During pregnancy, your baby depends on you as his main source of nutrition. Maintaining a healthy diet during pregnancy will help meet the developmental needs of your baby, maintain your health as well as prepare you for breastfeeding. It can even be said that your nutritional status at the time of conception, in addition to your diet during pregnancy, will affect the h​ealth of your grandchildren and future generations.

Recent studies show that chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and obesity, and perhaps osteoporosis, and breast and ovarian cancers, have their origins in the womb. This makes it all the more important for you to eat healthily before, as well as, during pregnancy.

How to have a balanced diet during pregnancy

As a guide, the average energy requirement of a non-pregnant Singapore woman is 1700 kcal per day. During pregnancy, your energy requirement increases by 370 kcal per day in the 2nd trimester and 480 kcal per day in the 3rd trimester.

However, maintaining a balanced diet during pregnancy shouldn't be reduced to counting calories.

Here's a tabular guide on achieving a balanced diet during pregnancy. All you need to do is to ensure that all the food groups are included in your diet, based on the recommended servings.

¹rice bowl
²250ml cup
³10 inch plate

Pregnant women are prone to constipation caused by hormones that relax the gastrointestinal muscles, taking iron supplements, and abdominal fetus compression. It is recommended to consume more whole grains, plenty of fruits and vegetables for dietary fibers to help prevent constipation.

If you have nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy, you should eat a small number of meals and choose low-fat and non-irritating foods. When you wake up in the morning, you can eat grains such as cookies and steamed buns to improve morning sickness. At the end of pregnancy, avoid excessive carbohydrates and fat intake, which will increase body fat.

Reference: HealthXchange