Swapping unhealthy food for healthy

It's hard to think about eating healthily if you are feeling sick or tired, or have food cravings. But there has never been a time in your life when it's more important to try to eat well.

Everything you eat and drink reaches your baby in some way and influences your baby's health. You should never go hungry and you don't need to go on a special diet, but you do need to get a good balance of food in order to make sure your baby gets all the nutrients he or she needs.

Sugar and saturated fat (fat found in butter and animal fats) are hidden in many of the foods that we eat. It’s important to avoid these because eating a diet high in fat or sugar is more likely to make you put on extra weight. Being heavier in pregnancy increases the risk of complications for you and your baby. You need to make smart choices about what you eat and drink, by:

aiming to swap bad fats for good fats
aiming to swap sugary food and drinks for sugar-free alternatives.

Swapping some of the following foods for low-fat and sugar-free alternatives will help your health and your baby’s health.

Instead of	Try
Fizzy drinks Squash, cordials, juice drinks containing sugar Whole milk	Water (still, sparkling or tap water) Fruit or herbal tea Sugar-free flavoured water Sugar-free or low-calorie (diet) fizzy drinks Sugar-free (or ‘no added sugar’) squash or cordials Semi-skimmed or skimmed milk
Sugar (white or brown)	Cutting down the amount you use Low-calorie sugar Artificial sweeteners (liquid, tablet or granulated)
Butter, jam, marmalade or honey** on toast	Low-fat spread, reduced-sugar jam, sliced banana on toast
Cake or biscuits	Currant bun (no icing), fruit loaf, oatcakes, wholegrain cereal bar, fruit
Tinned fruit in syrup	Tinned fruit in juice, fresh or frozen fruit
Breakfast cereals coated with sugar or honey*	Traditional porridge oats or wholegrain cereals without sugar or honey coating, sugar-free muesli or Shredded Wheat
Sausages, burgers, nuggets, kebabs, pies or other processed meats	A lean cut of meat or chicken Fish (oily or white) Beans and pulses (eg reduced salt and sugar baked beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils)
Takeaway chips	New boiled potatoes, baked potatoes, oven chips made at home
Full fat mince	Lean mince, with fat strained off when cooking
Streaky bacon or smoked bacon	Unsmoked back bacon with fat trimmed off
Full-fat milk	Semi-skimmed or skimmed milk
Full-fat cheese (such as cheddar)	Half-fat or reduced-fat cheese Edam or cottage cheese
Creamy or cheesy sauce	Tomato- or vegetable-based sauces
Butter on bread	Lower-fat spread on bread. Look for the ones labelled ‘low in saturates’ or ‘low in saturated fat’ or ‘high in monounsaturates and polyunsaturates’
Butter, lard or ghee in cooking	Vegetable, olive or rapeseed oil
Cream or coconut cream	Reduced-fat yoghurt, reduced-fat crème fraiche
Ice cream	Frozen low-fat yoghurt
Speciality coffees (such as latte, cappuccino) made with full fat milk** Hot chocolate, instant malt drinks	Decaffeinated coffees made with skimmed milk (known as ‘skinny’), fruit/ herbal tea

* The Department of Health recommends that honey is fine for pregnant women but should not be given
to babies under a year old.
** The Department of Health recommends that it’s best not to have more than 200mg of caffeine per
day when you’re pregnant, which is roughly equivalent to two mugs of instant coffee or two mugs of tea

Watch this video on low-calorie sweeteners from the British Nutrition Foundation:

Sources

Galgani J, Ravussin E. Energy metabolism, fuel selection and body weight regulation, International Journal of Obestetrics, 2008, Dec;32 Suppl 7:S109-19.

Barger MK. Maternal nutrition and perinatal outcomes Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, 2010, Nov-Dec;55(6):502-11.

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