energy exists until the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, and that
the excessive requirement is extremely small until the last three or
four weeks. Even then the prospective mother requires less energy-
giving food than the average man.

Since the body handles carbohydrate more readily than fat, it is
preferable that whatever additional energy pregnancy necessitates
should be supplied by carbohydrates. An increase in the daily
consumption of fatty food, over and above that previously found
agreeable, is not only unnecessary but undesirable. Every-day
experience teaches that less fat taken with the meals promotes the
comfort of the prospective mother. A glass of rich milk a little
before meal time, however, not only makes up for this omission but
also prevents "heart-burn," a very common ailment of pregnancy.

Although there is an appreciable increase in the quantity of starch
and sugar utilized toward the end of pregnancy, it is generally quite
unnecessary to increase these materials correspondingly in the diet.
Nearly everyone eats more of all the food-stuffs than the body needs.
In the case of the prospective mother the surplus ordinarily taken
meets every need incident to her additional energy requirements.
Because we eat more than we need, someone has said, with as much
truth as humor, that prospective mothers "neither want nor need to
eat for two. The fact is more likely that enough for one is too much
for two." For the average woman it is wiser to take less during
pregnancy rather than more, for over-indulgence is apt to lead to
indigestion. The moment when the appetite is satisfied should be
accepted as the stopping point, and that will be instinctively
recognized if one eats deliberately, and thoroughly masticates the
food.