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Your trimester meal plan

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First trimester 

Click here to download your first trimester meal plan.

Second trimester 

Click here to download your second trimester meal plan.

Third trimester 

Click here to download your third trimester meal plan.

Food exchanges 

If there are any foods listed in these plans that you don't eat you can swop them with an alternative food from the lists below. For example if the plan indicates that you are allowed 1 starch (2 rice cakes), you can swop these for other starch servings below. 

*= Give preference to these foods as they have a low GI and sustain you for longer.

Starch servings

  • 1 slice wholewheat bread/rye bread
  • 1 slice health bread/seed bread/low-GI bread*
  • 3 Provitas*
  • 2 Ry-vitas*
  • 2 Rice cakes 
  • 1 Weetbix*
  • ½ cup All Bran flakes/Hi-Fibre Bran*
  • ½ cup low-GI or low fat muesli*
  • ½ cup oats porridge/½ cup oat bran *
  • ½ cup mielie meal (cooked)
  • ½ cup Maltabella (cooked)
  • ½ cup pasta (cooked)
  • ½ cup couscous (cooked)
  • ½ cup barley (cooked)*
  • ½ cup mielies/samp (cooked)
  • ½ cup white/brown/Basmati rice 
  • 1 medium potato
  • 1 medium sweet potato*
  • 1 wholewheat/ muesli rusk*

Protein servings

  • 30g lean red meat (beef/lamb/pork)
  • 45g chicken/turkey (without skin) - preferably white meat
  • 45g ostrich
  • 90g white fish (eg. hake/kingklip, sole)
  • 60g fatty fish (eg. salmon, yellowtail, snoek, fresh tuna)
  • 60g calamari
  • 1 egg
  • 3 egg whites 
  • ½ tin tune in brine 
  • 1/3 tin salmon in brine 
  • ½ cup pilchards in tomato sauce 
  • 30g reduced-fat mozzarella 
  • 2T fat-free cottage cheese
  • 100g Tofu
  • 2T reduced-fat hummus 
  • ½ cup cooked/tinned legumes, eg. beans, lentils, soya beans , chickpeas 

Fruit servings

  • 1 medium fresh apple*
  • 5 rings dried apple*
  • 2 medium apricots*
  • 12 cherries 
  • 1 small banana or half large 
  • 1¼ cup berries (eg. blueberries, strawberries, etc.)*
  • 2 dates 
  • 2 medium dried figs 
  • 2 medium fresh figs 
  • ½ cup unsweetened fruit juice 
  • ½ cup unsweetened fruit salad*
  • 2 medium granadillas*
  • ½ medium grapefruit*
  • 12 grapes 
  • 2 medium raw guavas*
  • 1 medium kiwi fruit
  • 5 litchis 
  • ½ small mango
  • 2 medium naartjies*
  • 1 medium nectarine*
  • 1 medium orange*
  • 2/3 cup papaya*
  • 1 medium raw peach*
  • 2 dried/tinned unsweetened peach halves*
  • 1 medium raw pear*
  • 2 halves dried pear*
  • 3 rings pineapple
  • 2 medium plums*
  • 1 cup sweet melon
  • 1¼ cup watermelon 

Free vegetables (unlimted)

  • Asparagus (tinned and fresh)
  • Baby corn 
  • Baby marrow 
  • Broccoli
  • Brussel sprouts 
  • Butternut
  • Cabbage 
  • Cauliflower 
  • Celery 
  • Corn 
  • Cucumber 
  • Egg plant 
  • French salad 
  • Gem squash 
  • Green beans 
  • Green, yellow or red peppers
  • Lettuce 
  • Mange tout
  • Mielies 
  • Mushrooms (tinned and fresh)
  • Parsley 
  • Patty pans 
  • Pumpkin
  • Radishes
  • Rhubarb 
  • Sauerkraut
  • Spinach 
  • Spring onions 
  • Sprouts 
  • Sugar snap peas 
  • Tomatoes 
  • Chives 
  • Fresh herbs 
  • Onions 
  • Tinned tomato and onion mix

Milk and milk products

  • 30g avocado pear (¼ of a medium avo)
  • 10ml salad dressing 
  • 20ml lite salad dressing 
  • 1t polyunsaturated  

Fat servings

  • 1 cup skim/fat-free milk
  • 1 cup low fat milk
  • 120ml evaporated milk
  • 1 small (175ml) carton fat-free or low fat plain, flavoured or fruit yoghurt
  • 1 cup soya milk
  • 1 cup soya yoghurt  

Free foods:

  • Stock cubes 
  • Marmite 
  • Fishpaste 
  • Tea and coffee (1 extra cup fat-free milk for tea and coffee allowed throughout the day)
  • Herbal tea 
  • Herbs and spices 
  • Mineral water 
  • Home-made clear vegetable soups 

Condiments allowed: 

  • Tomato sauce
  • Soya sauce 
  • Chutney
  • Sweet chilli sauce 
  • Tobasco 
  • Worcestershire sauce 
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Vinegar 
  • Lemon juice 

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