Tamiyah Wallace, the mother of a toddler and infant, did not rush out to the grocery store in order to change her diet after she found out she was pregnant.

"I just ate like normal or whatever I craved," said Wallace, 32.

Her normal diet included foods such as pork chops, grits, bacon, apples, strawberries, spinach, broccoli and salad.

While some of Wallace's choices fall in line with what Dr. Alan Greene believes will help boost a baby's brain development and overall health, some do not.

Greene, the author of "Raising Baby Green," has set out to change the way that mothers-to-be think about what they are consuming while pregnant or breastfeeding to boost a baby's brain and overall health.

Greene said DHA, choline, iron, folic acid, calcium and vitamin B6 are vital to an expectant mom's diet.

"Choline remains important throughout your pregnancy as a critical building block of cells in your baby's rapidly growing brain," Greene writes. "Getting plenty of choline appears to have a lasting effect on children's memory."

Greene said that foods with lots of choline include eggs, cauliflower, asparagus and spinach as well as vegetables, meats, fish, nuts and grains. Choline is also known to protect a baby's neural tube development in the earliest weeks of pregnancy when the rapid cell division occurs. This can reduce the risk of brain and spinal cord defects as well.

Organic Please

In addition to consuming the appropriate amount of nutrients, Greene believes that there are certain organic foods that babies and young children should consume.

This includes milk, soy, baby cereal, fruits and vegetables, and baby food meat.

"If I were going to pick only one time of life to eat organic, it would be from conception through age three," he writes. "Our bodies and our brains grow faster during this period than at any later time."

Greene said organic fruits and vegetables will have higher antioxidant levels and organic meat will be leaner and have higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.

These choices are also crucial to breastfeeding mothers.

"Your diet is of immediate importance to your baby if you're breast-feeding," Greene writes. "Just as the nutritious foods taken into a woman's body during pregnancy pass through the placenta to the baby to give him an early boost of good health, so they do now through the mother's breast milk."

Greene said when a mother chooses to stop breast-feeding, it is important to choose a baby formula that contains DHA.

It is also imperative to increase foods with DHA and other brain boosting nutrients when a toddler is taken off formula because the brain is growing rapidly at age 2 to 3. At this time, children should be sure to get a lot of fish and organic milk and other foods that contain DHA.

Iron and Intellect

Greene said research has shown a connection between iron and intellect.

Dr. Betsy Lozoff, professor at the University of Michigan, has performed extensive research on the affects of iron deficiency on infants and children.

"Studies consistently show lower mental test scores in infants with iron deficiency anemia, compared to infants without," said Lozoff. "We also find lower motor test scores and altered social-emotional behavior. For example, infants with iron-deficiency anemia are more wary, hesitant and less positive than those without."

Toddler Intelligence

While iron-rich diets are important, so is the color of the foods as a child grows.

Greene believes that when babies are ready for soft, smashed food parents should "lean toward vibrant, natural color" foods because they are full of minerals and vitamins.

Carrots, sweet potatoes and squash are full of vitamin A, while broccoli is a "powerhouse of nutrients."

"Ounce for ounce, it contains more calcium than a glass of milk and more vitamin C than an orange," Greene writes.

Avocado also has 25 essential nutrients that will help with a child's development such as fiber, potassium, vitamin E and folic acid.

A proper diet with sufficient nutrients and vitamins are necessary for the optimal development of a child's brain.

Early on, expectant mothers should be conscientious of their diets so that their baby's brains can develop properly.