. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 1.

Published in final edited form as: J Acad Nutr Diet. 2013 Jul 16;113(9):1175–1181. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2013.05.014

Table 1. Low-income, overweight, African-American mothers' motivators of healthy eating in pregnancy.

Themes	Representative quotes
1. Healthy mom means a healthy baby	22 yo,^a overweight, nulliparous: “When I eat, I'm making conscious decisions. I try to think about the healthiest thing to eat and I'm eating better now. I want to eat salads. I feel better when I eat good, and I want to eat good because I want her (my baby) to get nutrition, too.” 18 yo, overweight, nulliparous: “I used to eat eggs, bacon, home fries for breakfast, but it's a lot of grease and oil. Now, I just don't wanna eat it…I think it might be bad for the baby. (But after I deliver my baby), I'll be back to my old ways.” 32 yo, overweight, multiparous: “I'll make my own lunch. I'll bring soup or something cooked from the night before. Or I usually go and get a sandwich…lunchmeat…I get wheat bread, cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes… If it's not good for my baby, it's not good for me.”
2. Physical symptoms, like heartburn and nausea, inhibit unhealthy food intake	22 yo, overweight, nulliparous: “(I used to eat) a lot of processed foods, fried foods, but now, I can't even take fried foods. I'll have heartburn for hours, and it's just horrible.” 20 yo, obese, nulliparous: “If I eat, like, fried chicken. Fish too. It'll scare me. I'll get this really bad heartburn, so I'll just stop for a couple of days and not eat like that.” 21 yo, obese, multiparous: “I'm slowing down with the soda. I'm drinking more juice or water than soda, now…. (Because) It blows you up real, real big (from gas), and the acid… Yeah, soda and the greasy foods, like the fried chicken, that'll do it, too.”

Themes

Representative quotes

1. Healthy mom means a healthy baby

22 yo,^a overweight, nulliparous: “When I eat, I'm making conscious decisions. I try to think about the healthiest thing to eat and I'm eating better now. I want to eat salads. I feel better when I eat good, and I want to eat good because I want her (my baby) to get nutrition, too.”
18 yo, overweight, nulliparous: “I used to eat eggs, bacon, home fries for breakfast, but it's a lot of grease and oil. Now, I just don't wanna eat it…I think it might be bad for the baby. (But after I deliver my baby), I'll be back to my old ways.”
32 yo, overweight, multiparous: “I'll make my own lunch. I'll bring soup or something cooked from the night before. Or I usually go and get a sandwich…lunchmeat…I get wheat bread, cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes… If it's not good for my baby, it's not good for me.”

2. Physical symptoms, like heartburn and nausea, inhibit unhealthy food intake

22 yo, overweight, nulliparous: “(I used to eat) a lot of processed foods, fried foods, but now, I can't even take fried foods. I'll have heartburn for hours, and it's just horrible.”
20 yo, obese, nulliparous: “If I eat, like, fried chicken. Fish too. It'll scare me. I'll get this really bad heartburn, so I'll just stop for a couple of days and not eat like that.”
21 yo, obese, multiparous: “I'm slowing down with the soda. I'm drinking more juice or water than soda, now…. (Because) It blows you up real, real big (from gas), and the acid… Yeah, soda and the greasy foods, like the fried chicken, that'll do it, too.”

year-old