What superfoods/healthfoods do you try to work into your diet?

[kms7z]

Hi all-- I just found out I am pregnant with my 3rd...  My eating this past year has been horrendous because of work stress-- lots of fried food and beer, not many veggies.  I need to clean up my diet ASAP.  Luckily I am not overweight but I am concerned about the quality of my food.   

In addition to getting plenty of fruits and veggies, are there any other healthy foods that you try to work in daily?  I've started stirring chia seeds into yogurt because they seem to have a lot of nutrition.

Thanks!

Kate

[CrunchyMama19]

Congrats! I am also pregnant with my 3rd, due at the end of August. I like Chia seeds too, some other superfoods I like to get into my diet are....

Oats

Kale

Spinach

Flaxseeds

Berries (when in season)

Nuts (various kinds like Almonds and Walnuts)

Avocado

Olive Oil

Bananas

Quinoa

Beans and Lentils

Generally we stick to whole grains and a largely vegan diet (though that has gone out the window visiting my very sweet but very southern in-laws over the holidays). We avoid processed foods too, HFCS, and stay away from GMOs when we can but living in Norhtern Mississippi availability is not great. But don't get overwhelmed! Just do whatever you can afford both monetarily and timewise. I give into cravings sometimes too and I crave JUNK when preggo (I could really go for some orange soda right now!).

[LilyTiger]

I loved kale smoothies while pregnant.  Kale blended with a bit of frozen fruit.  You can add chia seeds or yogurt, though I preferred the yogurt on the side.  I got lazy about it toward the end, but it's packed with good stuff.

[kms7z]

Thanks!  will definitely do more dark leafy greens. and i love smoothies-- actually that is one of the few things i can eat when i get morning sickness-- so that is a great tip!  Lots of those foods-- the nut butters, seeds, leafy greens, fruits can all go in smoothies now that i think about it... 

[Sol_y_Paz]

Congrats!

I focused on:

so much water!

greek yogurt

dried plums with bananas (helped with leg cramps)

granola

tons of avocado with lime

beans:black beans, pintos, hummus

fish

sweet potato

spinach

berries

nuts

peppers

apple with nut butter and walnuts/raisins

mushrooms

brocolli

kale

Edited by Sol_y_Paz - 12/27/12 at 9:31pm

[nettlesoup]

Bone broth is a really good idea as it will help with the elasticity of your skin and also be beneficial to your joints. And of course it's highly nutritious so will give you and your baby lots of needed vitamins and minerals. I've also just found out I'm pregnant so I'm planning to make loads of the stuff! Oily fish like mackerel and sardines are also really good.

[circle vortex]

Yum, I love putting chai seeds in my yogurt. Its my end of the day treat, I also add frozen raspberries, hemp seeds and flax seed. I juice in the morning, carrot orange, kale ginger. and I take spirullina and bee pollen. I a back to salads again after my first trimester. I totally didn't eat anything health for those months. Oh and I am trying to get 3 tablespoons of raw coconut oil in me daily. 

[BaileyB]

We just got a juicer for xmas so that has helped. Otherwise I am terrible!!!! at eating veggies. I think ginger is suppose to be good too for digestion. I have put that into a few juices but they sell ginger in all sorts of forms. Also vitamin C is great for immune support and preventing m/c.

[deborahbgkelly]

Not daily, but buckwheat is a whole grain with a substantial amount of protein. If I can stomach it, I try quinoa as well. Coconut milk has medium chain fatty acids which are good for growing babies.

[phathui5]

Yogurt! The calcium and probiotics are great for you.

[bobcat]

I buy the boxes of baby organic spinach (because I don't have to rinse it), and put handfuls of that into my scrambled eggs. We joke that I like a little eggs with my spinach. Then I put a lot of grated cheddar on top. That is a go-to meal for me. The egg yolks have choline (good for baby's brain development), and the spinach is great of course.

I do smoothies with: orange juice, frozen organic raspberries, frozen organic blueberries, regular banana. You could add some greens to that, I'm sure.

I do a lot of steamed broccoli. It is good lightly steamed in a steam basket, then tossed with olive oil, sprinkle of salt, pepper.

I eat roasted almonds as a snack.

I also keep snack sized ziplocs in the fridge, filled with: baby carrots, rinsed celery sticks, rinsed broccoli. Then I can add nut butter to the celery, or dip all 3 in hummus. I have to have them all prewashed though, or I won't bother.

I take these fish oil pills, and consider them very important for reducing inflammation in my body, and the DHA is great for the baby: http://www.iherb.com/Carlson-Labs-The-Very-Finest-Fish-Oil-Orange-1000-mg-120-Soft-Gels/6125    I try to take 5-6 a day. I need to start spacing them out though, like 3 twice a day.

I also like Rainbow Light Prenatal Petitie or Prenatal One as my vitamin. :)

Sometimes I eat unhealthy.....but I try to make up for it with the above. :) Good luck!!!!!!

[aim4balance]

OP, I'm sure you're fine, if I were you I'd just try to make sure I'm getting folic acid (beet kvass is awesome for that).

My superfoods closely follow the Weston A Price recommendations for pregnant/nursing mothers:

beet kvass

raw whey

raw milk

liver weekly or other organ meat

eggs daily from pastured hens

avocado

wild alaskan salmon (monthly, otherwise I take krill oil)

natto (hard to stomach though!)

kale

bone broths

fermented foods like kimchi, saurkraut

Though I have to admit my weakness is dessert!  :)

[Xobel]

I second most of the things listed in here, plus I'm big into adding chlorella and/or spirulina to my smoothies - it was very helpful for the few weeks that smoothies were one of the only foods I was interested in.  I have been trying to work flax (seeds, meal, oil) into certain things as well, in a quest to get some omega 3's; I'm not quite out of the 1st trimester and am still not over fish just being too "fishy" for me.

You guys all have some brilliant ideas, by the way.  I'm certainly VERY excited about all of these suggestions now that most things are palatable again!

[tillymonster]

Originally Posted by aim4balance 

OP, I'm sure you're fine, if I were you I'd just try to make sure I'm getting folic acid (beet kvass is awesome for that).

My superfoods closely follow the Weston A Price recommendations for pregnant/nursing mothers:

beet kvass
raw whey
raw milk
liver weekly or other organ meat
eggs daily from pastured hens
avocado
wild alaskan salmon (monthly, otherwise I take krill oil)
natto (hard to stomach though!)
kale
bone broths
fermented foods like kimchi, saurkraut

Though I have to admit my weakness is dessert!  

I need to follow this list! Currently I have been eating/drinking kombucha, kefir and bone broth in sautéed dishes or a soup but I can't bring myself to drink it. Maybe just make a veggie soup and eat every other day. I'd be sick of it real fast tho.

Beet kvass: contains a certain veggie that just scares my taste buds to death. How do you eat it? Beets just taste like dirty dirt to me.

[aim4balance]

tillymonster, beet kvass is just a liquid.  its a drink made from the juice of fermented beets, there are no actual beets in it after the fermentation.  it takes some getting used to but I thought it valuable to get used to it so I did.  I do like the taste of eating beets also though.