Snacking during pregnancy is the best way to get all the nutrition you need. Eating small, frequent meals helps alleviate the queasiness in the first trimester. And as the pregnancy advances, snacking helps keep hunger pangs at bay, and is probably the only the way to ease indigestion, by decreasing the load on your digestive system.

Indulging in your cravings for foods high in calories, fat or sugar is harmless if its once in a while, though over-indulgence could lead to excessive weight gain. Pregnancy is the right time to adopt a healthy diet, as junk foods like chips, sweets and aerated drinks contain only empty and not much of nutrition.

By choosing your snacks wisely, you can add important nutrients to your daily diet. Small amounts of healthy foods throughout the day will provide a steadier flow of nutrients and energy to the developing fetus. Here are a few healthy snack options that would be beneficial for baby and you:
 

Healthy Snack Options

• Fruits – Stock chopped fruits in the refrigerator and snack on them whenever hungry. Avoid adding sugar syrup
• Soy Milk – Plain or flavoured, these are now available in handy packs that are easy to carry. One bottle of soy milk will supply about one-third of your daily Calcium and Vitamin D needs during pregnancy
• Salads – Carrots, tomato, spinach, celery, cucumber, zucchini, raisins and nuts all make excellent salads. You can add chickpeas and kidney beans for a protein boost
• Baby Carrots – Packed with Vitamin A and fiber, these make excellent snacks on their own
• Calcium-fortified Orange Juice – A rich source of Vitamin C and Calcium
• Yogurt – A nutritious snack, which can provide 25% of your daily calcium requirement, protein, fiber, and several other necessary vitamins and minerals
• Milk Shake and fresh fruit smoothies – apart from being highly nutritious, these are an excellent alternative for ice cream
• Vegetable or chicken sandwiches with banana – a complete meal in itself
• A mixture of non-sugary cereals, nuts and raisins – keep the mixture in a jar and snack on it whenever you are hungry
• Low-fat granola bars and whole-grain biscuits are convenient to carry to work and on long car rides