Is there a current TF pregnant mamas thread? - Page 2

[MrsBone]

29 weeks here, and mostly TF with a few vices here and there. For valentines day, I made chocolate cake with crappy canned frosting. Thinking I'm going to freeze the rest of it(had one slice last night) because if I don't, I'll keep eating it every day and get sick. It helps that this pregnancy has almost required me to eat very little grain, and HIGH protein. Even in the third trimester! I ate whatever I could in the first trimester, which I found did focus on eggs, milk, protein, and fruit. By the second trimester I was able to eat raw veggies again, and now I can eat whatever pretty much, but still have to limit my grains, and processed grains especially make me very bloated and get heartburn easily. Not a bad situation, I must admit! Oh, and I've found that the combination of cooked tomatoes and carbs(chebe bread, tortillas, even non grain sources) make me puke still. So strange! But I can eat corn tortilla chips and salsa. I don't get it. So yeah, my only vices are the corn tortilla chips(I get the organic ones from costco) and the occasional corn tortilla "sandwich" for when I'm feeling lazy. Because I'm gluten free as well, it makes eating out more of a challenge, so that's helping with avoiding bad foods.

This is my day typically:

Breakfast:

Eggs cooked in various ways, or a green smoothie with CO, raw honey and maybe a raw egg or 2, or whole milk yogurt with fruit

Lunch:

Leftovers or a big ol salad with veggies, eggs, meat, cheese, etc.

Dinner:

Some kind of meat, potato(hubby needs those starches!), salad or other vegetable.

I still can't handle things like chili, spaghetti or homemade pizza, even with properly prepared grains, so that's eliminated alot of our go to meals that we liked pre-pregnancy. I'm thinking about making spaghetti squash tonight and toss in some roasted tomatoes that I freezed last week, and serving it with italian sausage. I think since there's no grain or processed carbs, the tomatoes wont bother me. I think I even have some fresh basil! This way of eating DH doesn't love, but he's type 1 diabetic, so he's definitely benefiting from it! I did buy him some organic sourdough bread and the sprouted bread from costco..This is a long cry from when I first met him and he lived on white bread, meat, ramen, and fast food. I have tried not to deprive him too much from his precious carbs, and include a potato, organic corn, beans or other non grain carby side dish so he feels satisfied with the meal even if it's not something he'd chose to eat! Meanwhile, DS and I will feast on crunchy kale chips(DH says, yuck! lol)

[RawMilkMama]

What a great thread!

I am expecting #5 and trying to eat as many whole foods/ Nourishing traditions methods as possible. I started making kefir earlier this month and my body has been craving kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut and yogurt like crazy the past 6 weeks or so (since hitting the second trimester. Last pregnancy, I couldn't stand the smell or taste of kombucha until the very end. So my body wants fermented foods this time around.

We have our own backyard chicken flock and some great orange-yolk eggs form them -- yum. I need to eat more than I do.

We go through 6 gallons of raw milk a week and I think it will be more now that we are making so much kefir.

:)

[bella_stranger]

hi ladies! glad to see this thread. I haven't been on this forum in a while, have been on "couch rest" for first trimester bleeding. I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks in October, and will be approaching 10 weeks again this weekend. pretty nervous! I have been eating pretty well, pretty low carb, lots of eggs and beef.  my mom hasw been here the past few weeks to help out so a little bit of processed food has snuck in, but I am just grateful for her help.

and now.... I am going to have some almond -chocolate milk. sounds perfect, thanks for the inspirations. this thread is so cozy lol :)

[CookAMH]

Let us know how things go! I am just curious, is your diet any different now than in October? I'm glad you're getting nourishing foods and I hope your pregnancy will be sustained.
 

