Healthy eating means eating a balanced diet and avoiding foods high in fat and sugar, such as cakes and biscuits. The Food Standards Agency (FSA undated: a) recommends eating a variety of foods while trying to conceive, including:
• Fruit and vegetables – these can be fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or a glass of juice. Aim for at least five portions a day.
• Carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes.
• Protein such as lean meat and chicken, fish, eggs and pulses (beans and lentils).
• Fish, at least twice a week, including some oily fish, but don’t have more than two portions of oily fish a week. This includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which does not count as oily fish), mackerel, sardines and trout.
• Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt, which contain calcium.
• Iron rich foods, such as red meat, pulses, dried fruit, bread, green vegetables and fortified breakfast cereals, to build up your resources of iron in preparation for pregnancy.
It helps your body to absorb iron if you have some food or drink containing vitamin C, such as fruit or vegetables, or a glass of fruit juice with any iron-rich meals.
Take a vitamin supplement