Your food choices during pregnancy should be made with great thought and care for both your health and your developing baby. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), based in Washington, D.C., issued specific guidelines in 1990 about the amount of weight gain during pregnancy. Depending on how much a woman weighs prior to conception, the IOM concluded that the weight gain guidelines for pregnant women are the following:

Underweight – 29 to 40 pounds
Normal weight – 25 to 35 pounds
Overweight – 15 to 25 pounds
Obese – at least 15 pounds

"Many pregnant women should be on a 2,000-calorie diet, which is what the percents are based on," says Netty Levine, a registered dietitian at the Nutrition Counseling Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Your daily caloric intake should include foods that assist in providing the vital nutrients, vitamins and minerals your growing baby needs. Calcium-rich foods, including milk, yogurt and certain cheeses, are required for Baby's bone and teeth growth, muscle contraction and nerve function and should become a staple in all of your daily meals.

Ellen Landsberger, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women's health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., says diets rich in "whole grains, fruits and vegetables, with protein and healthy fats such as from olive oil, nuts, avocadoes and some fish, provide important vitamins and minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary for proper growth and development of the baby." It's not just the overall amount of food/calories, but the quality as well, she adds.

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