Originally Posted by bella_stranger 

hi ladies! glad to see this thread. I haven't been on this forum in a while, have been on "couch rest" for first trimester bleeding. I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks in October, and will be approaching 10 weeks again this weekend. pretty nervous! I have been eating pretty well, pretty low carb, lots of eggs and beef.  my mom hasw been here the past few weeks to help out so a little bit of processed food has snuck in, but I am just grateful for her help.

and now.... I am going to have some almond -chocolate milk. sounds perfect, thanks for the inspirations. this thread is so cozy lol :)

Wow @ 6 gallons, RawMilkMama!  Do you drink your kefir plain? I always need to put a little OJ in it. I am jealous of my dad's kefi, it is really creamy and not at all grainy. I have let my grains sit too long in the fridge, I better go feed them. I make yogurt too.

[Milkymommi]

RawMilkMama- I can totally see that... we have the same number in our fam and we could easily consume that amount too! Budget allows us roughly 2-3 gallons a week at this point. Also, I've been TOTALLY CRAVING kraut, kefir and kombucha too!!! I'm pretty sure we're not alone on that. I feel like someone else in this tribe mentioned not being able to get enough recently. I'm too lazy to go look LOL!

Speaking of Kombucha... We just finished our first batch!!! It was a small one, we were able to do 5 GT's bottles worth with what we brewed and we doubled the batch this round. We made a few different flavors. So far we drank a banana/ginger and peach ginger YUM!!

Bella_Stranger- hugs mama!! Your energy is so wonderful and positive. Sending super mama energy to you for your 10 week mark AND the rest of your lovely time being pregnant. Every moment is so precious and should be enjoyed, even when it seems a little sketchy. I'm pregnant with my rainbow babe 2 yrs after my son was born still at full term - also in October.

I'm finding that I'm ravenous. I actually got sick really randomly this morning because I slept in too long and woke up STARVING!! I drank a half glass of milk while waiting for my eggs to cook and... forget it. In the bathroom and down the toilet. Once I ate I was all set. It seems like I need to eat all.day.long. I'm literally hungry every 2 hours or less. If I wait at all past the point, I'm in trouble and feeling the queeze. It's actually encouraging though that I'm hungry like this because I feel like my body is actually USING the food that I''m feeding it for the first time in all my pregnancies. I've never had this experience before.

I posted a TF thread in my ddc but it's not really taking off so I'm gonna go ahead and repeat a question I asked over there. Lunch ideas!!! Please share some lunch ideas with me!! This is the meal I struggle with. We rarely have left overs since our crew is so large. I've been roasting up a chicken to use the meat through the week for quesadillas on sprouted tortillas,sammies and salads. We've done some other random stuff too but I'm lacking ideas.

[johanna84]

Hi y'all! New to MDC, and glad I found this thread!  Definitely need to keep my TF motivation up throughout the remainder of this pregnancy.  I'll be 21wks tomorrow (pregnant with my first) and I have been loving 2nd trimester, mostly because the nausea and tiredness is a thing of the past and I have much more motivation to keep up with as much TF methods as I can.  I'm loving my raw milk, pastured eggs (every.single.morning. my DH makes fun of me for my egg obsession), chicken (and stock for soups, rice, etc.) grassfed beef, FCLO...the two biggest areas that I stuggle with is adding more fermented stuff into my diet (just obtained some kefir grains from my farmer's wife, and haphazardly make yogurt...or buy it...) and properly preparing my grains.  Ugh! I really wish I could get over my fear of making bread, because I know the store bought stuff is just not cutting it.  Baby steps it is, I guess!

I too, am interested in hearing some more lunch ideas too...that's my weakest meal.

[bella_stranger]

hi again! how is everyone been feeling/eating this week?

my nausea has been pretty strong this week, but today's lunch was delicious.  One slice of grilled sourdough rye, english butter, goat cheese & smoked ham.

kind of want to go make another one, but have to go easy on the bread! so delicious. I love how goat cheese has a kind of peppery tang to it....

[Leilalu]

Hi all! Sorry I have been MIA. We just moved and we are doing a slow move so I just got my computer set up in a good spot and everything:) I am having fun reading up on what I missed.

I finally saw the doctor. I need to schedule an official ultrasound, but I had a quick one with the doctor and I at least saw the baby! We had to to find the heartbeat, but it turns out my placenta is anterior so go figure.I will find out soon what my exact due date it. I felt a bit like a goof because with the move my brain feels scrambled and I couldn't remember when I conceived! Oops!

