First Trimester Pregnancy Nutrition

The first trimester can be one of great change in many aspects of your life and that includes pregnancy nutrition. Many moms-to-be want to immediately change how they eat. The trouble is making drastic changes too quickly can really backfire on you and land up causing too much stress. It is much better to incorporate changes slowly. We are going to look at the four basic areas of your first trimester nutrition to get you started on making dietary adjustments without the stress.

It would be wonderful if we knew in advance that we were to become pregnant. Sure, some pregnancies are planned but others are not. It would be great because then we could switch to a whole food diet that was organic before we became pregnant. Since this isn’t going to happen too often the best we can do is make the switch as soon as we know we are pregnant.

Work towards the elimination of all processed foods and as many non-organic foods as possible. That is because processed foods along with non-organic foods that contain pesticides and other toxins are directly linked to numerous health concerns that can affect your baby. However, don’t look at this as an all or nothing situation. Do your best and remember every little change is a positive change for your baby. A good way to start is to remove processed foods from one meal a day and then take baby steps from there.

You should also eliminate sugar, artificial sweeteners, and caffeine from your diet. Experts agree it is safe for a pregnant woman to have 150 mg of caffeine a day so that’s a good starting point to cut back to. Once there you can try to cut it out completely. For anyone with a sweet tooth there are a number of natural sweeteners that you can use such as agave syrup, stevia, or raw honey.

Morning sickness can be a real problem during the first trimester of your pregnancy. As your body is trying to adjust to hormonal changes, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to deal with the nausea that is not always just in the mornings. For nausea that is incapacitating you need to talk to your doctor. However, there are some things that can calm nausea for many including ginger, eating protein, a handful of nuts, or crackers.

There you have it – a good start to nutrition for your first trimester to keep you and baby healthy.