Any Vegetarian Mamas?

[beemama]

Check in here!!

We were vegetarian through dd's pg and there were no problems, aside from excess weight gain due to some bad food choices (SWEETS- white flour). When m/s kicked in I started craving all of the comfort foods from my childhood... unhealthy stuff like hot dogs, donuts & mac/cheese. I found vegetarian solutions for most of my cravings but now I don't do meat substitutes because of gmo soy & msg.

I have noticed I'm craving more protein, so I've been making rice/lentils more often & having nuts or nut butter as snacks.

I feel good about my diet right now, I'm eating a big salad every day (only mild m/s right now). We're doing less dairy than last time... I think cutting back on it helped us get pg after 2+ years of trying.

Are you doing anything differently now that you're pg?

[edamommy]

when I was pregnant I started each morning w/ a big mug of steamed rice milk w/ 2 tbs of molasses melted in it. Good iron for veggie mama's to be!

[beemama]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! THAT sounds good!!

[goddessgold1]

I am a vegetarian, as well as my children. I really worry about protien, and while my children have been small, they have been very healthy, and there weight might jsut be because I am small. We dont eat much processed food, but I make sure to eat peanut butter, i make it myself, so i know its good, and about once a week I make split pea soup, I just make sure that at least once a day I make something with extra protien in it. Which isnt always easy, but I try.......:

[daceysmomma]

Ooooh, good idea edamommy!

I am slowly making the switch to vegetarianism. It sort of helps right now that the thought of any kind of meat makes me retch. DD is a born veggie and won't touch any meat at all. (Except Sonic corn dogs. Don't ask!)

I would love to hear more ideas on protein. I love peanut butter and practically lived on it during DD's pregnancy. I don't care for lentils, but am open to all kinds of other suggestions!

[beemama]

goddessgold~I would guess they're small because you are... the veggie kids we've known have all been so healthy. Our dd has always been a vegetarian & is very big for her age, very healthy.
I don't usually worry about extra protein... unless I notice cravings for it.

That's great that you avoid processed foods!
We try to avoid it, too... but have been known to break down from time to time & get some Amy's mac & cheese .

[beemama]

daceysmomma~ that's great that you're shifting toward vegetarianism!

If you like peanutbutter... you might really like other nut butters, like almond & sunflower seed.
Do you like any other beans? We make up a big 5 bean chili every now & again & have lots of leftovers.
If you don't like lentils on their own, they're easily disguised in spaghetti sauce, esp. in a lasagna.
We still eat eggs about once a week, too.

[lunamegn]

I'm a vegetarian mama. I was eating a mostly raw diet before I found out I was pregnant and it was like the day after I found out I was pregnant raw foods became completely unappealing to me. My dh has been making super food smoothies for us, so that's good because they include a bunch of veggies and fruits...

I'm also concerned that I'm getting all of my recommended daily protein. The super food smoothies that my dh make have 40% of my daily need of protein, but I still have to make the other part up. USually with nut butters (we have a vita-mix so we've been making our own as well) and tofu (not too much tofu) and beans. Although Mexican food is not sounding appealing right now. Only Indian. Daceysmom ~ Do you like Indian food? Lots of dishes contain lentils and kidney beans, which are both high in protein.

We have some organic eggs that we've been making, too. And there's always cheese! The raw cheddar cheese we have been getting has 7 grams of protein per ounce.

I was reading in a pregnancy book of mine last night that vegetarians have to be careful to get enough protein and that meat eaters usually don't have to be careful to get enough, they have to be careful to get too much! They said that you can get too much and that it can be taxing on the kidneys to have to process too much protein. Just a thought. It's seems like it's a fine balance. So I figure as long as I'm making a conscious effort to get enough protein and I'm not craving things that have protein, I'm doing good. I've noticed that I'm not getting enough protein when I start craving meat or nut butters.

[beemama]

daceysmomma~ hummus! Do you like it? It's an easy protein snack.

lunamgn~ for dd, I had been about 70% raw when we conceived, dh was 100% for 6 months... and like you, soon after I found out it was just not appealing to me anymore.

It's funny, I thought I had read in a few places about the "protein myth" , that we don't need as much of it as was once thought, that there are levels of protein in many foods... like spinach is 49% protein- but then when I tried to find some info to link in here... I couldn't find anything!

[veggiemama4]

I'm Veg

I am a vegetarian and have been my whole life, so I'm not really doing anything different, just eating more. I am starving. I was on a "diet" and have lost about 40lbs since June... so my eating was limited, now I am starving I think I will gain the 40lbs back this week if I keep up.

