Eating for Pregnancy: Your Essential Month-by-Month Nutrition Guide and Cookbook, 3rd Edition

By: Catherine Jones and Rose Ann Hudson with Teresa Knight
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Publication Date: July 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7382-8510-8
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: October 2019

Eating for Pregnancy is a fantastic guide to source if you are the expectant momma who is committed to embracing the concept of ‘you are what you eat’ and making the right choices of what you eat for your unborn child.

This book encompasses an overarching and solid guideline of insights and nutritional facts that focus on the importance and essence of making healthy food and life choices from conception to delivery of one’s unborn child. Speaking from my experience with my first pregnancy, I had no idea where to look or what to consider once I knew I was pregnant. Of course, the guidance and care of my physician was key, but the everyday in between as the baby developed was a mystery to me. In Eating for Pregnancy, the ‘what to do and what not to do’ is spelled out throughout the book. It is broken down into the three trimesters of pregnancy and provides not only the changes a woman’s body goes through in each phase, but provides the critical needs an expectant mother must consider to not only develop a healthy child, but to nurture and take care of her ‘body/temple’ along the way as well.

Early in the read, each author takes a moment to introduce herself and provide credentials that solidify why they are knowledgeable and equipped to lay out the read. The book then launches into the daily nutritional needs during each trimester of pregnancy. The information is provided in easy to read charts that outline not only caloric needs, but how to attain healthy choices to satisfy the necessary caloric intake. It delves further into the average weight gain during pregnancy and how the weight gain should be attained in a healthy fashion. This book is not preachy by any means and it breaks down the scientific reasons for the weight gain with a guide to follow to make sure the expectant mother is taking the proper balance for healthy gain. There is an abundance of recipes ranging from meal entrees to soups, salads and desserts that maximize on the correct balance to strike in order to insure a viable pregnancy.

After reading Eating for Pregnancy, my first thought was: I wish this book was around when I had my second child. My first pregnancy was textbook in that I did ‘everything right’ and delivered a healthy baby girl. I got back to my ‘fighting weight’ in a mere couple of months and was ready to take on the world. My second pregnancy was a completely different experience. While I delivered another healthy baby girl, my food choices and weight gain were off the charts. I didn’t eat poorly. Rather, I ate a lot. With Eating for Pregnancy, there is scientific and nutritional information throughout the read that supports not only the importance of maintaining a diet that is just as important for mother as it is for the unborn child, but it educates the reader along the way. I especially enjoyed the abundance of recipes that contain wonderful ingredients and nutritional information as much as they strategically focus on what nutrition is vital during specific periods of the pregnancy. In my opinion, this book may be targeted to the importance of developing the healthiest baby possible, but I believe it also sets the tone and foundation of smart food choices and nutrition as a lifestyle beyond delivery. Well done!

Quill says: Eating for Pregnancy is a fantastic, one-stop, nutritional guide for all expectant mothers that also lays the foundation for overall healthy nutrition beyond pregnancy.

For more information on Eating for Pregnancy, please visit the author's website at: www.catherinejonescookbooks.com