I eat the way I ate before pregnancy. Except adding the prenatal and cutting out the alcohol and most of the caffeine. Why is everyone so anal about this? |
PP - I agree with you. I do the same.
OP - there's no magical formula. Not sure what you are looking for. Just eat like you do now. |
To answer the two prior PPs: not everyone eats a particularly healthful diet when not pregnant. Diet during pregnancy impacts fetal development, thus, it makes sense to reevaluate your diet if (1) it's not particularly healthy and (2) you have the capacity to do so (i.e., can hold down more than ramen noodles and Cokes).
What's the big deal? |
OP has had previous issues with her weight and it trying to eat a healthy diet in pregnancy without gaining an unhealthy amount of weight. She is eating a healthy diet, but wants ideas about other healthy foods she could eat, presumably so she doesn't get bored and go off the rails with her healthy eating. I don't see how any of that is either "anal" or hard to understand. |
I think OP answered her own question though. She already eats healthy so she should keep it up. Not sure what other answers she needs. |
jeez. OP, I thought you were pretty clear, even if people on this page didn't!
I picked up a variety of library books on pregnancy diets to get ideas when I was at your stage. the most interesting by far was "real food for mother and baby." Lots of good if very general conceptual principles in it like: first trimester, micronutrients for development; second, protein for growth; third, fats for brain development. |
I love how DCUMers, if they don't like the topic of something, reply anyway. Gotta love anonymous forums.
Anyway, I was looking for inspiration because, trust me, eating the same thing every day gets boring if I'm going to stay on a healthy track during the pregnancy as much as I can, avoiding boredom is the only way to do it. And I know there are others like me. I'll check out the book, 15:02 - thanks! |
JinDC,
Pumpkin here. ![]() My first pregnancy, I was a bit like the others. I was like eff this noise about health, I'm going to eat a donut. I gained 45 lbs, and though I took it back off nursing, some of it, er, found me again. This pregnancy, I'm taking a different approach, not because I want to limit weight gain, but because I just want to feel better. And because I'm 39. And because I believe we are what we eat, really. And because I think (and the experts tell us all) that a good diet can greatly reduce your risk of Pre-E and gestational diabetes. Etc, etc, etc. I've found that in the mornings, I do NOT want sweet. Previously I ate oatmeal and fruit with some agave syrup with coffee and skim milk with more agave syrup. I work and have a toddler, so mornings are not the time for lengthy cooking. I've been making myself a veggie smoothie. I don't have a juicer or vitamix either (have a crappy oster blender) but if you keep blending it long enough, just about anything will blend. (isn't there a youtube channel for that?). I belong to Washington's Green Grocer, and whatever green leafy thing they give me goes into the blender. Kale and blueberries and banana and full fat greek yogurt with a squirt of honey this morning. Chard is also good for this. They also sell juice kits. i have also thrown a few oranges into a blender with some carrots and a bit of ginger, and I've done some mainly veggie things, like cucumber, parsley, tomato, 2 apples, celery. Better than it sounds. This is not for everyone, of course! I don't do low-fat yogurt because I don't like it as much. Full fat is so delicious and I don't eat that much of it. I have a theory that your body needs fat - so would you rather eat it in full fat yogurt filled with protein or some sugary-ass dunkin donuts cave-in later in the day? (later in pregnancy, it's possible that i will do both.) ![]() For lunch, I've been doing salads with a protein. I grill chicken, salmon, or other fish (low mercury and wild caught if possible) at night and make some extra for the salad the next day. Salmon is easy - just get some salsa that you like, throw the salmon in the salsa, and serve it with something else. On weekends, I make homemade vinaigrettes that keep for the week. I'm big on ranch dressing. Homemade, so it's not THAT bad for you, but yeah, it's ranch, so there is some fat in there. I figure a little bit of vice with my salad is probably better than eating a plain salad then going berserk on mac and cheese later in the day. the REal Simple website has good ideas