[~minnow~]

Me too! (Hey, lunamegn and veggiemama4! I just saw you guys in the UC forum too.) I've been veg. for 6 or so years and I think my diet will work for pregnancy. I have tons of recipes, many simple, for bean and grain dishes, curries, tofu dishes, etc. Wld be happy to share.

I confess that while TTC I ate meat (lamb, turkey, scallops, shrimp) on a few occasions to see if that helped get my hormones under control (as suggested in _The Infertility Cure_ for my long cycles). It seemed to help. I have also cut back on the dairy, particularly my cheese obsession.

The thing I'm concerned about this pregnancy (gah! I still can't belive it) is eating too much tofu. I also use some soy milk and soy creamer. I'm trying not to do soy every day like we used to. Anyone have a sense how much soy is too much?

Actually, beemama is right: getting enough protein is easy if you eat whole foods! Tons of stuff has protein: potatoes, whole wheat bread, cheese, kale, spinach, miso, pumpkin seeds, whole milk, peas, summer squash, tofu, tempeh (both very versatile cooking ingredients: just dump 'em in where you might include chicken; marinate first if desired)...

This website has a list of protein content (scroll down to get past the liver, tuna, etc.):
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?t...trient&dbid=92

Actually, I love that website: it gives you comprehensive info about the nutritional content of any food, and offers easy recipes too. You can enter the ingredient or nutrient you are interested in and it'll punch up recipes that include it.

[beemama]

~minnow~ Thanks for that link! That site is awesome! I read around in The Infirtility Cure, too... that's why I cut back on dairy- I, too, was cheese obsessed.

We cut back on soy 14 mos ago because of TTC & the phytoestrogens, I was doing soy milk/creamer & tofu, as well as meat substitutes... now we have tofu occasionally, drink rice milk & dairy creamer.

So glad there are others here!
What have you eaten today? I had some Autumn Wheat cereal w/rice milk, a huge spinach salad w/feta & walnuts, a whole grain roll, a wheat english muffin & I'm about to slice an apple. OH, and some watered down swiss water process 1/2 caff... really struggling to kick that habit! Tomorrow I'll start diluting the 1/2 caff w/ Roma, a coffee substitute.

[lunamegn]

I've eaten 2 oranges, 1 banana, and a little bit of pizza that we made last night. I am suffering, though! I have never have morning (or for me, all day long) sickness. What's up with that!?! I had barely any with my son. Does this mean a girl or something?

[Fridaxsky]

I'm a vegan - have been for the last 2 years, though I can't say I've always been perfect. Since finding about I'm pregnant, I have buckled down again and have started keeping daily food logs to track how much protein and calcium I'm getting. We do as much organic as possible (DH is vegan too). I know I'll constantly hear from my family how I should be eating meat/cheese/other animal products, but I am very confident that I will able to get through this and stay healthy! :

[beckyphry]

Veggie here! I eat a fairly healthy diet, but I know I need to add more protein and whole grains in and try to cut out the processed crap. Thankfully my appetite is decent right now, so I'm really going to make an effort to do better. I'm sure this thread will help me!

(pssst, lunamegn )

[lunamegn]

Hi Becky! I didn't know you were a veggie!

[beckyphry]

Meghan, I've been veggie for 5 years. A veggie friend last night asked me what I'd do if I started craving meat during my pregnancy. I told him that I can't imagine any craving would be strong enough to actually get me to eat meat, but that I had thought about what I would do if that happened.

What do you guys think? If you suddenly started having cravings, would you eat meat to satisfy it?

[beemama]

No, I've had weird meat cravings... I up my protein.
I think I'd feel too guilty, and I don't know that I could actually get over the fact that I was eating meat.

[Fridaxsky]

Originally Posted by beckyphry

What do you guys think? If you suddenly started having cravings, would you eat meat to satisfy it?

I think I'd feel guilty too. I went veggie for health and philosophical reasons so I'm HOPING that those will overpower those pregnancy cravings.

I'm REALLY worried about what will happen when I start craving ice cream! I don't do well with dairy, but oh how I love a big bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream! Hopefully the baby doesn't! :

[allbrightmama]

I am another vegetarian mama. I am also dairy free because of ds2's dairy protein allergy. Of course I am having terrible cravings for pizza, baked macaroni and cheese, lasagna, quesadillas... anything dripping in cheese! Hopefully those things are only a couple more years away...

My inlaws will surely flip when they find out I am nursing a toddler, pregnant and still eating such a "restricted" diet. They will probably start slipping lard into my tea. I am sure I would get a better response if I were eating at KFC 3x a day.