What To Eat For Lunch When Pregnant
If youre pregnant for the first time, figuring out what to eat, and what not to, can be overwhelming. Theres so much information out there, and a lot of it is conflicting as well.
You know how your diet during pregnancy can play a huge role in everything from keeping your energy levels up to getting your body all the nutrition it needs to make that tiny being.
Want to learn about the how to get the best nutrition for you and baby? Check out this online pregnancy course that will help take the confusion out of what to eat to optimize pregnancy diet!
So heres making things a bit easier for you.
You can follow this ultimate pregnancy grocery list which has a list of the top foods you should add more of. Focus on creating lunches for pregnancy, meals and recipes around 2-3 of these pregnancy super foods, if not more.
Save the list, and refer back to it whenever you can. Sign up below to get a free printable pdf of the best foods to hang on your fridge.
To make it a little easier to know what to eat during pregnancy, make sure to download your copy of The Ultimate Pregnancy Grocery List by signing up below.
Print the pregnancy grocery list pdf, put it on your fridge and make sure to eat from the list daily for a healthier pregnancy.
How Can I Grab A Quick And Easy Dinner Thats Good For My Growing Baby
- Pasta is a great store-cupboard essential, with a variety of sauces available to keep things interesting. Make tomato-based sauces at the weekend and freeze them for use in the week.
- Grill or oven-bake a piece of chicken or salmon, and serve it with a simple dressing, a large salad or steamed broccoli and a crusty roll.
- Stir-fry spring onion, peppers and pak choi or broccoli with lean chicken, tofu, salmon or prawns with a dash of soy sauce and Chinese five-spice seasoning. You can buy bags of ready-prepared vegetables if youre pushed for time.
- If you have a good canteen at work, make the most of the convenience by having your main meal for lunch, and a lighter evening meal. This may also help ease heartburn at night.
- Prepare batches of meals, such as chilli, at weekends, and freeze portions ready for when you are too tired to cook, or keep leftovers for lunch.
Read more about how to have a healthy pregnancy
Menus For Pregnant Women
Planning the perfect meal to ensure your daily intake includes foods from all five food groups can sometimes be a challenge. To help make your daily pregnancy routine seamless we have created various menus for different lifestyles.
Use our Toddler Meal planning tool to ensure your 1-4 years old receives a balanced diet every day.
Use our portion size ranges to find out how much is too much.
Use our toddler food tracker to check that your 1-4 year olds are getting a good balance of foods and activity
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Tip : Focus On Textures
This is actually a good rule for cooking in general, but many times I think Betsy wasnt against the food exactly, but the texture of the dish.
She tended to do well with super-crunchy dishes or creamy things. So a really fresh crunchy salad was totally fine or a big bowl of creamy potato soup.
Of course, not every person will be the same, but its helpful to try to identify what textures work and then find other dishes that have those textures.
Lunch Ideas For Pregnant Women: Healthy Diet During Pregnancy
During pregnancy you may experience several physical and psychological changes in your body. One change you have to make during pregnancy is eating nutritious food and avoid junk food during lunch hours, if you are working. Above that you need to have 300 more calories in a day.
Even if you are at home you will need different ideas for your lunch. It should have maximum nutritive value for your well being, and your child as well.
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The Best Pregnancy Lunch Ideas For Work
Taking care of the diet is during the whole pregnancy is very important. This is the time when you need the highest amounts of vitamins, iron and other nutrients for both yourself and your baby.
In this round up the healthiest but delicious recipes that are packed with nutrients and low carb, which will make your menu expand from plain boring to exciting.
Dinner : Pork And Pineapple Kebobs
Throw some of these kebobs on the grill for a healthier alternative to standard BBQ fare.
First, cut 4 ounces of pork tenderloin or boneless top loin roast into 1.5-inch pieces. In a plastic baggie, add the juice of half a lime, a half clove of chopped garlic, 1/4 cup juice from pineapple canned in its juices, and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Let marinate for about 30 minutes.
Next, cut half of the medium red bell pepper and one-fourth of a medium onion into 1-inch pieces. Thread pork, pepper, onion, and 1/2 cup canned pineapple chunks onto two skewers. Grill on a medium-high flame until pork is cooked to an internal temperature of 145 F.
Serve over 1.5 cups cooked bulgur wheat tossed with 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste.
Nutrition Facts
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Low Fat Creamy Chicken Pasta:
Image: Shutterstock
- ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper as per taste
How To:
Creamy Chicken Pasta With Sun Dried Tomato:
Image: Shutterstock
How To:
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Will Skipping A Meal Hurt My Baby
Potentially, yes.
