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 your pre-baby body back. 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!