Eating fruit puts Martinique Hall, who is 8 months pregnant, in a good mood.

"I will put a can of pineapples in the freezer, and then take them out and just eat them while frozen," she said.

Save Money On Baby | Women's Health

That sort of treat is exactly what Pat Serio, a certified nurse midwife, tells expectant mothers to eat, because it contains important vitamins and minerals.

Serio, who practices with West Shore Women's Health Association in Parma, Ohio, said she also tells soon-to-be-mothers that vegetables are also important to the growth and development of the fetus.

"Nutrition is important for pregnant women because it provides optimal nutrients to help the baby," Serio said. "It makes a healthy baby."

Hall, 30, who is expecting her first child, said she has craved all kinds of fruit -- pears, peaches, oranges and pineapples -- throughout her pregnancy.

"I crave fruit. I can eat fruit all day long," she said.

Drinking Matters, Too

Susan Roebuck, 36, of University Heights, Ohio, makes a conscientious effort to eat and drink more healthfully now that she's expecting.

"I didn't do milk, but when I found out I was pregnant, I started drinking milkshakes," she said. Milk provides her developing baby with much-needed calcium.

Roebuck, who is in her second trimester, eats just about every two hours because of night sickness. She admits, however, that she just does not want some of the foods she used to eat.

"My taste buds have been off," she said. "Stuff I used to like -- pizza, calamari -- I don't like."

Like Hall, Roebuck has incorporated a lot of fruit into her diet.

Broad Diet Helps Baby

Dr. Laura Stachel, an obstetrics and gynecology expert for Fisher Price, said having a healthy diet means eating a wide range of nutritious foods from different food groups.

"Whole grains and fresh vegetables are certainly preferable nutrition to fast foods with high amounts of fats and foods with chemical additives," she said.

All of the food groups play a major role in providing an expectant mother the proper nutrients, antioxidants and minerals that a growing fetus needs.

For example, foods in the dairy group have a specific benefit.

"Fetal bone and tooth development start early in fetal life," Serio said. "Development of baby teeth starts during the pregnancy."

Because Hall has heard horror stories about women getting rotten teeth after not having enough calcium -- and her stomach can't handle regular milk -- she also takes a prenatal vitamin and a calcium pill and drinks Lactaid.

Portion Control

While an expectant mother may want to eat for two, portion control is key, Serio said. That can mean looking for personalized meal planners.

Pregnancy-Calendars.net provides an example of what to include in a diet.

Breakfast includes 1 cup of oatmeal with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sugar, half of a medium grapefruit and a ½ of low-fat milk. Lunch includes a loaded baked potato, three slices of turkey bacon, two teaspoons of sour cream, 1 oz. of cheddar cheese, an apple and one cup of low-fat milk. Dinner means a bean burrito, ½ of green beans, a ½ of canned peaches and one cup of low-fat milk.

Those meals can be supplemented with snacks such as a strawberry banana smoothie and vanilla wafers.

Keeping meals the right size will help a mother stay at a safe weight, as well. Serio said an underweight mother may need to eat larger portions and gain at least 40 pounds in order for a baby to be born at his or her optimal health.

A woman of average weight may only need to gain about 25 to 35 pounds, while an overweight mother should only gain 15 pounds.

Good Diet Fights Pregnancy Problems

Serio said that a nutritious diet will also ward off problems during the pregnancy, such as high blood pressure.

Women who develop gestational diabetes -- about 3 percent of pregnancies -- will need a special diet.

HealthTouch.com said that can mean avoiding carbohydrates -- which are found in breads, starchy vegetables, beans, fruit and sweets -- because they can cause blood sugar to rise to a high level.

If this condition is not dealt with, she said, the birth can be risky because a baby is likely to be much larger.

Things To Avoid

Serio gives her patients a colorful brochure about the importance of the five food groups, and she also addresses fast food.

"I always say fast food is not on the sheet," she said. "You can have that, but you want to limit it. It is empty calories."

Hall understands that fast food may not be the best for her, but she has craved McDonald's french fries and a vanilla sundae.

"I dip my french fries in the sundae," she said. "It's so good."

In addition to fast food, expectant mothers are often told to limit tuna and other fish because of mercury and PCB contamination. PCB is fertilizer contaminant that is stored in fat and can cause neurological problems.

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