NEWSWEEK: What are some of the mistakes pregnant women make about their diet? Heidi Murkoff: One of the first pregnancy myths that women have heard and sometimes subscribe to is that you’re supposed to be eating for two. Of course you are, but you have to keep in mind that one of the two is very, very small and fortunately never gets as big as you. If you take everything that you’re eating and double it, you are going to end up looking like two of you. The baby that you’re growing has much smaller caloric needs than you do.
Heidi Murkoff Workman Heidi Murkoff How many extra calories should you consume when you're pregnant? Three hundred calories a day is all you need to add to your diet. Of course you’ve got a lot more nutrition territorywise to cover when you’re pregnant. Eating well when you’re expecting isn’t all that different from eating well at any other time in your life. Pretty much the same basic principles hold true [of] eating a balanced diet, which you’ve heard a million times before. Eat good proteins and complex carbohydrates. Certainly pregnancy is not the time to start a low-carb diet because those carbs are important for so many reasons--not just growing reasons but comfort reasons, like preventing constipation. But there are some areas where you have to step up nutritionally.
Like? Protein--unless you’ve been on a high-protein diet, because you can have too much protein. You need to have more calcium. One of the myths that women tap into is that your baby is a parasite. So no matter what you eat, your baby can tap into your nutritional storage. The only time that’s true is when you’re talking about calcium. If you don’t take in enough, the baby-making factory will tap into your bones to make the baby’s bones, actually draining the calcium right out of your bones. So you have to make sure you get enough calcium so you don’t set yourself up for osteoporosis later in life. Folic acid and a variety of vitamins and minerals are all key to making a healthy baby, but again many of them are already in your basic healthy diet.
Any other foods you recommend? There are six superstars that are uniquely suited to pregnancy eating: walnuts, eggs (especially those enriched with DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid), mangos, red peppers, ginger and quinoa. They boost brain development and stave off nausea.
How do you eat properly when you've got morning sickness? The trick is to step up on all these things when you’re hugging the toilet. What a lot of women don’t realize is that no food out there has any monopoly on any one nutrient. When you think calcium you think milk. But ... there are plenty of other ways of getting calcium--from cheese to yogurt, and so many juices are fortified with calcium. You shouldn’t force yourself to eat foods that make you sick. Variety is great; but in the first trimester, when there are maybe four foods you can keep down, those are the four foods you should eat. If those four foods all come from McDonald’s, then you may have to try a little sublimation. If you can’t face a salad, face a cantaloupe that has all the vitamin A [and] C and a good dose of fluids, and that is really important. When you’re suffering from morning sickness, in the short-term fluids are a lot more important than solids, and they’re often easier to get down. You can make yourself a smoothie that contains some juicy fruits. Add some flax seed, some yogurt and you’ve got yourself as nourishing a meal as that chicken and broccoli that you can’t face.
What about gas? Yes, that is quite common and can be quite embarrassing. One of the solutions to pretty much every pregnancy symptom is eating less but more often. We call it the six-meal solution. The thing you have to understand about digestion during pregnancy is that everything slows down, and it slows down for a really good reason. It allows better absorption of nutrients, so that’s good for the baby but not so good for mom because you have problems like gas and bloating.
What is your stance on alcohol during pregnancy? Doctors in this country like to play it safe, extra safe. There is no way to know how much alcohol is safe to have during pregnancy so it’s better to play it completely safe. That’s the common wisdom here.