Food necessary for health and growth can take on different forms for different people.  For older adults, this means eating foods high in calcium and vitamin D to help maintain proper bone health and eating more fiber-rich foods to help lower risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. For a pregnant woman, supplying her body with a blend of nutritious foods will keep her feeling healthy during pregnancy and could lead to an easier labor.  But most importantly, pregnancy is the time in a woman’s life that her eating habits will have a direct impact on another person – that of her growing baby.Proper nutrition promotes healthy pregnancy outcomes, supports normal growth, development and ageing, helps to maintain a healthy body weight, and reduces the risk of chronic disease leading to overall health and wellbeing.  In particular, proper nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life can have a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn and thrive.  Optimal nutrition and correction of nutritional deficiencies during those first 1,000 days are of particular significance as beyond two years of age, reversal may become very difficult.  Unlike other aspects of life that are completely out of our control, the power is in our hands to provide appropriate nutrition to ourselves and to our children.  So drop those fries, make your mom proud, and grab that apple!