The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy: The Surprising Unbiased Truth about Foods You Should be Eating During Pregnancy but Probably Aren't

Let me start by saying that overall I got what I wanted from this book, which was some succinct answers to "Must eat more food, so what should it be??" It's organized by trimester, focusing on the particular functions each food fulfills, which is pretty sensible. Unfortunately, being further organized by food item means it's extremely repetitive: While the book starts out with a section on "Key Nutrients", every food entry recaps the discussion of the different nutrients it contains, which means every time a recommended food contains iron, you get reminded what iron does for your growing baby and body. Guess what? It's the same thing every time! You need it to build blood! To transport oxygen! Which gives you energy! So eat your way out of fatigue by enjoying [food X]! But I guess if they left out all the redundancy, the book would have been too short to charge $10 for.The book is touted as being written by two nutritionists, but the general nutritional advice is none too cutting-edge and at times even a bit schizophrenic. Eat low-fat ("please!", they say more than once, as though you might do it as a personal favor to them if no other reason gets through). But of course SOME fats are GOOD fats, so do eat those! But not too much! Oh, but incidentally your baby's brain will be made up of 60% fat! (I think the relentless chatty use of exclamation points started to get to me too.) The entry on Leeks in the first trimester enthuses that they contain 9mg of the 450mg of choline you should consume per day: 2% of your RDA? Really? Choline is cited elsewhere as being plentiful in eggs, anchovies, turkey and salmon -- but liver is only mentioned twice even in passing, and other organ meats (kidneys, brains) not once in the entire book. The entry on broth literally starts out "It's definitely not the healthiest food on earth" -- though it goes on to make clear that that's because they're talking about commercial bouillon cubes (!), useful mostly for its sodium/potassium and water content, with zero mention of the impressive mineral (and glucosamine and collagen) content of properly made bone broth. Oh, and don't bother looking for research citations regarding either fetal development or nutritional recommendations -- this book doesn't give any.I found "Jonny's Tasty Tips" a mix of useful and off-putting, perhaps because it means Jonny's name is mentioned on practically every page while Allison (ostensibly the primary author) mostly goes nameless, meaning that (a) it's hard to tell who is "I" at any given point and (b) the uses of such exotic foods as bananas and mushrooms get thoroughly mansplained to you, the hormonally challenged lady reader. More illustrative overall would have been sample daily menus (even one or two for each trimester) showing how the nutrient density of the highlighted foods provides the recommended micronutrients within what they think are good target levels of macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs) and calories.The most useful piece of advice in the entire book is right on page 1 in the preface, so here it is: Take fish oil supplements. Preferably also evening primrose oil. Most Americans (and especially women) get way below the recommended amounts of omega-3s, and you're unlikely to consume enough quality fish to reap all the benefits of higher levels, so do it. You're welcome. To be fair, I won't spoil the rest of their lists -- if you want to flesh out your shopping list, go ahead and buy the book. It's worthwhile for that. Just don't expect it to serve as your nutrition bible.

I didn't feel very prepared for my last pregnancy or birth, so with this one, I started pretty much devouring books on pregnancy diet and health as soon as morning sickness passed enough that I could enjoy a book! This book is AWESOME. I wish I could buy a copy for every friend I have ever had who is in child-bearing mode.The book is broken down into sections: not only first, second, and third trimester "best foods", but also foods for breastfeeding and foods that fight against post-partum depression. Each chapter lists some facts about that stage of pregnancy and the best foods they're about to cover, along with vitamins and nutrients that are necessities for that period of time and their recommended daily values. Then, with every page there is a different food, its nutritional values at-a-glance, and explanations of why it's good for you, precautions to take (if any), some quick recipes (Jonny's Tasty Tips), and some interesting facts or figures on eating that particular food. I find this a great way to layout the book for the following reasons: You can read what you want when you have a few minutes. Each page is a new food, so you can pop open the book at any time and digest some facts or quick snack recipes without committing to reading a whole section or chapter. Also, if there's a food you just absolutely do not want to eat (for me? anchovies!), you can skim or skip that page. I really find the writing down-to-earth and easy to relate to; the book presents figures and statistics where necessary, but on the whole it's just like sitting down with a friend and having her tell you about a great new healthy food or recipe she's tried.In response to the two negative reviews: There are a couple of foods mentioned in the book that are sometimes not recommended for pregnant women, like during a certain trimester or when prepared a certain way. It is, as always, up to you to decide what you are going to eat based on the information presented.I'm SO glad I bought this book with my last bunch. It's one I'll keep with my regularly-used cookbooks and kitchen references until our family is complete! I also bought two of Jonny Bowden's other books, so I am excited about reading those as well.

DR. B, just want to say I truly LOVE all your books and programmes! A must have for an expecting mom, even if you are pregnant for the 10th time in a row!

Have a couple of Jonny Bowden's books and I love them.They are easy to read and really motivate me to eat healthily.Bought this for a pregnant friend and she thinks it is great.Brilliant for all Mum's to be!

The book looks interesting but soon I realized the person who wrote it did not do much research on the topic. Some of the food advocated as "healthy during pregnancy" is actually dangerous, so I ended up questioning every food in it, and so it was useless.A previous reviewer has commented on camomile, I agree with that; paediatricians will recommend you to abstain from drinking it. The same applies to other infusions mentioned in the book -- while it's not clear that they are "bad" for the baby, there is no rigorous scientific evidence that they are safe.Similarly, tuna is definitely not one of the "100 healthiest" foods to eat during pregnancy, due to its high content of mercury. This is pretty basic standard stuff and I was shocked to see it in the list.Ask your OBS/GYN about what to avoid, read a well documented book such as Emily Oster's "Expecting better" -- and don't buy this book.