Pregnancy: A Meal Ticket for Two
Did you know that it takes about 75,000 calories (about 340 to 450 extra calories a day after the first trimester) over nine months for a healthy baby to develop? Eating or two doesn't need to be much different than eating or one. The key is to “choose your calories by the company they keep-in other words, choose nutrient-rich foods for extra calories.
MyPyramid provides the guidelines for the nutrients and the energy needed for your "meal ticket for two.” A few more nutrient-rich food-group foods can supply all you need. See chapter 10 for more about MyPyramid.
How do 340 calories translate into “real food"? Try these nutrient-rich “combos" for about that amount:
1 ounce of cold cereal, a banana, and 1 cup of fat- free milk, or
1 baked potato with skin, topped with cup each of broccoli and cauliflower, and ounce of low-fat cheese, or
2 ounces of turkey on slices of whole-grain or enriched bread, topped with lettuce and tomato.