Skipping meals during pregnancy can affect babys development.
As this study shows, skipping meals can reduce your protein intake for the day.
And as this study suggests, low protein intake can result in an increased risk of obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes in your baby.
So if youre tempted to skip a meal, its worth having to hand some easy-to-eat protein snacks that you enjoy, so you can still get some protein in your pregnancy meal plan.
Simply bookmark this page and come back whenever youre planning your grocery trip.
And if you want to swap some pregnancy meal plan tips or suggestions with other moms-to-be, youre welcome to join our Peanut community.
Dinner : Parmesan Chicken Tenders With Marinara Dipping Sauce
When you’re pregnant, doctors recommend at least 60 grams of protein each day, which shouldn’t be a problem with a meal like thisit’s packed with more than 50 grams!
To make this pregnancy recipe, preheat the oven to 475 F. Bread 5 ounces of chicken tenders by dipping in an egg wash made with two egg whites lightly beaten with a fork, then in 2 tablespoons bread crumbs mixed with 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.
Bake chicken tenders on a wire rack or baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked to 165 F internally. Serve with 4.5 ounces baked Alexia sweet potato fries and 1 cup steamed broccoli drizzled with 1 teaspoon olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Nutrition Facts
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Chicken Salad Sandwich With Greek Yogurt Dressing
Chicken salad is another lunch staple. While store-bought chicken salad sounds convenient, its not recommended for pregnant women since it has meat that might not be properly cooked or sitting at the right temperature in the fridge section. This is why we recommend making your own chicken salad sandwiches at home and bringing that to work instead! This is a light and well-balanced lunch. I recommend an avocado oil-based mayo or the Greek yogurt dressing below.
Ill share a super-easy way to make chicken salad sandwiches at home. Youll just need some leftover roasted chicken, apples, lettuce, red onion, and bread, pita, or a wrap. For the dressing, greek yogurt, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and garlic powder will work wonders. Now all you have to do is mix the dressing ingredients until a smooth paste forms. Then make your sandwich however you like best!
How Should I Eat During The First Trimester
Morning sickness is most common in the early stages of pregnancy and despite its name, these feelings of sickness may occur at any time of the day or night. Symptoms vary and if you are struggling do speak to your GP or midwife, although for most people symptoms resolve by 20 weeks.
In less severe cases, these simple tips may help:
- Eating little and often, base meals and snacks on starchy foods like bread, porridge, plain biscuits, crisp-breads, oatcakes, pasta, rice or potatoes.
- Minimise your exposure to very smelly foods.
- Minimise harder to digest fatty foods.
- Keep some plain biscuits beside your bed.
- Batch cook and freeze meals while you’re feeling well try some of our freezable recipes.
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Wrapping Up Healthy Lunch Ideas For Pregnant Women
These lunch ideas are perfect for your pregnancy because they are more than just delicious and satisfying each of these lunch meals also contains key nutrients that your baby needs in super high amounts to grow optimally.
Foods like salmon, eggs, oysters, and steak are some of the highest sources for vital nutrients that your baby needs exorbitant amounts of for proper development.
If you want over 80 more recipes that are delicious and loaded with the nutrients you should be eating throughout your pregnancy, pick up The Perfect Pregnancy Plan now so you know exactly how to eat for optimal fetal growth and development.
Healthy Pregnancy Lunch Ideas For Work
Youve probably heard this a million times by now But you should eat a nutritious diet while pregnant! This is the key to a healthy pregnancy and the most support for your growing baby.
Studies show that eating healthy, balanced meals affects both the health status of the pregnant woman and the unborn child. The diet even has an impact on cognitive brain development and the origin of most health conditions that show during adulthood like diabetes. The bottom line is: a healthy pregnancy diet is essential for a safe and enjoyable pregnancy journey. Plus can even help with morning sickness and other ailments like heartburn!
Lunch can be an easy meal to skip, whether you are in the office, working at home, or out running some errands. Some people may even swap it for a plate of fast food because it can seem more convenient at the time. However, pregnant women have to meet increased nutritional needs which are best done through food prepped at home.
Expectant mothers need to eat enough protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats, minerals, and vitamins. While during the first trimester most people dont have to intake any extra calories, in the second and third trimesters you may actually need to do so. That means you will have to add a few extra calories to your meals or eat another snack for the day. Missing a meal as important as lunch is also missing the chance to give your baby more nutrients!