Except for my sons party this weekend, we have not been doing much sugar, and just trying to get life back to somewhat normal. I have been eating ok, though with catching colds, not as "gourmet" as I would like. Basic basic stuff. 

Usually around the 4-5 month my milk gets down to about nada and I think I may be getting there somewhat now:( I am still nursing, my youngest is 14 months. I want to start supplementing the weston price raw milk formula, just to make sure he gets enough as he's pretty chubby and I'd hate to see him thin out on my account. Has anyone ever done this with a 14 month old? I am wondering if all the ingredients are needed.

[CookAMH]

I haven't, though I'm very curious what the formula it tastes like :). 

I'm 36 weeks today.  We have our home visit this week with the midwives and they'll bring our tub then too which we're renting.

I have 10lb of leaf lard that needs rendered soon. I just need to take the time to cut it up. Anyone do it in the crockpot? My mom was mentioning that.

I've been loving kefir lately (milk). I put a couple tablespoons of OJ in it and a drop or two of stevia. I haven't typically had it to drink regularly but know I should, so I'm working on having a small glass every day the rest of the pregnancy for good bacteria presence since I've declined GBS testing.

I've also been loving a glass of half coconut water and half OJ. So refreshing. Before that I was craving OJ at night, a lot and so this way, I have half as much which I'm happier about.

[moneca]

Leilalu - I'm glad you started this thread. I only come to MDC a couple times a year, but was excited that I saw a name I knew on the TF board. We're hoping to ttc this summer since I'm still mildly detoxing, so I'm not here yet. I still remember the old c-section wound you healed with raw butter, EVCO,  lime juice, and raw honey! 

[johanna84]

Hey all,

Don't know if anyone visits this page much anymore (although I see a newcomer- Hi Moneca, nice to meet you!), but I wanted to put a question out there.  What compromises would you/have you made in order to keep the food budget in check? (I know this might be a really vague question!)  My DH and I are looking to tighten our budget a little more, in an effort to save a little more aggressively.  I already make most of my meals from scratch, and I've finally taken the plunge into making bread and hope to have success again at yogurt making, so I know that will provide some savings there.  The only thing left that I can see us doing now to trim the budget is starting to compromise on actual ingredients.  My hubby suggested things like going to the $.65 box of spaghetti instead of brown rice pasta, and going to regular butter instead of organic butter, getting regular bacon instead of nitrate-free bacon, etc.  A big part of me just wants to resist these things though, I think in part because I'm pregnant, and getting super paranoid or something.  We're still going to get big items like grass fed ground beef, eggs, the occasional chicken for chicken stock and milk from the farm. 

[JMJ]

I'm still not pregnant but hoping for soon.  Johanna, the further up the food chain and higher fat you go, the more careful you need to be.  Depending on how much spaghetti you eat, that could be a fine compromise.  I wouldn't encourage you to eat a whole lot of spaghetti, though.  The butter and bacon, I would be especially careful about.  Toxins accumulate in fats, and animals accumulate toxins better than plants, so I would be concerned about the toxins in conventional butter and bacon, especially while pregnant.  If you don't eat much bacon, that might be OK, but if it's something you eat often, I'd really go for the higher quality.  Depending on where you get it from, if you get it directly from the farmer, you might be able to get larger packages of miscut bacon and bacon ends for cheaper.

Another great way to save is by buying bones for stock rather than whole chickens all the time.  My chicken farmer gives me bones for free, and my fishmonger sells me bones for 50 cents/lb.  This allows me to significantly decrease the amount of expensive meat I need to buy and add nutrients in all over the place.  I make a whole lot of soups, soak my whole grains and then cook in stock, etc.  If I boil my chicken bones for at least 24 hours, I assume that they have the same calcium content as milk, so you may be able to reduce the amount of milk you need.  Is there a local CSA for vegetables that will save you some money?  Can you buy more ingredients in bulk (some nutrients lost, but could save a lot of money)?  Can you buy fewer vegetables and other plants in organic (perhaps avoid the dirty dozen or buy them organic)?  If you need to make compromises, make them on the lower levels of the food chain.

