The Healthy Pregnancy Eating Guide has covered the basics, the nutrients, and the pregnancy power foods but if this feels like too much information then you can say ‘talk to the hand’.  Yep, that’s right – that phrase finally has an appropriate use.  If calorie reading and memorizing food sources of nutrients feels like a mission impossible right now, which for some mums it does, you can simply talk to the hand to help you remember what you need to eat every day for a healthy pregnancy and to support your growing tummy.

Remember those hand outlines you did as kid? Typically they were reduced to a holiday turkey picture but now there is another use. You can use the picture below if you’d like or break out the crayons and use your dominant hand to trace the outline of your non-dominant hand on a plain piece of paper (or construction paper if you want to have fun with it).  Starting with the thumb and moving toward the pinky, label the following:

 1. Water   2.Whole Grains  3.Veggies/Leafy Greens   4. Fruit/Vitamin C  5. Protein

Then, in the center of the hand write in prenatal vitamins. There you have it – your Healthy Pregnancy Eating Guide right in the palm of your hands.  Keep this handy picture on the fridge to remind you to eat at least a few servings from each of those groups every day.  The vitamin reminder is there to help the mommy brain that may lapse on actually taking those vitamins even though they are sitting right on the counter.  For specific serving sizes and ideas for foods you should review the nutrients section of the Healthy Pregnancy Feeding Guide while using this simple tool to help you put it all together.