30 Pregnancy Food Ideas for Each Trimester

As a Pregnancy Nutrition Consultant, I give you 30 pregnancy food ideas for each trimester, that are simple, nutritious and adaptable for each trimester’s nutrient needs.

Eating for each trimester

Every trimester of pregnancy is unique according to your baby’s growth and nutrient needs and unique to your body’s nutrient stores.

For example, in your first trimester, your B vitamins are important for your baby’s organ growth. In the second trimester, iron and calcium are crucial for bone development and in your third trimester, your baby’s brain is rapidly developing, so omega 3’s are optimal for brain health.

Isn’t a prenatal supplement enough?

In short: no.

Many prenatal supplements contain poor quality ingredients and don’t absorb as well into the body as their whole food counterparts do.

For example, many commercial prenatal supplements contain folic acid, which is the synthetic version of the nutrient folate. In order for folate to cross the placenta effectively, it needs to be activated. Unfortunately folic acid is not the same as methylated folate, so it cannot properly cross the placenta. Folate is important in reducing the likelihood of neural tube defects, cleft palate, tongue and lip ties forming.

Similarly, many prenatal supplements contain synthetic iron, ferrous fumarate. Iron is important for a woman’s second trimester blood volume expansion and baby’s cognitive development, birth weight and iron stores.

Taking a whole foods pregnancy supplement is ideal. However, this should not replace a nutrient-rich diet. Whole foods first is always my rule when supporting my clients.

I have a few prenatal supplements that I recommend for various client needs, but this is my primary brand I recommend my pregnant clients.

Tips for eating well during pregnancy

• Take the pressure off yourself to eat the way you did before pregnancy. If you ate a well-balanced diet before pregnancy, you will find that your pregnant body will respond differently to certain foods. You may also have food aversions to several foods, a common one being meat. So don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t stomach certain foods.
• Focus on quality of foods. One thing I advise my clients is that if you only feel like bread, then stick to wholegrain or sourdough. If you only want chocolate, stick to dark chocolate. If you only want burgers, make your own! Quality of foods is important particularly in pregnancy, when your baby is absorbing all the nutrients. The better the quality, the higher the nutrient-value.
• Follow your hunger cues. To put it simply, if you are hungry, then eat. So many women eat less calories than they should during the day, leaving them depleted and hungry. Your pregnant body needs more calories than your regular body does, so follow those hunger cues. My general rule of thumb is to eat every two-three hours. Have a nourishing breakfast, a light balanced snack in between each meal, a hearty lunch and dinner. And go for that before bed time snack if you must!
• Just eat. If none of the above works for you and all you want to eat is plain crackers and slurp on juice, then it’s better than not eating at all. In all of my first trimesters, I would beat myself up whenever I couldn’t eat a proper meal or drink water! Don’t put that kind of stress on your body and just follow its cues. It’s often said that what you crave is most likely what your body needs. So eat what you can and when you start to feel better, that is when you can focus on eating more well-balanced foods.

(Me at 20 weeks pregnant with my third baby.)

What to eat in trimester one

Like I said, your B vitamins (B9 and B12) for overall healthy development , Vitamin A for facial features, Vitamin C and zinc for immunity support, and choline for brain development.

For many women (including myself – I had severe morning sickness with three of my pregnancies and hyperemesis gravidarum with my third baby!), there’s morning sickness, food aversions and loss of appetite to consider, so I totally understand how hard it is to eat a well-balanced diet. Trust me: I feasted on burgers in my first trimester for my first three pregnancies. You just got to eat at the end of the day, but try to eat well if you can.

10 food ideas for trimester one

• Scrambled eggs and avocado on toast
• Carrot sticks with cottage cheese
• Kitchari (recipe)
• Dark chocolate covered strawberries
• Healthy banana split: banana, greek yoghurt, pepita seeds, chia seeds, nut butter and honey
• Fruit platter: oranges, raspberries, guava and mango
• Sweet potato chips with olive oil and sea salt
• Boiled eggs and wilted spinach
• Garlic buttered salmon and steamed broccoli
• Kidney bean salad (recipe)

What to eat in trimester two

In trimester two, hopefully you will have more of an appetite and feel less sick (at least that was how I felt from 13 weeks onwards). The food aversions may have disappeared or become less severe and you might actually feel like a proper meal!

Trimester two is where your blood volume expands by 40-50% during pregnancy, and your iron and calcium needs grow. Protein is also an important macronutrient to eat, to meet baby’s needs during this part of pregnancy. Many of the trimester one nutrients are still necessary for trimester two, so lots of meat, vegetables and dairy foods are important to eat.

10 food ideas for trimester two

• Nourish bowl: meat, quinoa, avocado, spinach, tomato, cottage cheese and choice of sauce/dressing
• Sardines with brown rice crackers
• Dried apricots and nuts
• Roast pumpkin with sprinkled sesame seeds
• Buttermilk pancakes (recipe)
• Cottage cheese on rice cakes
• Plain yoghurt with berries and nuts
• Burrito bowl with beef brisket, avocado, sour cream, salsa, red onion and brown rice
• Kefir smoothie (recipe)
• Homemade granola with nuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and maple syrup

What to eat in trimester three

The nutritional needs of a baby reach their peak during this time of rapid growth. This trimester still calls for higher levels of iron as well as protein. Calcium is still crucial for bone development.

DHA becomes important for brain development. K2 is an unsung hero for placenta health and choline is another brain-boosting nutrient.

10 food ideas for trimester three

• Tuna salad
• Reuben sandwich with sauerkraut
• Vegetable omelette
• Plain yoghurt
• Homemade beef burger with pickles
• Salmon and sweet potato patties (recipe)
• Berry yoghurt popsicles (recipe)
• Dark chocolate covered dates with nut butter (one of my favourite low risk onset labour foods)
• Scrambled eggs on toast with cottage cheese
• Beef liver pate (recipe) on crackers

For more tips and education on how to nourish your pregnancy and growing baby

I wrote a book all about holistic pregnancy nutrition that dives into what to eat for each trimester, how to combat the most common pregnancy conditions like nausea, fatigue, group b strep and gestational diabetes and includes a meal plan and some of my favourite recipes adaptive to each trimester of pregnancy!

You can purchase an e-book version or paperback version below!