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Healthy Eating During Preconception

Good Nutrition While You're Trying to Conceive

By Alison Gamble

Congratulations! You and your partner are planning a pregnancy. Planning for a pregnancy is the ideal way to go, although I know many times it doesn't always happen that way.

If you are reading this article, I will give you the benefit of the doubt; I will assume you are giving yourselves one year at the most, and three months at the least, to prepare physically.

One of the many concerns women have is centered around weight gain. I hear many women in conversation saying, "I don't want to get pregnant because I am going to gain all that weight!" True, nobody wants to gain 25-plus pounds and then never lose it again. However, I believe if you take care of yourself before you conceive and continue to follow through during your pregnancy and after, returning to your original weight is possible. It may take work, but no one ever said life was easy. You are going to have a child (the biggest challenge of all), so comparatively speaking, living a healthy lifestyle is a piece of cake!

One of the first things I would do is purchase a good pregnancy book. I highly recommend Elizabeth Somer M.A., R.D.'s Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy: The Complete Guide to Eating Before, During and After Your Pregnancy (Henry Holt & Company, 1995). Somer does an excellent job of putting together an easily understandable explanation of what to eat, what changes to expect, great tips, recipes – you name it, she covers it. It is a very thorough book on nutrition and pregnancy.

Second, look at your lifestyle. Are you leading a healthy life? Are you within 10 percent of your ideal body weight? To figure out your ideal body weight (for women only), you give 100 pounds for the first 5 feet, and 5 pounds for each additional inch. Then, divide your current weight by the ideal body weight. Example: You weigh 145 pounds and your ideal body weight is 125 pounds (you are 5 feet, 5 inches tall), then you are 116 percent of your ideal body weight. I like to adjust +/- 10 percent to the ideal body weight because sometimes that weight is not realistic for that particular woman. (If you are under 5 feet tall, subtract 2 pounds for every inch under.)

Want to see more?

• Preconception Visits: Working with Your Doctor
• Ready, Set, Conceive!: Preconception Planning for a Healthy Pregnancy
• Upping the Odds: Doing Your Best to Conceive
• Check out our Article Library.
• Talk about it!