
Healthy Eating & Weight Gain in Pregnancy
Eating well is important for a healthy pregnancy. Making healthy food choices will
- Help your baby grow and develop.
- Give you more energy.
- Help you gain a healthy amount of weight.
Here are some tips for eating well during pregnancy.
- Enjoy a variety of foods from Canada's Food Guide.
- Use the Eat Well Plate to help you follow Canada’s Food Guide when planning and serving meals.
- Eat two food guide servings (150 grams) of fish per week. Choose fish that are low in mercury. Examples include salmon, tilapia, sole, herring, trout and canned light tuna.
- Drink water regularly when you are thirsty. Limit sugary drinks such as pop, fruit drinks, iced tea, sports drinks and flavoured coffee or tea drinks.
- Learn about foods to avoid and how to prepare foods safely from Health Canada.
Take a multivitamin containing folic acid and iron.
Pregnant women need to take a multivitamin containing folic acid and iron every day. Talk to your health care provider about which multivitamin is right for you.
Weight gain is a natural part of pregnancy.
- Healthy weight gain helps your baby grow and develop and can lower the risk of health problems for you and your baby.
- The amount of weight you should gain depends on how much you weighed before you became pregnant.
- Use the Pregnancy Weight Gain Calculator to find out what a healthy weight gain is for you.
- Visit UnlockFood.ca for tips on healthy weight gain during pregnancy.
- Talk to your health care provider about your weight gain during pregnancy.
Where to get more information or help
- Your health care provider
- Speak to a Registered Dietitian by calling Telehealth Ontario. Toll-free: 1-866-797-0000 Toll-free TTY: 1-866-797-0007
- Healthy Eating for a Healthy Baby (English); also available in French Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu
Contact us
For more information:
Phone: 905-546-3550
Email: [email protected]
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