Delicious and Nutritious Lunch Ideas for Pregnant Women
Nutritious Lunch Ideas for Pregnancy
During pregnancy, what you eat plays a crucial role in fetal growth and development. These tasty lunch ideas for pregnant women are packed with essential nutrients to support the healthy development of your baby.
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The Best Lunch Ideas for Pregnant Women
Congratulations on your pregnancy! This is such an exciting and important time for yourself and your growing baby!
If you’ve found your way here, chances are you’re already aware of the dietary restrictions and beneficial foods for pregnancy. Feel free to explore:
- 5 Foods You Should Eat Every Day During Pregnancy
- 5 Surprising Foods You Should Avoid at All Costs While Pregnant
Taking a high quality prenatal vitamin with real folate is super important from the time you discover that you are pregnant. Actually from a month before conception is even better! But where the bulk of your nutrients need to come from is your diet!
RELATED: What is folate vs. folic acid and how to pick a prenatal whose nutrients your body can absorb.
It’s easier said than done when you’re battling morning sickness, feeling queasy at the smell of meat, and craving ice cream for lunch—maybe with a side of pickles? (Seriously, what’s up with that? I’ve never craved ice cream and pickles together, even through three pregnancies! Have you?)
Remember, you’re the sole provider of nutrients for your baby, fueling every cell of their growing body with each meal.
While your caloric needs only increase slightly during pregnancy, your nutritional needs often triple!
That’s why it’s crucial to enjoy delicious, satisfying, and nutrient-dense foods throughout your pregnancy. These lunch ideas for pregnant women are crafted with exactly that in mind: providing the essential nutrients for optimal fetal growth.
Why Healthy Lunch Ideas Matter During Pregnancy
Introducing The Perfect Pregnancy Plan, the latest and most advanced prenatal nutrition program tailored to meet your baby’s precise nutritional requirements.
Recent studies in prenatal epigenetics reveal that your diet during pregnancy can influence how your baby’s genes are expressed. In essence, you have the ability to activate beneficial genes and deactivate harmful ones through your prenatal nutrition.
Pretty amazing huh?
So if you are interested in knowing absolutely everything you could possibly want to know about optimal prenatal nutrition, check out the Perfect Pregnancy Plan now!
All of these absolutely mouthwatering lunches for pregnant women would align perfectly with the Perfect Pregnancy Plan diet and will help to meet your baby’s high nutritional needs.
The Best Healthy Lunch Ideas for Pregnant Women
1. Fritata
Quick and Easy Fritata from Carlsbad Cravings
Some people think of eggs as only being for breakfast but they are a far cry from it when you make this delicious fritata for your lunch or even dinner while pregnant!
Making a large fritata is a great way to have leftovers absolutely loaded with the best source of choline for your growing baby… eggs!
2. Grilled Salmon Salad
Grilled Salmon Salad from Delightful E Made Simple
This salad is absolutely loaded with the nutrients that are ideal for optimal prenatal nutrition for your growing baby! This salad is filled with tons of the top foods that you should be earing regularly during your pregnancy: spinach, avocado, salmon, eggs, and more!
Enjoy this perfect lunch for pregnant women as often as you’d like and feel confident you are helping your baby’s genetics the best you can!
3. White Bean and Kale Soup
White Bean and Kale Soup with Parmesan from Picky Eater Blog
This soup is a perfect lunch for your pregnancy because it is loaded with calcium. Did you know parmesan has more calcium than any other cheese?
White beans are one type of bean loaded with nutrition and has very high levels of folate, magnesium, and vitamin B6. And we all know kale is a great source of tons of micronutrients these days!
4. Slow Cooker Gluten Free Eggplant Parmesan
Gluten Free Slow Cooker Eggplant Parmesan from Wendy Polisi
This list of perfect lunches for your pregnancy is not only based on their nutritional value. I also selected these because of their ease in preparation and that most of them make multiple meals!
During your pregnancy you are going to be tired. So these nutritious meals are simple to make and you will have leftovers!
This gluten free eggplant parmesan is loaded with calcium (remember, parmesan has more than any other cheese.) It is a good idea to eat lower carbs during your pregnancy as a high carbohydrate diet has been known to be detrimental to the fetus.
5. Anti Nausea Pregnancy Smoothie
No More Nausea Pregnancy Smoothie from Swaddles n. Bottles
Pregnancy smoothies are a great idea to include in your prenatal diet. In fact in the most revolutionary prenatal nutrition program as of 2020 (and the most straightforward and easy to understand) The Perfect Pregnancy Plan, pregnancy smoothies are encouraged!
This recipe is great for breakfast or lunch, especially during the first trimester when morning sickness tends to be the most prevalent.
6. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork from Kim’s Cravings
You will see a lot of slow cooker recipes in this list of the best lunches for pregnant women. This is because slow cooking meat increases the glycine in it, which is vital to DNA synthesis of your baby! Pretty cool huh?
So this slow cooker pork is perfect to enjoy during your pergnancy! You can get creative with the bread too. Try gluten free breads, a corn tortilla, or cabbage leaves.
7. Classic Split Pea Soup
Classic Split Pea Soup from My Gourmet Connections
Once again this recipe is amazing for your pregnancy for so many reasons!
First slow cooked meat, second it’s fast and easy, and tons of other nutrients! If you have any doubts about eating ham while pregnant, know that risks of Listeria are removed if the meat is heated to steaming. And while slow cooking the meat will be steaming for hours! But if you are still leery, you can always leave the ham out.
8. Lamb Flatbreads
Leftover Lamb Flatbread from the Hungry Bluebird
Meat is an irreplaceable source of many of the nutrients that your growing baby requires in high amounts.
So why not switch it up with something more creative than normal like these delicious lamb flatbreads! Once again, you can replace up the wraps themselves with other alternatives if you like.
9. Pumpkin Spice Pregnancy Smoothie
Pumpkin Spiced Pregnancy Smoothie from The Perfect Pregnancy Plan
Pregnancy smoothies like this should be included in your prenatal diet up to every day!
This post is awesome because it teaches you exactly what you want to add to every pregnancy smoothie to make it a full meal (I would still add a snack with it like an apple, handful of nuts, or slice of cheese) that is loaded with the nutrients your baby needs all in one glass!
Wrapping Up Healthy Lunch Ideas for Pregnant Women
These lunch ideas are ideal for pregnancy because they go beyond just being delicious and satisfying; each meal is packed with essential nutrients that are crucial for optimal baby growth.
Foods like salmon, eggs, oysters, and steak are among the highest sources of key nutrients needed in significant amounts for proper fetal development.
If you want over 80 more recipes that are delicious and loaded with the nutrients you should be eating throughout your pregnancy, pick up The Perfect Pregnancy Plan now so you know exactly how to eat for optimal fetal growth and development.
