What to Eat When You're Pregnant: A Week-by-Week Guide to Support Your Health and Your Baby's Development

by Nicole M. Avena

An approachable guide to what to eat--as opposed to what to avoid--while pregnant and nursing, to support the mother's health and the baby's development during each stage of pregnancy, with 50 recipes.

New research suggests that the foods you eat during pregnancy can have lasting effects on your baby’s brain development and behavior, as well as your waistline. Drawing from the fields of medicine, nutrition, and psych­ology, this easy-­to-follow guide, which also includes 50 recipes, gives you a clear understanding of what your body really needs and how certain foods contribute to the development of a healthy and happy baby.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Health, Food, Cookbooks, Adult, Childrens

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 9, 2015

About the author

Dr. Nicole Avena is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and a Visiting Professor of Health Psychology at Princeton University. She is a research neuroscientist and expert in the fields of nutrition, diet and addiction, with a special focus on nutrition during early life and pregnancy, and women’s health. She has done groundbreaking work developing models to characterize food addition and the dangers of excess sugar intake. Her research achievements have been honored by awards from several groups including the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Psychological Association, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition to over 100 peer-reviewed scholarly publications, Dr. Avena has written several popular books, including Why Diets Fail: Because You’re Addicted to Sugar, What to Eat When You’re Pregnant, What to Feed Your Baby and Toddler and What to Eat When You Want to Get Pregnant. Her latest book, Sugarless, covers the latest science on sugar addiction and how to overcome it. It will be released in December, 2023, and it is available now for preorder. She frequently appears as a science expert in the media, including regular appearances on Good Day NY, The Doctors, and the former Dr. Oz Show as well as many news programs. Her work has been featured in Time Magazine, Bloomberg Business Week, The New York Times, and many other periodicals. Dr. Avena is a member of the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. She has the #2 most watched TED-ED Health talk, How Sugar Affects Your Brain, with over 17 million views and counting.
You can find her on social media @drnicoleavena IG, Facebook, LinkedIn

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could have been 5 stars if it only had photos. Cookbooks need photos, just sayin'.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What to Eat When You're Pregnant: A Week-by-Week Guide to Support Your Health and Your Baby's Development is definitely a title pregnant moms aiming to eat healthier should pick up. This books puts at ease what you should be eating! So often we hear what to avoid but never about what to eat it specifically and when exactly. I'm in my second trimester now and the cravings for foods are strong! Mainly I am craving healthy things but sometimes not so healthy things like greasy pizza and burgers. I try to even out the not so great with the really good things and feel this book has done a great job pushing me toward that direction.
The writer of this book provides moms to be with a lot of great information. Chapter 1 and 2 cover all the questions one would ask and those likely not thought of to ask. She gives a guideline of how much you should gain during pregnancy, breaks down all the key nutritions needed for a healthy mom and baby, and talks about pregnancy myths and the reality. Part two of the book takes you through you pregnancy week by week from the first trimester to birth. Part 3 of the book has a lot of great information about continuing to eat well even after pregnancy. I personally liked the whole section on breastfeeding and found a lot to take away from it.

There are fifty recipes that you can whip up during anytime of your pregnancy. These recipes are located in second section of the book and go along with whatever week pregnant you are. For instance at week 21 there are two recipes for smoothies. The food for this week is raspberries! Each week has a specific food explained in detail and there's a recipe or two to go with it. Aside from the food of the week and recipes, there's information on how the baby is likely developing during that time. I found all the recipes easy to throw together. Ingredients likely most have around their kitchen already. I plan on making many of the recipes even long after my pregnancy is over!

“I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.”

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's me not the book with the issue. The book does have really interesting information on good foods to eat during pregnancy and some interesting recipe ideas. But sometimes, a person just isn't in the mood to use a specific ingredient and then gets stressed out that they're not following the book. And then it almost feels like missing an assignment. But the the person can't get themself to buy a specific ingredient for one recipe that doesn't even seem great, and then it becomes a vicious cycle where the recipes are building up and you start ignoring the book because you're so behind. Plus, it's a recipe book without pictures.

There are definitely specific foods or food groups or specific nutrients that are good for pregnancy. And this book does a good job of highlighting those. I'd actually recommend reading the book and jotting down all the suggestions early on and then just finding recipes that incorporates those ingredients. Make sure to double check on the method of cooking (steam/fry/boil/raw/etc...) and a general idea of which week and just go from there. But if you don't like almond butter (or are allergic), don't worry about having to force yourself buy almond butter for the week that is almond butter.

[Amanda Root · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was great! Easy to read, user friendly, covered a lot of ground! Nice weekly read.

[Stacy Dillon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The "food of the week" recommendation was fun to try and follow, but otherwise the tone was much too preachy for me.

