This study provided indications in favour for the life course perspective. It showed that pregnancy and also preconception could indeed be periods in a woman’s life causing increased nutrition awareness (saliency, preoccupation with and deliberate attention to pregnancy specific nutrition-related issues and more general nutrition related issues). Based on the results, three groups were distinguished: (1) women who are going all the way, trying to live precisely by the book, (2) women who are taking the flexible way, being more aware of their nutrition, but more flexible in handling it than group (1), and (3) women who continue the same way. Our study showed that the intensity of nutrition awareness is based on three types of motivations, (1) the interest of the child, (2) the interest of the mother, and (3) expectation from the social environment. Women going all the way tended to be somewhat more driven by the interest of the child than the other two groups. Women continuing the same way seemed to care somewhat less about the expectations of the social environment than the others.