According to Dr. Mugdha Raut, Gynaecological Counsellor, "Pregnant women often lack proteins and other nutrition if they are strict vegetarians. However, this can be taken care of with a good and balanced diet with regular supplements prescribed by your doctor."

Proteins and Minerals

Milk and milk products are a good source of proteins. If you make paneer at home, the water can be used for cooking or while kneading the dough.

Cheese and butter should be eaten in a limited quantity though, because it has preservatives containing sodium. This can aggravate weight gain and swelling in your body.

For proteins, a combination of cereals and pulses is great. For example, idli, dosa, soya flour added in regular flour, etc. You can also have jowar and bajra rotis which are good sources of protein and minerals and they are not fattening either.

Fresh fruits and vegetables, vegetable juices are good sources of minerals too.

Dry fruits are very good for you as well. Apart from proteins, they also have certain oils that are good for you. You can have five almonds and five walnuts a day. If you like dry figs, having one per day is good. Also, ten black raisins a day can help tackle constipation.

Calcium Watch

A pregnant woman should consume 1000 milligrams of calcium throughout her pregnancy period. There is an additional need of about 250-300 milligrams during the last hundred days.

So, you can get this from milk and dairy products as well as bananas. Also, Ragi is a rich source of calcium.