Eating for Pregnancy: The Essential Nutrition guide and cookbook is a wonderful tool for all women, especially pregnant women. Whether you know a lot or know nothing about healthy eating for mommy and baby, this book has something for everyone. The cookbook is not only full of delicious recipes (who says you have to be pregnant to make them?!), but also very helpful information on foods the baby needs and that your body needs to help sustain the pregnancy and keep you healthy. Along with these delicious recipes that are easy to make and are what I would consider “normal”. The recipes are not flamboyant, but everyday pantry items or easy to find in you local grocery store. There is also a ton of helpful information to help answer any pregnancy questions in regards to your diet and what you should or shouldn’t be eating. Some of these questions include; “What should I be eating? What is dangerous and why? If I eat this how is it benefiting the baby and I?” There is also a section for your last 9 months after baby is born. The exercises and eating tips are designed to help you loose the baby weight and regain your body!

This book is truly for those considering having a baby to those who have had their baby and everyone in between! Among the many helpful tidbits of information you will find helpful list that give sources of fiber, vitamin C, and other important nutrients. There is information on how much fish, water, vitamins, and other items that you should or shouldn’t be consuming. The recipes are in convenient categorized sections and come complete in a seven day menu planner. The author gives a list of pantry items needed for each categorized chapter of recipes along with time saving tips, storage tips, conversion charts and a variety of other very helpful pieces of information. The recipes range from breakfast to dinner with snack and vegetarian dishes. Eating for Pregnancy will quickly become a part of your family even after your baby is born. The recipes are for families too!

If your pregnant, planning to get pregnant, recently had your baby, are a health care professional or simply like to collect cookbooks or are interested in good nutrition, Eating for Pregnancy is for you! It would also make a wonderful gift for any expectant mother to be! It is well worth the time and money.

Reviewed on 05/06/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Tiffany Schlarman

Reviewed on 01/17/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Kathleen Albertson

“Eating for Pregnancy, the Essential Nutrition Guide and Cookbook for Today’s Mother’s-to-Be”, is truly a book that every woman should own. With advice ranging from before conception until after you have had your child, Catherine Jones and Rose Anne Hudson, RD, LD, offer practical, sound advice for today’s mothers. “Eating for Pregnancy”, is more than just a cookbook it’s a complete guide on how to obtain the nutriantes that you and your baby need that offers advice and helpfully hints along the way. With 150 delicious recipes provided for you ranging from Breakfast Pizza Pancakes, Butternut Squash-Carrot Soup, Gazpacho, to Chicken Salad with Dried Apricots and Almonds, Southern Style Potato Casserole, Moroccan Style Stew, and Pumpkin Pie, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. With each recipe being jammed packed with essential nutrients you know you are getting what you and your baby need.

“Eating for Pregnancy, The Essential Guide and Cookbook for Today’s Mother’s-to-Be”, is the wise choice when selecting a guide for any mother-to-be. A perfect gift that contains advice, helpful hints, recipes, and much more. With the chapters broken down into breakfast, soups and sandwiches, salad and dips, vegetarian and vegan, main course, and desserts. Also provided for the mother-to-be, are lists of helpful items to have on hand. “Eating for Pregnancy, The Essential Guide and Cookbook for Today’s Mother’s-to-Be”, is filled with so much sound practical advice and information that this book should be a must have any woman.

Reviewed on 10/20/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Angela Simmons

Catherine Jones and Rose Ann Hudson’s book Eating for Pregnancy: The Essential Nutrition Guide and Cookbook for Today’s Mothers-to-Be is exactly what it claims to be: essential for anyone expecting. There is valuable information to be gained from this book for any pregnant woman. Contrary to popular belief, being pregnant is not an excuse to live on pickles and spicy ethnic food. It is a chance to take care of our babies long before we can ever hold them. What we eat, our babies eat, and that is the basic idea Jones and Hudson focus on in this book.

This eating guide is more than a book; it is a virtual tomb of important, yet simple to understand guidelines for taking care of our babies by looking more closely at what we put into our mouths. The information is split into three sections: nutritional information you need to know while you’re pregnant, healthy recipes, and post-pregnancy nutritional information. The nutritional information is very thorough, but laid out in easy-to-understand language. Topics covered include weight gain, essential minerals and vitamins, high-risk pregnancies, planning a healthy diet, nutrition for breastfeeding mothers, alleviating postpartum depression, and staying in shape after giving birth.  There are even exercises with pictures to help you get back your pre-baby body.  It has all the information I ever wondered about and more! I was able to find the answers to all the nutrition questions I had.

While the nutritional information is interesting, I’d be lying if I didn’t say my favorite part was the recipes! There are 150 nutrient-packed and great tasting recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. The recipes also cover soups and salads, snacks, and meals for vegetarians or vegans. Before I got into this book, I was assuming that while these foods would be good for me, they would taste terribly. I decided that it was a small sacrifice to pay for my baby’s health, but I was incredibly surprised by how tasty these recipes were. My favorites are Banana Muffins with Walnuts and Wheat Germ, Super Fruit Smoothies, Grilled Cheese, Pasta Salad with Basil Pesto, Spinach Dip, Cucumber-Tomato Yogurt Salad, Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili, Southern-Style Sweet Potato Casserole, Chicken with Homemade Barbecue Sauce, Homemade Chicken Tenders, Pumpkin Pie, Carrot Cake with Cream-Cheese Frosting, and Walnut Spice Coffee Cake. The list of recipes I liked from this book is much longer than those I didn’t really care for. I haven’t tried all the recipes, but I plan on using this book throughout my pregnancy and even after! These recipes really are good enough to eat without being pregnant. Just ask my husband!

Reviewed on 10/08/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Rebecca Boudin

Reviewed on 09/21/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Tina Evans