Eating for Two
Eating for me AND the small lentil bean is becoming one of the biggest pains in the asses of all time. And it hasn't even been two weeks.I don't really like to eat meat. I've agreed to eat fish during the pregnancy and not to be overtly militant about the no meat thing. This means I have to be extra vigilant about what I am eating. It means a lot more tofu.
I'm still reducing cow milk. I don't drink cow milk or eat cow cheese, only goat. I really like goat cheddar and goat yogurt but really don't like goat milk. Unsweetened soy milk seems to do the trick.
It seems the list of DON'T EAT grows and grows. Now we've added peanuts. Our boy had asthma as a child and I guess there's a connection with peanut consumpution during pregnancy. I really. really like peanut butter. Almond butter it is!
I need 20 grams of protein per meal. Yikes. I am working on putting together mental combinations of foods that will meet my needs. Yogurt and granola. Toast with cheese. Toast with almond butter. Crackers with almond butter. Cereal with soy milk. Edamame. Beans and rice (oh, how I love beans and rice with some salsa). Things I can just grab.
I need to eat more often. I actually tend to three small meals in the morning but between lunch and dinner, I usually go for a long stretch without snacking so by the time dinner arrives, I'm hungry and eat a somewhat large meal. No more.
Oh, the pressure.
On top of everything is the fear of weight gain. I don't want to go backwards. I don't want to walk out of this pregnancy an even fatter girl. All those fat girl emotions are bubbling up and they suck.
posted by Sacha @ 5:17 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
That's interesting. I've seen a lot of information that you should avoid peanuts if there is a history of allergies but I haven't heard of a correlation between peanuts and asthma.
I have pretty severe asthma. A couple of years ago it was not unusual for me to be at Emergency at least once a month for an asthma attack. That said, I ate peanut butter A LOT during both my pregnancies and during breastfeeding. Neither one of my children have an issue with their breathing or with peanut allergies, they love the stuff too.
I am also finding the eating stuff challenging. Luckily, I don't really crave junk food, but the constant getting up to prepare a healthy snack is getting real old real fast. I have no idea how I will do it next month when I am back at my real job.
We don't prepare meat in the house ever, as Wes is vegan. I used to eat occasional meat at restaurants. Now I want it A LOT. It's disconcerting. But I am following cravings when possible.
Good to know about the peanut butter. I have asthma, too. Not that I eat a lot of it anyway, but it's good to keep in mind. And I love almond butter.
I have been scared off of soy to some degree by some little snippet in one of my books about malformed boy genitals from the phytoestrogens. BUT I haven't done any additional research into it, so it's likely out of date. Wes thinks I am being uber paranoid and he's probably right. I've been focusing on lentils and wheat gluten for dinner protein.
I never heard that about peanuts. I love peanut butter and it's a great sorce of protein for a vegetarian like myself.
I have calcium enriched orange juice which I love in the morning. It helps since I am not a big milk drinker. I bought some chocolate syrup to drink milk when I need more calcium. Cheese is a favourite so that helps too.
I will not eat meat or fish but I have been trying to get eggs into my diet. Unfortunately, I no longer can think about eating an omlette. I try French toast and now feel willing to eat a hard boiled egg or two. Beans are good and so is tofu (love it).
I too heard that too much soy can be bad during pregnancy. Don't know how true that is. :/
Sometimes I find it hard to eat healthy because I crave bad stuff like fries. I also found that I had to eat a lot during the day to avoid getting sick. Stuff like fruit is good but not filling and I feel sick soon afterwards. I needed bread, fries, potatoes, pasta...anything heavy.
You'll probably find soon that you need to snack between meals - and when you need something to eat then, you need it quickly! Toast + something is a very regular item in my daily diet (although I feel a bit sluggish from all the wheat!). Oatcakes when I'm out and about. Think that I really out to get in supplies for hummus with carrot sticks - one of my favourite snacks!
I'm finding that I just can't eat salad leaves (bleh), and fruit has been proving challenging (although luckily that is getting better again), unless we're talking bananas. I have to make a real effort to get my 5-a-day fruit & veg in!
Carb-based meals and snacks have been what I've been wanting to eat, and food that is pretty plain (very odd for a foodie!). Beans on cheese on toast/on a jacket potato is perfect for me at the moment.
I'm avoiding peanut butter/peanuts too; apparently there is no definitive scientific research to suggest a link to allergies/asthma, but there does seem to be at the very least, anecdotal evidence. I'd rather be safe than sorry, especially given that allergies in general are on the rise in children.