for salads - I made a roasted beet, butternut squash, and goat cheese salad from there that was amazing. Washingtons Green Grocer has a blog, and a fantastic pinterest site with ideas for their produce (which is basically like a mobile whole foods). I think they have a specific "lunch" site. Like you, I barely eat meat but am not a full vegetarian. I mainly eat fish, and occasional chicken. For whatever reason, I've wanted sausage with this pregnancy and I usually do not do pork. There is decent turkey sausage out there. I think my own body needs more protein while pregnant so meat is a shortcut I'm willing to take while pregnant, though I wouldn't take it not pregnant. I do hate most pork and red meat though. I personally think pasta gets a bad rap, too. Especially because you can get whole grain pasta if you want. I mean, it's not good to eat it daily, but if you eat a vegetable based pasta with more veggies than pasta, plus some cheese for protein, that doesn't seem bad to me at all. Veggie primavera is really easy - slice carrots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, zuchini and yellow squash, some red onion and toss with oil and balsamic, roast, then toss with fresh angel hair and some parm cheese. Mm. I miss sandwiches, so I've been making some good chicken salad for myself on weekends, that I can eat over a salad or on bread. Barefoot contessa has a tarragon mustard chicken salad that's really good. I put grapes and dried cranberries in there as well. This isn't a specific food, but I do try to follow the "eat a rainbow" thing and make sure I eat different colored foods every day. The brighter my salad looks, I feel the healthier it is. I almost always have organic strawberries and blueberries on hand, and these go into most of my salads. Chickpeas are another thing. As others have said, eggs are like a pregnancy superfood if you're not vegan and like them. I can't eat too many of them, but will have hard boiled eggs on hand to cut up in salads. Avocado is another great healthy food for salads. Radishes are always in my fridge, same with broccoli. Some other random tidbits: Roasted cauliflower can sometimes be as comforting as mashed potatoes. Greek style food is great for lunch (pita with leftover grilled chicken and some yogurt with cucumber sauce) I actually like to make kale chips a lot and find they actually taste good. But I also eat a lot of popcorn. I buy the plain kind, pop it and put a little bit of butter on it, and some salt. As for exercise, I plan to swim a ton this summer - every day if I can. Is this something you can do? I think it's a great exercise for pregnant women. One final link. I'm not with this practice and obviously you could go CRAZY trying to follow all of this, but the wisdom midwifery has a "near famous" diet page for newly expectant moms in their practice. It gets made fun of a lot but there's some good info: http://wisdommidwifery.blogspot.com/p/nutriti...regnancy-wisdom.html Good luck and thanks for starting this thread! |
OP - it's not that I didn't like your original post but I didn't get the point of it, especially since you already eat healthy. I didn't read anything about boredom in your first post. |
I *love* this thread. OP, I'm admittedly a horrific eater and haven't been so great in this pregnancy. An earlier PP said she'd wait until 3rd trimester for a donut? I admire her. Heck, I probably have one once a week. I'm not a cook and don't much enjoy cooking, but will happily eat my DH's nightly pasta/rice dishes.
So thank you for this thread, because it's giving me some really good ideas about eating healthier. Toss some kale or spinach in my smoothies? Maybe I will! |
I really like the cookbook World Vegetarian-tasty recipes that use healthy ingredients. |
I did the Brewer diet. Lots of eggs, leafy greens. It is a good way of eating. |
I will check out the recommendations...thanks! I get so uninspired when it comes to bringing food to work! Lunch and snacks. Total snoozefest right now, but luckily I am not really hungry at all (for now). |
I've enjoyed getting new ideas- thanks, everyone! I'm far from a vegetarian, but my food aversions during pregnancy have changed my habits pretty drastically- i.e., no poultry. Ever. Not even walking past in grocery store.
I'm also only supposed to gain 20 lbs, so want to make good choices even though I still feel crappy and want carbs. Veggies that never appealed before do now, so I've gotten some good ideas that DH (pure carnivore) and I can both handle. |