Black Swan star Natalie Portman has given in to her body's cravings and switched her strict vegan diet for a slightly more relaxed vegetarian diet, the actress told US radio program The Bert Show on Q100 in Atlanta in a phone interview on Monday.

The 29-year-old actress, who won the Oscar for Best Actress this year, is due to deliver her first child with fiancé Benjamin Millepied later in the Northern Hemisphere summer, said she had no regrets about her decision.

"I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff," Portman said.

"I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy and that sort of stuff."

Aside from not eating meat, fish and poultry, vegans also cut any animal or animal by-product from their diet, including eggs, dairy products, honey, anything with gelatine. They also don't use products made of leather, fur, silk, wool, or cosmetics and soaps containing any animal products.

While it is possible to maintain a healthy pregnancy on a vegan diet (provided the mother-to-be is diligent about reaching her daily nutritional requirements) it is often hard for vegans to gain the required amount of weight to have a healthy baby.

"I know there are people who do stay vegan," Portman said. "But I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels and supplement those if there are things you might be low in your diet."

Portman said she and Millepied wouldn't be finding out the sex of their baby before it was born.

"I'm Jewish and I think in Judaism, there's a lot of superstition around not doing too much before the baby comes," she said.

Your say: Do you or would you follow a vegan lifestyle? Do you think it's safe to maintain a vegan diet during pregnancy?