I really do not crave junk food at all - the idea of anything fatty & greasy just makes me feel ill. So even though I often don't feel much like cooking, takeaways are most definitely not an option. Yuk.
Mmm humus. I love that too. I should get some--great source of protein.
My mom would eat peanut butter by the spoonful and I have no allergies. Why is peanut butter singled out, I wonder? I would love to know more. I know you're supposed to avoid peanuts/peanut butter if you have anyone with a nut allergy in the family but that's all I ever heard about it.
Forgot to comment on the weight gain thing - I know that it's not an easy thing to put aside, but you really need to try and think about it in a different way.
For one thing, you simply can't know how much weight you/any of us are actually going to be left with at the end of the pregnancy - and whatever it is, you/we will have to deal with it then. Weight put on during pregnancy is just as hard (if not harder) to lose, but there is actually a need/reason for it, so it's not like you/we are purposely letting ourselves get fat for the hell of it.
Secondly, in these early weeks, so much is happening in terms of the baby's development that you simply have to listen to your body, and eat accordingly. Obviously, if you can make healthy choices rather than eating rubbish, so much the better, but if junk food is all that you can stomach because of food aversions, you'll just have to do that for a while.
Thirdly, even if you start eating like a mad thing for a few weeks, you may not put on much weight. My shape has already changed hugely (especially my expanding belly!) in the (almost) 7 weeks since my BFP, yet my weight has gone up by only 1-2lbs at most (it's fluctuating), despite my hugely increased calorific intake. Guess that the baby really is taking on the extra!
Sorry for another comment - this one is actually for Stacey!
One of the reasons that peanuts (and peanut butter etc.) are singled out, is because peanut allergies are usually pretty severe; they are more likely to be potentially fatal in sufferers than most other types of allergy.
Also, although they are associated generally with nut allergies, despite their name, peanuts aren't actually a nut at all! They are a legume, which grows in an underground pod. So people who have a peanut allergy, may not have problems with all kinds of nuts. This is why peanuts are singled out - to the best of my knowledge!
fwiw - i gained twice what i was told to... 20lbs of water they estimated... and have lost it all at 7 wks pp...
so... listen to your body... mine told me to eat burgers - a new thing for me... but i was never anemic... try to let the fat-girl thing go... as best you can :-)
I was vegan during my second pregnancy and it was fine. I gained 43 pounds and the baby was 8.4 pounds which is very big for my family. My midwife was not veggie but she had no problems with my diet. Like all her clients I filled out a food chart for a week so she could see what I ate and drank and she said it was very healthy.
I liked LUNA bars as a snack, they have 10 grams of protein in one bar. And so many flavors! No matter what "mood" I was in food-wise I could find a flavor that I could eat.
Misty
Belated congratulations to you two!!! We're a little worried Gus might have some peanut issue b/c his mommy loves it and eats more than the typical person, even while pg and now breastfeeding. But we figured we'll avoid the big allergens (wheat and nuts) for him until he is the approved age, and hope that does the trick. If we took everyone's advice on the food issue (what to eat when pg, bf'ing, what to feed the kid and in what order) food would basically consume us!!
during lois' first 10 weeks of pregnancy, we gave up on the nutritional stuff. it became, "ok, the only thing you can eat all day is a chicken parm grinder, go for it." she would eat what she could when she could, we were just happy when she kept one small meal down a day. needless to say, we didn't dwell on vegetables, proteins, etc. probably not the best way to go about it, but at least she took her prenatals!
best of luck to you!
do you like quinoa? very high in protein but it's a grain (i think it's technically considered a grain) so it's very filling. i just make sure i substitute organic chicken stock for the water since it can taste very bland.
about the fish: go to http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/walletcard.pdf to download a card to keep in your wallet, which outlines safe vs. unsafe levels of mercury in seafood. even though i'm not pg, i consult it whenever i eat out or shop for seafood.
Not pregnant, but I second quinoa as a great addition to any meal that involves a sauce. Also, cashew butter is a staple in our house and it has a very similar texture to peanut butter (more so than almond butter). We eat it on brown rice cakes and love it.
Hey Megan & Sacha, just wanted to let you know that I FINALLY started a blog.
Very long first post given all the backlog it covers - come over & ask any questions though!
http://panning-for-gold.blogspot.com/
Tamsin
Yeah, the food thing is hard. I eat lots of hummus, tahini, etc. But I also eat chicken so that helps too. You can also get yummy baked tofu that's so good. But the soy stuff is hard on my stomach so I don't eat too much.
My favorite snack is peanut butter (or you can do almond) on rice cakes with bananas.
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