• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Preggie Veggie

Simple, healthy vegetarian & vegan recipes for pregnancy & beyond

  • About
  • Recipes
  • Blog
  • Contact

Healthy Vegetarian Pregnancy

February 7, 2017 by PreggieVeggie 2 Comments

Having a vegetarian pregnancy is perfectly healthy, and a balanced, varied diet can give you everything you need. There are a lot of mixed messages and pressure put upon women when pregnant and it can sometimes become overwhelming. I’ve gathered up some research and here are my top tips for a healthy veggie pregnancy.

  • Eat the rainbow
  • Eat from all the food groups you can
  • Treat yourself a little
  • Embrace your cravings
  • Choose nutrient dense food
  • Go organic if you can & wash everything carefully
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Look into Vitamin D and Folic Acid supplements
  • Start 3-6 months before you conceive to prepare your body
  • Relax!

Top 10 vegetarian pregnancy foods

Although there are many more healthy foods for vegetarians to choose from here are some of the most nutrient dense options.

  1. Legumes – beans, peas & lentils
  2. Eggs
  3. Nuts & Seeds
  4. Olive oil
  5. Yoghurt & Kefir
  6. Whole grains
  7. Tofu & Tempeh
  8. Dark leafy greens
  9. Prunes, raisins & blueberries
  10. Orange, red tomatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes

It’s also useful to be aware of the main nutrients you will be needing and where to find them.

Protein

Protein helps your baby develop so it’s important you get enough during pregnancy. You’ll probably want an extra 6g or so a day.

  • Lentils
  • Beans
  • Nuts
  • Eggs
  • Tofu
  • Quorn

Fibre

Fibre helps prevent constipation which can be an issue for some during pregnancy. It also helps you feel fuller for longer. Aim for 25 milligrams to 35 milligrams a day.

  • Beans & pulses
  • Wholegrain and wholemeal bread
  • Brown rice
  • Pulses
  • Nuts
  • Jacket potato skin
  • Dried fruit
  • Oats
  • Bran based cereal and other healthy cereal options

Iron

When you say iron many people immediately think of red meat but there are plenty of other sources.

  • Pulses
  • Dark green vegetables
  • Wholemeal bread
  • Eggs
  • Fortified breakfast cereals (with added iron)
  • Dried fruits

Calcium

Calcium is essential for healthy bone development.

  • Milk
  • Yoghurt
  • Cheese
  • Pulses
  • Set tofu
  • Sesame seeds & Tahini
  • Dried fruit

Vitamin C

It’s also important that you eat foods rich in vitamin C as this is needed to absorb iron.

  • Bell peppers
  • Dark leafy greens
  • Kiwifruit
  • Broccoli
  • Berries
  • Citrus fruits
  • Tomatoes
  • Peas
  • Papayas

Vitamin B12

  • Milk
  • Cheese
  • Eggs
  • Fortified breakfast cereals
  • Fortified unsweetened soya drinks
  • Yeast extracts, such as Marmite

Vitamin D

  • Sunlight
  • Egg yolks
  • Foods fortified with vitamin D, including some breakfast cereals and most fat spreads
  • Vitamin D is one of the ones that you might want to consider taking a supplement for (10 micrograms daily). Especially if you’re pregnant during winter.

Folic Acid

Folate is important during pregnancy to ensure your baby’s spinal cord develops properly and to help prevent spina bifida.

  • Fortified breakfast cereals
  • Wheatgerm bread
  • Lentils
  • Dried beans, peas, and nuts
  • Avocado
  • Dark green vegetables

A varied and colourful diet will contain good sources but women who are trying to conceive are advised to take a 400mcg supplement of folic acid every day starting a few months before you conceive up until your twelfth week of pregnancy.

Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids

Omega 3 is thought to be important for brain and eye development.

  • Walnuts
  • Leafy green vegetables
  • Soybeans
  • Chia & Flax seeds
  • Seaweed
  • Wild rice
  • Use olive oil and rapeseed oil instead of sunflower oil to keep your omega 6:3 ratio balanced

Things to avoid

  • Mould-ripened soft cheese (such as brie or camembert) and soft blue-veined cheese (such as roquefort or Danish blue)
  • Unpasteurised milk
  • Raw or undercooked eggs
  • Alcohol & caffeine
  • Eating for 2 – you don’t need to double your calories – for a single baby, you need approx 340 extra calories per day in the 2nd trimester and 450 extra in the 3rd

If you’re a vegan try our vegan pregnancy tips.

*I am not a doctor or a nutritionist so if you’re at all worried talk to your doctor or midwife.

I hope that’s helpful. Let me know if you have any of your own top tips for a preggie veggie 🙂

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: food, healthy, nutrition, pregnancy, Vegetarian, veggie

« Honey Nut Breakfast Oat Smoothie
Healthy Vegan Pregnancy »

Reader Interactions

Yum

Trackbacks

  1. Healthy Vegan Pregnancy ⋆ Preggie Veggie says:
    February 8, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    […] If you’re a vegetarian, try our vegetarian pregnancy tips. […]

    Reply
  2. Pre-Conception Checklist ⋆ Preggie Veggie says:
    April 25, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    […] a healthy vegetarian pregnancy or vegan pregnancy diet and nutrition are especially important. Consider how healthy your diet […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Preggie Veggie

About

My name’s Victoria and I love to create simple, delicious and comforting plant-based recipes to support today's vegetarians and vegans during pregnancy and beyond. Healthy Veg ...

Read More »

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Subscribe in a reader

Follow on Wordpress

Latest Posts

Rainbow Beet Salad (v)

beetroot, lentil and hazelnut salad with basil

Rainbow Beet Salad Beetroot is a new-ish discovery for me and I may have gone a little bit overboard lately – think beet burgers, beetroot lasagna (with leftover beetroot and apple soup as the sauce!), and multiple beetroot salads. I’m still not sick of it though, plus it’s got a ton of health benefits, so…

Read More »

Sweetcorn Courgette Pancakes w/ Homemade Salsa

corn & courgette pancakes - easy vegetarian recipe wide 2

These Sweetcorn Courgette Pancakes are the perfect start or finish to any day. Finally Corn Season My sister has been talking about corn for a while now. She’s just started growing her own veg and the sweetcorn and beetroot seem to have been some of the biggest successes. She’s been itching to pick the giant…

Read More »

Lisa’s Veg Patch Beetroot Lentil Salad (v)

Veg patch beetroot and lentil salad

Lisa’s Veg Patch Beet & Lentil Salad My sister has recently moved house and her garden is like a cross between the secret garden and Narnia. Tucked away at the back behind the fully heated summerhouse (I know right!) is her new vegetable patch. She’s had a lot of success in her first foray into…

Read More »

Footer

My Finding Vegan Gallery

my finding vegan gallery

my foodgawker gallery

Categories

Tags

Baking Beans Beetroot Breakfast broccoli butternut squash cake cheese Cheesecake dessert food garlic health healthy ice cream Italian kale leek Lentils Lunch Mexican middle eastern nutrition Pancakes pasta peanut butter pine nuts pregnancy pudding salad satay sauce scamorza side soup spicy spinach summer sweet taco tacos Thai vegan Vegetarian veggie

Copyright © 2018 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.