Can you cut your budget someplace else?  I'm sure you've already done a lot of these.  Can you drive less and minimalize idling?  Can you ride your bike or walk on short errands and combine longer ones?  Would it be possible to be a one-car family?  Can you turn off lights and unplug unused appliances?  Can you sleep when it's dark and capitalize on natural lighting when you are awake?  Can you check out books, CD's and movies from the library instead of going out or renting them?  Can you make do with the clothes you have or shop at second hand stores?  Can you choose to do free things for fun?  Check out what is available in your community.  Can you reduce eating out?  Can you take shorter showers and wash your clothes on cold?  Can you grow some of your own food?  Can you reevaluate some of the things you think you need for the new baby?  Can you clean your house with cheap baking soda and vinegar instead of more expensive and more toxic cleaners?  Can you do without instead of replacing some things that break?  Can you hold a garage sale or otherwise sell stuff that you don't need to make your house more efficient while adding some extra funds? 

[bella_stranger]

hi ladies!

checking in at almost 16 weeks! boy has my appetite returned... I have been a protein & fat eating machine!!! just had a nice bowl of parmesan ground beef that my husband made for me. perfect!

have been feeling the little one squirming here and there as well, so that is exciting!

I am definitely needing to be strict on sugar and carbs right now, as I ate poorly at a weekend away at my in--laws. 

Other than that, feeling pretty good, glad that I can handle onions and garlic and what not again :)

How is everyone feeling/eating this week??

 

[ltlmrs]

Subbing, I somehow missed this thread...

Question for you ladies, how much FCLO do you take?  After reading Amanda Rose's book I think I'm not taking enough, but I'm worried about taking too much.  I take 2 ml which is the dosage on the package, but I feel like I'm not getting enough.  I alternate the following supplements:

3-4 days a week:

3 tablets Dr. Ron's Best

3 tablets Organ Delight

3 tablets Dr. Ron's Cal/Mag

2 mL FCLO

the other days I take New Chapter Organics Perfect Prenatal.

I rather feel that the NCO prenatal works better for me than Doc's Best, but I'm worried about taking it with the cal mag, organ delight & FCLO.

I was fairly sick the first three months and didn't eat.  The last month and a half I've been eating well (much better than when I was pregnant the last time), though I could use to up my bone broth consumption.  I'm at 26 weeks.

We used to drink a lot of kombucha, but I stopped making it a few months before pregnancy and didn't start again until a few weeks ago.  Now I'm constantly craving it!

_______________________

Johanna, we are on a fairly tight budget, though it's a lot less tight than it used to be (thanks be to God!), but I'm still very careful.  We eat meat only three or four (at best five, but that's fairly rare) times a week (that's meals, it's very rare to have meat more than once on any given day).  I make a roast on Sunday and use the left overs in two or three other meals during the week, the trick for me is to make sure there are plenty of sides with the Sunday roast (including some other protein like a lentil salad) so that a normal sized serving (3-6 oz) doesn't seem like deprivation and to put the left over meat into soups, stir fries or casseroles so that the meat really stretches.  I also buy a roast that is bigger than I need (like a 5 lb pork shoulder) and make several meals out of it for the freezer all on the same day, so use 2 lb for a roast and cut the rest up for stews and casseroles.  I try to never serve more than one pound of meat at a single meal (there are three of us).  I will sometimes add bacon to a meal if I feel I need more meat, but we don't eat bacon as a single serving of meat (so I might add bacon to a chowder or a pot of beans or into a quiche/frittata). Our bacon is not nitrate free, but it's pastured pork raised by a local farmer so I'm not too worried.  We get the bacon ends because they are almost two dollars cheaper per pound than getting them in a pretty package neatly sliced.  One of our "meat" meals is usually salmon, either fresh when in season or canned.  Though I don't know what I'm going to do now with the stuff going on in Japan.