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Pregnancy Recipes: Black Bean And Sweet Potato Tacos
Beans, the magical fruit and a fantastic vegetarian source of baby-building nutrients including folate, potassium, zinc, and iron. Their combination of fiber and protein also work together to help stave off pregnancy cravings.
This pregnancy recipe gets extra nutrition cred for the addition of sweet potatoes, which give you sustainable, fiber-rich energy to enhance the satisfaction factor. Like other orange fruits and veggies, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, which helps you to absorb the plant-based iron in beans while helping to build your baby’s bones and muscles and support your immune system. Avocadoes are another superfood that serves up even more folate and fiber plus delicious unsaturated fat.
Why Are These Perfect Breakfasts For Pregnant Women
During pregnancy, the requirements for certain nutrients is drastically increased!
These recipes are perfect for pregnancy because they are loaded with choline, iron, magnesium, protein, and lots of other nutrients that are going to help you grow a strong healthy baby!
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How Should I Eat During The Third Trimester
Indigestion and heartburn can be an issue as your pregnancy progresses. Luckily though, for most people, this is only temporary having smaller, more frequent meals, avoiding lying or bending down after eating and minimising fatty foods and spices may alleviate symptoms.
Your energy requirements increase during the last trimester, with an extra 150-200 calories a day needed thats the equivalent of about three oatcakes topped with hummus. Your needs for calcium also increase and as much as double during pregnancy, especially during the last ten weeks when calcium intake is critical for strengthening your baby’s bones. Despite this, you dont need to eat more because your body adapts to absorb more calcium from the foods you eat as well as dairy foods, good sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, canned fish with soft, edible bones , almonds, dried apricots, sesame seeds, tofu, fortified orange juice and fortified soya milk.
Check out our recipes:
Sheet Pan Tilapia And Roasted Veggies:
Roasted veggies taste delicious, and prepared that way they fill you with satisfaction. Not only that, this recipe is very easy to follow, and does not require you to slave away in your kitchen for long. Plus its amazing for batch prepping!
You can find the complete recipe on this link: Sheet Pan Baked Tilapia Recipe
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Wrapping Up Breakfast Ideas For Pregnant Women
I hope you loved these 7 delicious and nutritious breakfast ideas for your pregnancy! And if you want even more delicious prenatal recipes that help grow a healthy baby check out the PPP nutrition program for pregnant mamas.
Which was your favorite? What nutritional struggles are you having with your pregnancy? Food cravings or aversions? Maybe not knowing how to meal prep? Craving sugars?
Let me know what kind of meals and nutrition ideas you need for your pregnancy in the comments below and Ill make a post to help you and all the other moms sharing your struggle out!
What Is The Best Breakfast For Pregnant Woman
Starting your day with a decent amount of protein is a great way to put yourself in good stead as part of your pregnancy meal plan.
Balance your protein with some healthy fats, and carbs, and try to ease up on the refined sugar and added salt, and youre good to go!
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Pregnancy Recipes: Frittata With Chard
Protein is a major cellular building block, supporting your baby’s growth throughout pregnancy. Get a healthy dose from eggs, which offer about 12 grams of protein per serving of this frittata . Another plus: Eggs are one of the best dietary sources of choline, which is crucial for early brain development.
A splash of milk and feta cheese supply calcium to this pregnancy recipe, which strengthens your and your baby’s bones and teeth. Swiss chard adds a touch more calcium, plus vitamin C to boost your immune system.
The Best Lunch Ideas For Pregnant Women
Congratulations on your pregnancy! This is such an exciting and important time for yourself and your growing baby!
Now Im guessing that by landing here, you already know that there are some dietary restrictions as well as certain foods that you should eat more of during pregnancy to best benefit your baby. Feel free to check out:
Taking a high quality prenatal vitamin with real folate is super important from the time you discover that you are pregnant. Actually from a month before conception is even better! But where the bulk of your nutrients need to come from is your diet!
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That is much easier said than done when youre dealing with morning sickness, feel like vomiting whenever you smell meat, and want nothing but ice cream for lunch most days. Maybe with a side of pickles?
You are your babys sole provider of the nutrients it needs to grow every cell in its body. Every meal is an opportunity to nourish your growing baby.
Though your caloric needs only increase slightly during pregnancy, your nutritional needs often triple!
So it is super important to eat delicious, satisfying, and nutrient dense foods throughout your pregnancy. These lunch ideas for pregnant women are built around exactly that:
the nutrients that your growing baby requires for optimal fetal growth.
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