A healthy diet is an important part of a healthy lifestyle at any time,
but particularly if you are pregnant or are planning a pregnancy. Eating healthily during pregnancy will help your baby develop and grow and will help keep

you fit and well. You don’t need to go on a special diet, but make sure that you eat a variety of different foods every day in order to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby need. You should also avoid certain foods to be on the safe side.

There’s no need to ‘eat for two’ whenyou are pregnant. It’s the quality not the quantity that’s important. With a few exceptions you can continue to eat all the foods you enjoy (see Take care with some foods, pages 11–12). Eating healthily often means just changing the amounts of different foods that you eat rather than cutting out all your favourites. The Balance of Good Health illustrates the mixture of different foods you need in your diet and the proportions you should eat them in.

Balanced diet includes:

• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
• Eat plenty of Starchy foods like bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, chapatis,yams and breakfast cerealsfruit and vegetables.
• Lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, beans and pulses.
• Dairy foods like milk, cheese and yoghurt.

  Reference: The Pregnancy Book: 2006 edition