Pregnant, feeling horrible and suspecting diet....

[Hethir09]

HELP!! I'm 9 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child and I'm still nursing my 19 month old. With my first pregnancy, I was never sick, just a bit 'gaggy' at night and a touch tired. This time, at 6 weeks on the dot I started feeling like I got hit by a train!! I'm really thinking it's my diet because it's not just nausea but body aches, depression and extreme exhaustion. I don't know how much more I can take with a busy toddler!!

Before becoming pregnant we tried to follow a TF diet as best as we could. Now I barely have energy to get to the store to buy cereal to eat (gag, I know). The only things that sound good are the things that are soooo bad for me (hot pockets, fast food, stuff I'd normally gag at the thought of!!). The good is that I'm taking a food based prenatal, trying to drink Kombucha and a glass of raw milk daily and eating an egg every day for breakfast. 

Is anyone aware of dietary tweaks that can make a huge difference? I'm getting desparate, here! THANK YOU!!!

[kl5]

Eat more eggs! Definitely in your situation I would try for at least 3 a day, especially if you have a good source. You can put them raw in smoothies and you will barely notice they are there. Are you taking cod liver oil or at least fish oil? You can get capsules if you think you will have a hard time getting it down. Also, brewers yeast for B vites could help a lot. I also found that liquid chlorophyll made me feel a lot better. Just one glug in a big glass of water a day (get the unflavored as the mint is sort of nasty) helped a lot and kept my iron stores high throughout my pregnancy. You might consider it three times a day until you are feeling stronger. Also, make sure you are staying hydrated. And don't wait too long between meals. A pint of raw milk whenever you haven't eaten in a couple of hours will go a long way. Finally, as much protein as you can muster. Start every meal by eating all the protein before whatever else you are having.

(and you can order most of the above online so you don't have to go to the store...!)

Good luck and hope you are feeling better soon!

[Hethir09]

THANK YOU! That was exactly the info I was hoping for! I forgot about CLO! Geez! I will try to up my eggs and protein, also. Thank you!!

[kl5]

You're welcome, feel better!

(Also, consider upping your vitamin D3 if you are not already taking at least 5000 mg a day. 8000 would be great, especially if you suspect you are low. So good for mood and also will help keep you from getting sick. And good for your nusling too!!)

[~Amy~]

Yes, more protein & less cereal  I felt the same way at the beginning of this pregnancy (my nursling's a bit older than yours, though, and was probably nursing less than yours is) and upping my protein intake (eggs especially as they went down easily & were quick to cook) made a HUGE difference.  I craved protein like you wouldn't believe...I'd snack on eggs (hardboiled & cold is good if warm food or smells are making you nauseous), nut butters, cheese, yogurt, glass of milk, etc.  I'm still trying to eat mostly protein & I'm feeling great now (I'm 29 weeks).  Hope you start to feel better soon.

[prancie]

you are feeling normal for pregnancy, it's not your diet. i would eat more eggs since that is easy to do when you feel ill.  Try and stick to your TF diet but don't beat yourself up for not sometimes.  

[cocobean]

Try some peppermint tea.  Really helped me with nasea.  Have you tried ginger?  I hear this helps a lot of people with nasea but I hate ginger so it isn't much help for me.  Also I know there are some posts on WAP website.  Have you checked that out?   She has some tips on what to eat nutritionally to help with pregnancy symptoms.  Good luck!

[Ruthla]

You might want to take a look at Eat Right 4 Your Baby. This will help you figure out which foods are making you feel sicker and which ones are good choices to emphasize. If you have A blood, you want to eat lots of beans and minimize the meats, but if you're an O, you'll want to do the exact opposite (I'm majorly over-simplifying here.)

The point is that there may well be something in your diet that's bothering you and/or something lacking that your body desperately needs- but since we're all individuals, it's hard to know exactly which foods could be problematic or under-representated. The Blood Type Diet gives you a place to start- but of course feel free to tweak the diet as you find which foods you feel best eating (or even tweak it if it's too many changes to make at once and you don't feel the need to follow everything suggested.)

And, in a pinch, it's  better to eat "bad foods" than to not eat enough. You need lots of food to have energy for all 3 of you. If hot pockets are appetizing and stay down, then don't let yourself feel too guilty about eating them, so long as you're also eating plenty of whole foods too.