Key Nutrients for the First Trimester
If you recently got a positive pregnancy test and are wondering what nutrients are the most important for you right now - you’re in the right place!
You can go ahead and download this First Trimester Grocery List to use as a handy resource, and keep reading to learn more about the key nutrients to focus on right now and why they’re so important for you and your baby.
Nutrition for pregnancy can be totally overwhelming - but we do things differently here. You’ll find lots of realistic, practical tips in the blog posts and nutrition guides, as well as evidence-based priorities you can trust. Nothing has to be perfect!
As you step into the first trimester, you may experience a whirlwind of changes — physical, mental, and emotional. As you navigate this period, you’ll want to prioritize your nutrition to support your health and your baby's growth and development.
First-trimester nutrition is crucial for providing the nutrients your baby needs for healthy development and helping you manage side effects like food aversions, nausea, and morning sickness. Food is truly medicine in pregnancy!
What nutrients are important during the first trimester of pregnancy?
The first trimester is a key time in pregnancy as your baby grows so quickly!
The first trimester is when cells divide and specify (meaning they get specific instructions to become your baby’s organs, limbs, and tissues!).
In just a handful of weeks, the foundation of every single body system, organ, and even the nervous system is created. It’s truly an amazing time of rapid growth and development, and one that relies upon lots of key nutrients.
To fuel this stage, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting enough priority nutrients including folate, choline, vitamin B12 and protein. Let’s look at these one at a time and talk amazing foods to include for each!
Folate
Folate is a B vitamin that is needed for DNA replication and optimal growth and development, especially for your baby’s brain and nervous system. Research shows that getting enough lowers risks for both you and baby and can prevent neural tube defects and other complications, which happen very early in pregnancy, which is why it’s best to prioritize folate before you’re even pregnant - ideally 3-6 months before or more.
You need more folate in pregnancy than you did before, and your body can’t create it - you need to get it from foods or supplements to have enough to meet the demands of pregnancy, so it’s a great one to prioritize when making your day-to-day meals
Your best high folate foods include spinach, asparagus, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lentils, sunflower seeds, almonds, and peanuts.
Another great tip is to pair these foods with vitamin C-rich options (oranges, strawberries, bell peppers, kiwis) tohelp your body absorb the folate better. Try to eat these foodsraw or lightly cooked to avoid losing the folate during cooking.
Choline
Choline is crucial for your baby’s brain development and cognitive function. But guess what? Research estimates that almost all of us - about 95% - aren’t getting in enough, so it’s up there on our list of priorities!
Choline is so important for your baby’s brain development that research shows getting in enough may reduce the likelihood of neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism and have lifelong impacts on child attention, focus, social and behaviour development and more.
The official recommendation is to get in 450mg of choline a day, but new research shows optimal outcomes with neurodevelopment at double this amount - at 930mg per day.
The easiest way to increase the amount of choline in your diet is to start to eat more eggs!
Each egg has about 150mg so enjoying them daily is a great goal! Remember to always eat the yolk - that’s where all the choline is (no more egg white omelets!).
Other high-choline foods include liver, meat, fish, and dairy products.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is important for the cell division and differentiation that’s happening in the first trimester and it supports red blood cell formation and neurological function.
Getting enough B12 is especially important in times like the first trimester when there is rapid brain development occurring, and your daily vitamin B12 needs rise significantly now that you’re pregnant (you need more than double!) from 2.4 to 6.0 μg per day.
Your best sources of vitamin B12 are those that come from animal proteins like beef, organ meat, poultry, and fish.
Because it is hard to find vitamin B12 in plant foods, if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, it’s likely that getting enough B12 will involve eating eggs and dairy (if you’re vegetarian) as well as fortified foods, like plant-based milks and grains, alongside a high quality prenatal multivitamin that includes B12.
Protein
Protein is essential for your baby's growth and development and is one of the most important nutrients to focus on in the first trimester.
Your high protein foods - like beef, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, beans, and legumes also happen to be sources of many of the nutrients we’ve talked about already, so it’s a win-win!
Prioritizing protein in every meal you eat will also help you manage any first trimester nausea that comes up as it’s a critical aspect of avoiding high blood sugar, which can be a trigger for morning sickness and increase your risk of pregnancy complications.
In the first trimester, the official guidelines state that your protein needs are the same as they were prior to pregnancy at around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. That being said, new research suggests you likely need more protein, and increasing your protein is a great habit to practice now because your protein needs go up significantly through-out your pregnancy.
To read more about your protein needs for pregnancy and to calculate your personalized protein needs, read the“Protein: What you need for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding and How to Get In More” blog and download the free Essential Pregnancy & Postpartum Protein Guide!
Managing common first trimester side effects with food
The first trimester often brings about common side effects like food aversions, nausea, vomiting, and food guilt. If any of these are coming up for you, you’re not alone!
The good news is there are food and nutrition-related strategies to manage these common side effects.
Food Aversions
Many women experience food aversions due to hormone changes. To manage them, listen to your body's signals and choose foods that you find more tolerable. Opt for cold or room temperature foods with mild flavors and avoid strong odors that can trigger nausea.
Nausea and Vomiting (Morning Sickness)
Hormone changes, odor sensitivity, and gastrointestinal issues can all contribute to nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Focusing on protein, eating small, frequent meals and snacks, and experimenting with ginger tea, peppermint tea, and sour foods can help minimize the nausea you’re experiencing.
To learn more about this read the “What To Eat with Pregnancy Nausea” blog and download the free Pregnancy Nausea Nutrition Guide.
Food Guilt
Food guilt is a common yet often overlooked experience during pregnancy. It's natural to be concerned about your food choices and how they impact your baby, especially when you’re not feeling well.
If you can relate to this, remember to be kind to yourself and know that some less healthy foods in moderation are okay. The most important thing is to get enough calories and stay hydrated. This phase is temporary, so focus on doing the best you can with small, gradual changes as you can manage them.
Your First Trimester Grocery List
To help you follow all of these recommendations and get in the key nutrients for the first trimester, we have put together a comprehensive first-trimester grocery list for you!
This first trimester grocery list features a variety of nutrient-rich foods to support your health and your baby's during this critical stage of pregnancy while considering the realities of the first trimester. [Download Your Free First Trimester Grocery List Here]