Making Good Food Choices

Making the right choices in eating is not as hard as you might think. We’d like for you to learn some basics first and then some ways to apply these basic principles to your food choices. So we’ve put together a table to help you get started on the path to making better food choices for your pregnancy and your life.

The Basics:
BAD	Better	Best
Highly Processed Food – (lots of additives or processed with high heat, such as canned or boxed food)	Minimal Processed Food – (look for fewer additives on the ingredients label and choose cold processed over heat processed, such as frozen)	Fresh Food is ALWAYS best!
Grains
BAD	Better	Best
6 or more servings per day or grain with every meal and as a snack.	Limit grains to only 3 servings of ONLY WHOLE grain per day and no more than 1 serving per meal.	2 or less servings per day and never more than 1 serving per meal.  If you are gestational diabetic this is especially what we recommend for you!
Refined: white	Whole grains	Organic whole non modified grains
Quick Fix Macaroni and Cheese from a box	Organic boxed macaroni and cheese with whole wheat macaroni	Homemade 100% whole wheat macaroni and cheese made from scratch.
99% of all boxed cold cereals – They all have added sugar.	Cheerios or Shredded Wheat without any sugar added with milk.	Cheerios or Shredded Wheat without any sugar added with unsweetened almond and/or coconut milk.
Pre-flavored instant oatmeal in a packet	Plain homemade oatmeal sweetened only with a little agave nectar and cinnamon.	Plain homemade oatmeal sweetened only with a little agave nectar and cinnamon and add a scrambled egg when cooking it.
White or brown wheat bread that is not 100% whole grain with or without sweeteners like honey	100% whole grain breads (not honey wheat)	Ezekiel Bread
Conventional spaghetti or other pasta	100% whole wheat spaghetti or pasta	Spaghetti squash used as a pasta substitute.
Crackers	100% whole grain crackers with little or no added sugar.	Homemade flax seed crackers
Fats
BAD	Better	Best
Hydrogenated and trans fats, Corn Oil (GMO), “Vegetable Oil” (GMO – Soy), etc		Cold processed Olive oil (only used cold), Coconut oil, grapeseed oil and Avocado oil may be used for cooking.
Margarine – most brands, regular and low fat – even the ones marked “healthy” are not! Margarine is basically plastic and not good for the human body!	Spreads made mainly with olive oil and/or yogurt and little or no preservatives	100% pure Butter from grass fed cows! (Kerryland is a good brand.)
Some notes regarding oils and fats: Any oil can become carcinogenic when heated too hot! But each one is different. For example olive oil is very “good” oil but should never be heated. It becomes carcinogenic at a much lower temperature than other oils. Coconut oil and avocado are both able to be heated at a much higher temperature and are healthier choices for cooking. Your baby needs good healthy fats for brain development! It is a myth that saturated fats are bad for you! There are several good sources to find more information about this fact but here is a good starting place: www.westonaprice.org
Fruits and Vegetables
BAD	Better	Best
Iceburg lettuce as your only lettuce	Iceburg mixed with other dark greens	Dark green lettuce, spinach, Kale, fresh herbs, etc.
Instant mashed potatoes from a box	Mashed potatoes from fresh potatoes with the skin included	Mashed cauliflower or a mix of 75% cauliflower and 25% potato.
Orange juice frozen or canned	Fresh squeezed orange juice from ONE orange	Eat the orange!
Jelly, jam, or other “fruit” spreads that have added sugar or artificial sweeteners added to them.	“All-fruit” jelly spread sweetened with fruit juice concentrate used in small amounts only (very concentrated).	Fresh fruit may be mashed and spread like a jelly.
Sweetened, canned or dried fruits –	Frozen fruits without sugar	Whole fresh fruit
If diabetic, fruits to avoid are bananas, grapes, watermelon	If diabetic, fruits to eat carefully and in smaller amounts are citrus, other melons	If diabetic the best fruits to eat safely are berries, apples and pears (limit fruits to only 3 servings a day if diabetic)
Meat/Protein Fish – Click here for more information regarding fish.
BAD	Better	Best
Processed and canned meats with nitrites, hormones and other harmful things.	Choose lean meat (fresh or frozen) if not hormone free	Grass fed, hormone free meats, fresh or frozen
Peanut butter with added sugar	Organic Peanut butter, no added sugar	Organic Almond Butter, no added sugar.
Sweetened nuts or salty nut mixes	Roasted nuts, plain unsalted	Raw nuts
Chicken “nuggets” from most fast food restaurants and anything frozen that has a distinct shape and size.	Select chicken that has only been cut, not chopped and formed into a shape. There are a few products and restaurants that sell chicken “bites” like this.	Make your own from whole fresh chicken and better yet, don’t add breading or fry. Grill or bake them.
Canned, frozen or otherwise processed chicken parts and pieces (high sodium and other bad for you ingredients added)	Fresh chicken – always better to buy a chicken that is whole rather than to buy just parts. Parts often come from what is left over after defects and tumors are cut off the chicken during the processing.	Grass fed, free range whole chickens
Most “lunch meats” or bacon —   anything with nitrites or sugar added (most lunch meats and bacon usually have nitrites and sugar added)	Look for “no sugar added” bacon and also look for products with “no nitrites” – Boar’s Head brand never uses nitrites and has some sugar free as well.	Make your own lunch meat from fresh cut meats, slow roasted, slice and use for sandwiches, etc. – Avoid bacon.