[Ivana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book during the first trimester when I was constantly hungry, nauseous, and lacking more ideas what to eat since I craved quite more than I had been used to eating. In that sense, it helped, but after the week 12 my appetite and eating habits got back to normal, so I didn’t need it any longer for recipes and such. However it provides a nice overview of pregnancy status week by week, what nutrients your body needs, recipes that go along with that, general nutritional advice, supplements, and so on. But if you were used to eating healthy before your pregnancy, I don’t think you’d gain much new insight, especially if you’re on a specific regime, e.g. vegan, gluten-free, dairy free etc.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice quick read about:
- importance of proper baby (and mother) weight with weight gain chart (p. 145)
- important nutrients: folate/folic acid AKA vit B9, vit B12, Zinc, vit B6, Magnesium, Choline, Iron, Omega-3 Fatty Acids: EPA and DHA, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, vit D, Phosphorus, Potassium, vit A, vit C, vit K (p. 22)
- what to eat during each stage of pregnancy with food ideas (p. 50)
- description of pregnancy stages week by week (p. 50)
- one section about science of hormones (p. 135)
- strategies for cravings (p. 138)
- strategies for baby weight loss after pregnancy (p. 156)
- list of foods to avoid during pregnancy (p. 171)
- the benefits of breastfeeding (p. 181)

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for the weekly food highlights. When I started learning about pregnancy nutrition I got quickly overwhelmed by all of the food I needed to be eating all of the time and how was I ever going to make and eat enough of the right foods (particularly as for the first several months I could hardly keep any food down). I liked that this book gives you one food per week of pregnancy to focus on. It made it feel manageable to make an effort to eat foods high in needed nutrients, which is what I needed.

[Anlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the organizational idea of a "food of the week" through pregnancy in the sense that it makes incorporating these foods more manageable. However, I found some (if not most) of the recipes were rather low-quality. And this book also wouldn't be ideal for someone who eats outside of the mainstream American diet (i.e. if you tend to make/eat Indian or Mexican or other cuisine at home), but it can be used as a source of ideas. The additional guidance on weight gain, nutrient targets, special conditions, etc. was spot-on though.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the concept, but I just can't get behind a book that warns me to watch which fruits I'm eating in case I gain too much weight. I also could have done without the entire chapter dedicated to telling me that both gaining too much weight and too little weight in pregnancy are correlated with babies becoming obese later in life. Amazingly, when I was rapidly loosing weight because I threw up literally everything I ate, my main concern was not whether my child would grow up to be fat one day.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid read on the topic-- way better than 'Real Food for Pregnancy' by Lily Nichols, which very nearly gave me a stroke while reading. This one is lower-stress and easier to digest-- includes information that you can actually put into action. Short enough to be digestible (ha, no pun intended).

[Iman Samji · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the layout of which nutrients and supplements/vitamins to best take during pregnancy as it was organized well. However, once it got into the “ingredient by week” portion, I found it to be an odd approach. Many of the ingredients can be combined, etc. I’d recommend this book to someone who may get overwhelmed by The Real Food book (which I loved).

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, explained well. It's definitely worth reading for new parents who want an insight on food intake. It explained the nutritional values and formation of the baby which was a nice thing to add. Although pictures would have been a good idea based on recipes given.

[Kalei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard advice that's repeated across a host of books/ sites. I thought the most interesting part would be the what to eat as a weekly meal plan but it's less a meal plan and more 'in this week you need X to support your baby's growth and Y is packed full of X.'

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the recipes and suggested meals per week breakdown that emphasizes the nutritional contents needed for baby's development. However, it does stress the important of not gaining excess weight which is quite stressful.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book, it has tons of valuable nutritional information for during pregnancy and breastfeeding and the recipes are so easy to make.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful information and an easy read.

[Katieloowho · Rating 4 out of 5]

very informative! i especially liked the section that explained cravings and their connection to pregnancy hormones! I also tried a few of the recipies and they were yummy.

[Diana Isabel Ortega · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nota: leer preferiblemente antes de quedar embarazada.

[Amaryca · Rating 4 out of 5]

More science than cookbook.

[Stephanie Feran · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot of good information in here, but it’s pretty dull. I didn’t like the weekly format because what you eat doesn’t change much week to week.

[Diana Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Condescending and outdated.

[Gurleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was nauseous the first half of my pregnancy and although I wanted to eat the things suggested in this book, it just wasn’t practical for me.

[Valerie Rivers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked reading about what foods were good to eat at certain stages, but the recipes were just not that great.

[Chelsea CW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend for nutritional advice if you're trying to conceive or pregnant! This is not a cookbook though, this is an informational resource with a few recipes sprinkled in.

[Melanie Chiquete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.
It’s easy to read and the recipes are very simple.
The information is well organized so you can easily go back to review something.

[June]

Listened to the audiobook a day before my maternal health exam in hopes of understanding the course content better. It was good.

[Patricia Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to learn the nutrition facts but not easy to follow through the pregnancy.

[Amanda Judd · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it for the nutritional advice (beyond what NOT to eat) but not the recipes (desperately needs pictures but it did mean this was fine to read as an ebook)

[V Luttrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book all pregnant ladies should have! so many tips and advice for every week. Keeps you knowing how healthy the baby will be! What to Eat When You're Pregnant has a;ready been put to use by a friend.

It even has recipes in the book!There are not many books out there that explain WHY it's so important to eat certain foods at each stage of pregnancy and breastfeeding.This very well written book provides practical and realistic guidance to supplement your providers advice when you are contemplating or working on becoming pregnant, through those tied groggy days of little sleep, breast feeding, and temptation to grab that Snickers. Week by week, pregnant women learn the why, the what and the how from a point of view that is at once scientific and nurturing. What more empowering way for prospective mothers to begin the act of creation than to healthfully bite into it?