Make Your Plate Colorful

“Make your plate colorful,” she had advised, and the late-summer bounty makes that easy: into the cart go red tomatoes (full of beneficial carotenoids), orange yams (rich in vitamin A), and green spinach (lots of calcium and iron). Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables of different colors, Michels had explained, ensures that you’re getting a full complement of micronutrients. Now I add a couple of avocados, full of B vitamins, plus potassium; a few bunches of broccoli, rich in riboflavin and folic acid; and handfuls of cherries, an excellent source of vitamins A and C. Passing over my usual salad greens—the relatively low-nutrient romaine—I scoop up some arugula, which is high in vitamin K and is one of the few foods aside from fish that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Next stop is the bread and cereal aisle. I look for products with whole grains, and check the ingredients list, as Michels had instructed: the shorter, the better. I find a toasty-brown loaf made of just whole-wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt, and plunk it into my cart; boxes of whole-grain crackers and cereal follow. Now I’m on a roll. Off the shelf comes a big bottle of olive oil, a healthy, monounsaturated fat. A few pounds of beans, which provide protein without the saturated fat of red meat. A dozen eggs rich in choline, a B-complex vitamin that’s a building block for the neurotransmitters necessary for learning and cognition. And some nuts for snacking: almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts, all rich in nutrients like vitamin B-6, and in minerals like copper, magnesium, and manganese. Nuts appear to be safe to eat during pregnancy, Michels told me; if I had a family history of severe food allergies, she said, I might avoid highly allergenic peanuts just to be safe. I even brave the seafood department, buying a half-dozen creamy scallops, low in mercury and high in vitamin E.

A good survey of healthy foods to buy when pregnant.