The dietary decisions you make during pregnancy have a direct impact on how healthy you are while expecting, as well as influencing your baby's growth and development. Although certain foods aren't safe to eat during pregnancy, sauerkraut isn't one of them.

Sweet or salty -- junk food can offer you a feeling of comfort or satisfaction. This may be the reason most women crave junk food during the first trimester of pregnancy. While junk food may be okay in moderation during pregnancy, it is not the best food for a pregnant woman to eat.

When you're pregnant, the hormone progesterone plays an essential role in helping your baby grow. Most women have adequate progesterone levels without taking progesterone supplements.

A cone biopsy is a surgical procedure in which a cone-shaped sample of the cervix is removed for analysis.

A growing fetus depends on its mother's diet for all its nutritional needs. Having the best foods and drinks during pregnancy will reduce the risk of certain birth defects and increase the overall health of the baby. In general, pregnant women need about 300 extra calories per day.

Pregnancy and nutrition go hand-in-hand. Not only do the foods that you eat affect you, they also affect your unborn baby. Whole grains, lean proteins, vegetables and fruits are the makings of a healthy diet for mommy and baby.

When you’re pregnant, you’re eating for two in a very real sense. Substances you ingest -- both good and bad -- can pass through the placenta to your baby.

Pregnant women need to watch their dietary intake more carefully than they might have before getting pregnant. Anything you ingest has the potential to affect your baby. Steak, which is a good source of iron and protein, is perfectly safe to eat during pregnancy as long as you cook it properly.

It's smart to wonder about the safety of dry fruits now that you're expecting a baby, because what you eat and what you don't eat can affect your unborn child. Dry fruits, however, are not a food you need to be concerned about.

Although pregnant women should avoid certain foods that contain environmental toxins or pose a risk for foodborne illness, cottage cheese is generally safe to eat during pregnancy. In fact, cottage cheese is packed with nutrients that are essential for a healthy pregnancy.

While hot potato chips aren’t the healthiest snack you could select during pregnancy, eating them is unlikely to cause any harm to you or your unborn baby. If you are eating an otherwise healthy and well-balanced diet, indulging in this snack occasionally is perfectly acceptable.

Over the last two decades, herbal supplements have been the target of both praise and harsh criticism by the medical industry. Herbs have been heralded for centuries for their medicinal properties and natural--rather than synthetic--approach to treating many minor conditions.