protein in pregnancy

[nald1]

i mostly eat vegan but will eat dairy if we are out or get a pizza, etc- not a rule for me, i just tend to feel better without it.  Anyways, im 16 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good - I dont give a lot of thought to protein, just follow my instincts- what has your take been while pregnant on protein?

[kismetbaby]

I definitely upped my protein and certainly my awareness. . .it's easy for me at least to just munch on fruits and veggies and breads all day.  I found that I would get shaky btw meals if I didn't get enough protein.

So I taped a list from my MW of protein rich foods on a kitchen cabinet and tried to incorporate one at each meal.  (beans, tofu, etc)  I also started eating a lot more quinoa than I ever had and found I liked it and it was easy to incorporate to meals.  

[veganfox]

I had a 100% vegan pregnancy and it wasn't that hard to get lots of protein. As pp said, I just made sure I ate a variety of legumes, soy products & grains like quinoa. I think I ended up taking between 60-80 grams of protein a day, if I remember correctly. If you want some help figuring out how much protein you are really consuming, I suggest www.nutritiondata.com where you can add all the foods you eat or search for foods high in protein. It really helped me while pregnant. Have a wonderful pregnancy!

[leabean]

I have been vegan for 10 years and was vegan for my whole pregnancy. I definitely upped my protein, calcium and iron and felt great. For protein I ate a lot of peanut butter, nuts, hummous, tofu, seitan, beans. For calcium I continued to eat leafy greens and did eat a bit more soy yogurt than previously. And for iron I ate more oatmeal with blackstrap molasses than I had before. We tend to eat too much protein in the United States, so I actually wasn't as worried about that. And as long as you get your iron checked out and you are fine, then you should be ok. I would go with your instincts for sure.

[germin8]

I wanted to eat beans, garbanzos, lentiles... beans, beans, beans. I didn't crave them... I just wanted to choose dishes with the most beans. I think your body may be able to tell you. Don't forget sprouts and greens... loaded with the amino acids which are the building blocks of protein.

[nald1]

I just have NO desire to be counting grams of anything and trust my instincts more now than 5 yrs ago when I was pregnant.  I remember spending hours looking up cereals with 100% iron and feeling grossed out by the sugar content and yuck factor to multi-grain cheerios etc!  I eat oatmeal every am now, with raisins and soy milk.  I feel great and feel my body craves protein when i need it....