Vegetarian diet examples
Many vegetarian women have normal, healthy pregnancies and give birth to healthy babies, as well as breastfeed successfully on diets without meat. The key to supporting this is to plan your diet carefully to ensure you have a wide variety of foods to obtain all the nutrients you and your baby require, as well as sufficient energy to maintain your weight and help your baby to grow.
Vegetarian diets generally provide more than adequate amounts of the recommended daily intakes of most vitamins and minerals. However, calling a diet 'vegetarian' is a loose description and the nutritional adequacy of your food intake will depend on the type of vegetarian diet you have.
If you have a:
Lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, then you will not eat meat, chicken, fish or seafood, but will include animal derived foods such as milk and eggs. This type of diet usually has no difficulty providing the energy and protein needed to support pregnancy and breastfeeding. Legumes (and products made from them, such as peanut butter, tofu and tempeh) are usually eaten in place of meats. A vegetarian diet that includes milk and eggs will meet most women's nutritional needs quite easily, except perhaps for iron.
Lacto-vegetarian diet, then you will include milk and milk products, but not eggs, meat, chicken, fish or seafood. This type of diet may require careful attention to protein intakes, as well as iron.
Vegan diet, you will not include any animal products of any kind, nor any foods derived from animals. This includes milk, eggs, meat, chicken, fish or seafood. Other terms used to describe a vegan diet are 'total vegetarians', 'strict vegetarians' or 'pure vegetarians'. Women with this type of diet need to carefully consider how they will obtain enough iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and zinc.
The following are aspects of a vegetarian diet that need special attention, especially during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
Protein
Calcium