Pregnancy Appetite, Nutrition, and Weight Gain

When you're pregnant, you shouldn't feel like you're starving all the time. Try to eat frequently, but in small quantities. This is not the time to diet or limit calories, or to worry about how much you're eating. Instead, look at how you're approaching food to keep on top of your pregnancy nutrition and weight gain.

Your food choices contribute to how full or hungry you feel. Foods that are higher in protein like dairy, meat, beans, nuts and tofu will keep you feeling full longer and are great for small meals and snacks. Foods high in natural or processed sugars, such as fruit or desserts, will make you feel full initially. But as the sugar in your system drops, you'll become hungry again, often within an hour or two of eating. Foods high in empty calories like soda, chips and cookies will give you calories (and result in weight gain) but have little nutritional value.