food Guide
- Compare the total number of servings from each food group to the recommended servings in Canada’s Food Guide.
- Answer the following questions:
- Did I eat the recommended number of servings in all four food groups?
- Which food group am I eating the most of?
- Which food group do I need to eat more of?
- How can I eat more of the foods I need?
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