Otherwise, we eat a lot of legumes + grains cooked in bone broth, bone broth based veggie soups, pastured eggs, and cheese (I get raw cheese at Costco, it does have added amato food coloring though).   I make kefir and yogurt with regular pasteurized milk.  I haven't added liver back in yet because the smell of it cooking bothers me still, but if you can tolerate it that's an extremely cheap meat protein.  It helps that we live in a relatively low cost of living area and I can get plenty of bones for almost dirt cheap.  I also bake my own bread and for a while made my own pasta.  We don't usually buy pasta, but when we do I just get the plain white pasta and try to add as much good stuff to the sauce as possible.  For butter I use regular (but hormone free) butter when I need to cook with it (which we don't do a lot since I cook with lard most of the time) and I get kerrygold for spreading on bread and veggies.

BTW, I may be a minority here but I actually found that a CSA did not save us money.  I do better getting some produce frozen (like kale), making sure to always have plenty of potatoes and onions on hand and getting the rest in season at the farmer's market.

[bignerpie]

Hi Everyone... I'm 20 weeks today, and I have been very bad about my eating habits. I hit a big slump a few weeks ago, and I haven't had the energy to keep up with everything. Like, instead of making my own bread, I've had to send my husband to the store to buy some, and he always gets white bread :(

Certain other areas of my life have calmed down, so I can get our eating back into shape. I have gotten lots of good ideas from you ladies already!

[johanna84]

Hey, JMJ and ltlmrs-- thanks for the advice!  DH and I are grasping better how to lower our food/other budget without compromising too much.  We didn't factor in when we sat down to trim our food budget how paying off the rest of our debt at the beginning of the year was going to factor into the mix.  It's like we paid it off and then forgot about how we'd have that extra money each month! Additionally, we finally took the plunge and got rid of our cable. (but not our internet!)  DH even is on board for making steps toward starting to purchase our beef in bulk. (need to obtain a freezer first) So things are starting to look like they're headed in the right direction, budget-wise. 

   I should really look at how to consume less meat (says the former vegetarian, ha!), which would probably help even more.  Beans seem to disagree with DH quite a bit, but I started using kidney beans again (I went through a period where I didn't like kidney beans too much, so have been using pinto beans for everything..), so we'll see.  Also, I am super excited that I've stuck with my bread making routine, and after discovering that yogurt freezes well and in the right amounts in ice cube trays for starters for making yogurt, I am even more motivated than ever to make our own yogurt full time. Of course, now that I'm in the third trimester, I'm starting to get just tired enough to be taking hour long naps several times a week so I hope I can keep the momentum going!  Hope everyone is doing well.

[MrsBone]

I'm 39 weeks..due any time now! I can't wait. Still pretty TF, but mostly Primal. I still don't eat much grains, for more than one reason. It keeps the heartburn away and the allergies! I normally have really bad allergies this time of year, and my allergies are almost non existent as long as I stay away from grain. My meals for the most part consist of:

Breakfast: eggs prepared many different ways, bacon sometimes, almond fllour pancakes or muffins, and fruit and yogurt

Lunch: big ol salad or a little sample plate of meat, veggies, fruit and fermented goods. My tummy can't handle to much food anymore

Dinner:meat, potatoes, veggies still. I can handle tomato products again, so when I make things like tacos or spaghetti, I just put mine over a baked potato or salad or something, instead of a tortilla or pasta. DH and DS even like it over potato instead. I'm very grateful I'm a part of a food co-op and pretty much have a constant supply of organic potatoes all the time. I'd love to do more grass fed raw cheese and sour cream, but I settle for tillamook cheddar and organic butter from Costco. It's a nice compromise in price for DH, who could care less. All the meat and eggs we get is organic and/or grass fed though, so I feel good about that. Dairy is more of a condiment in the meals I make more than a main course.