Dairy

BAD	Better	Best
Whole regular cow’s milk and Soy Milk	Organic cow’s milk (no hormones)Unsweetened brown rice milk	Unsweetened almond milk and/or coconut milk – other unsweetened nut milks are also good.
Ice Cream and other prepackaged frozen treats	Frozen yogurt – be aware of “no sugar added” products because most have artificial sweeteners.	A small fruit smoothie made with fresh or frozen fruit and plain yogurt or Kefir with no added sugar. – add supergreens and/or non-soy protien powder to make it GREAT!
Processed cheese (sandwich slices, “Velveeta”, cheese in a jar, etc.)Soy cheese substitutes – Soy should be greatly limited while pregnant because it raises estrogen and most soy in the US is genetically modified	Low fat cheeses are best if not choosing organic or hormone free	Organic, hormone free cheese
Snacks
BAD	Better	Best
Sweetened nuts or salty nut mixes	Roasted nuts, plain unsalted	Raw nuts
Peanut butter with added sugar	Organic Peanut butter, no added sugar	Organic Almond Butter, no added sugar.
Crunchy deep fried potato chips or French fries	Commercially prepared oven-baked chips	Homemade oven “fries” made with spray olive oil (sweet potato or Irish potato or other vegetables may be used)Kale chips
Microwave or movie pop corn	Organic popcorn from a package	Pop organic pop corn in a pan with virgin coconut oil, salt with sea salt, no added oils or butter
Salty Pretzels, snack crackers, most prepackaged salty snacks	Homemade pop corn	Celery sticks with or without an organic nut butter.
Other
BAD	Better	Best
Sandwich made with “regular” bread.	Sandwich made with 100% whole grain bread or whole grain wrap	Lettuce Wraps – try your “sandwich” in a lettuce wrap!
Carbonated drinks of any kind. Sugar and artificial sweeteners are all bad. Carbonation also causes problems.	Tea unsweetened or sweetened with Stevia or brown rice syrup	WATER, may add fresh fruit to “flavor” or red raspberry leaf tea unsweetened or sweetened with Stevia.
Brownies and other typical desserts made from sugar or artificial sweeteners	Any dessert made primarily with fruit with very little sugar (no artificial sweetener either)	Raw Brownies made from just cocoa, dates, and nuts – ask us for the recipe!
Most commercially made pizza	Homemade pizza made with a whole grain crust and fresh ingredients	Homemade pizza made with cauliflower and/or zucchini crust instead of a bread crust.