Pregnant, eat effortlessly
Good news, during pregnancy we have to eat. Not just anything, and not for two… as we can imagine, but regularly, in a balanced way and by adopting a menu rich in calcium. Easy to say, but in practice, what do we eat during pregnancy? To make our life easier, here is a “special pregnant woman” food pyramid developed with a nutrition expert, Dr Patrick Serog *. Click on the different items to find out what you need in a day – provided you have no problems with deficiencies, metabolic disorders, etc.
What foods? How much ?
You can eat almost anything when you are pregnant, but in controlled amounts!
- Fatty substances : 30 to 40 g per day, or about 2 tbsp. tablespoons of oil and 10 g of butter (take into account the fat used during meal preparation).
- For vitamins but also omega 3, essential for Baby’s brain. Preferably choose rapeseed oil and “4 oil” mixtures.
- Fast sugars : the least possible ! Limit as much as possible, especially if you eat a lot of starchy foods. No more than the equivalent of 6 lumps of sugar in all, at the end of pregnancy.
- Dairy products : 3 or 4 parts, i.e. 1 part of cheese per day + 3 parts of milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. You need 1 mg of calcium per day. 200 mg = 300 g of hard cheese (Parmesan, Gruyère, Comté… very high in fat too!) = ¼ l of milk = 40 g of fromage blanc = 300, 1 or 2 yogurts. Read the labels: the calcium level in white yogurt varies from 3 to 130 mg from one brand to another.
- Meats, fish, eggs : 2 parts, knowing that 1 part = 150 to 200 g of meat, fish, 1 egg, 2 slices of ham. Not believed to avoid parasites and digestion problems. We do not count the eggs that we put in a cake.
- The fruits : 3 fruits. Preferably consume fruit rather than fruit juices. More concentrated, these are rich in sugar, therefore often too high in calories (like a soda). Yes to bananas, but not at the same meal as a starch!
- The vegetables : 2 portions, including 1 raw food + 1 good portion (300/400 g) of cooked vegetables at one of the two main meals. Indispensable for vitamins, fibers, but also folic acid for babies. Favor “leafy” vegetables.
- Cereals and grain products : 6 to 7 parts, or 2 parts of bread + 200 g of other starchy foods. 1 part of starch = 30 g of corn-flakes, 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooked pasta, rice or starch or 2 small potatoes. If, with a bowl of cereal for breakfast, you feel hungry in the morning, take bread instead, which is more filling.