Last week I had a nice prenatal massage and beforehand DS and I went an got lunch. Apparently BJ's Brewhouse now has gluten free pizza on their menu, and I just couldn't resist trying it.  I ate most of it, while DS only had 2 slices and then immediately went and got a massage..how stupid of me, I had heardtburn throughout the whole massage. That's definitely going to be an occasional thing for now and even post partum. However, a pizza place just opened up down the road from my house( I live in the middle of nowhere) and they offer gluten free crust. That's going to be tempting postpartum when I'm too tired to cook!

[Milkymommi]

Howdy mamas! I've been MIA from MDC for a bit here... figured I'd check in to the TF area and see what's up since I posted last.

I'm 23 weeks and feeling pretty good. I am having some trouble with my mouth though. I've had a mouth loaded with cavities and issues my entire life. However, for the last 6 or so yrs( since my 1st  serious food changes) I haven't seemed to present with any "new" issues. In other words, none of my small known cavities, affected gums or impacted wisdom teeth have given me any problems. Kids have been the only lucky recipients of the luxury of dental visits for cleanings and even THEY haven't been in 2 yrs.They are doing well but I'm concerned about a few little tiny grey sketchy spots I see on 2 of them on back surface areas. No health insurance, we pay cash so mom and dad tend to get left out.

I digress, pregnant seems to be equaling problem. I'm dealing with extra sensitivity in the gums and I can definatley tell where there are a few areas that need attention.It's making eating super unpleasant and gives me a bit of a headache. I'm sure it's extra blood flow etc. that's aggrivating everything but it's so discouraging. I want to have a healthy mouth! I have severe crowding which makes everything worse. Anyone had success with remineralization? I'm slightly beyond that with most of my issues BUT it can't hurt and I'd really like to focus on it with the kids.I've been having those awful dreams where my teeth start to crumble and fall out! Any suggestions/wisdom/success stories on remineralization??

In other news... I've never experienced such fantastic digestion during pregnancy like I am this time. This is my first totally TF pregnancy. Well, really I don't even know how to label what we're doing LOL I cook alot from NT... but we don't really eat grains other than soaked oats, sprouted wheat bread/wraps and the occasional sprouted spelt flour. We eat LOTS of good fat, grass fed meats, loads of pastured eggs, raw milk, whole fat yogurt and cheese,  veggies and fruit galore, ferments and very little sugar- rapadura if so or raw honey. I use lentils once a week-ish and if I ever use any other beans I soak and sprout them. I think that covers it all. So, not that it matters but what would one actually call that? I've been investigating the difference between primal, paleo, TF etc. and I'm still a bit confused

I made some beet kvass for the first time since I thought it sounded like a GrrrrrEAT idea for pregnancy. Mmmmm, not so much. It's not fizzy and it's barely choke downable. I WANT to love this stuff. Maybe I didn't do it quite right. no fizz, yucky taste. Ginger ale came out AWESOME though and our kombucha is kick buns now that we've made several batches.

[openpollination]

ltlmrs - Right now I'm taking 4 fermented CLO capsules, 2 high vitamin butter oil capsules, 2-3 organ delight, and a rainbow light perfect prenatal everyday. I also try to drink a quart of pregnancy tea blend (with nettles, rrl, alfalfa, peppermint, rosehips, etc) every day, plus some chloroxygen (maybe 7-10 drops depending on how much water I have!). I feel like it's a good amount of me, and my midwife thinks it's a great plan.

[ltlmrs]

Originally Posted by openpollination 

ltlmrs - Right now I'm taking 4 fermented CLO capsules, 2 high vitamin butter oil capsules, 2-3 organ delight, and a rainbow light perfect prenatal everyday. I also try to drink a quart of pregnancy tea blend (with nettles, rrl, alfalfa, peppermint, rosehips, etc) every day, plus some chloroxygen (maybe 7-10 drops depending on how much water I have!). I feel like it's a good amount of me, and my midwife thinks it's a great plan.

Thank you!  This is very helpful!

I actually e-mailed GP and they said that many of their pregnant customers take up to 1 teaspoon per day, I don't think I'll be upping my dosage that much, but I think I can safely double it.

The tea sounds wonderful too.