What are you eating?

[LylasMom]

When I was pg with DD, I was pretty good about balancing my diet and not going crazy with junk. Since I had her, I don't have as much time to think about what I'm eating, but since I'm preggo again, I'd like to go back to eating as healthy as possible. Generally, our meals at home are nutritious, but I just want to make sure each calorie counts and my diet is balanced. I'm very concerned about gaining too much weight, as I'd like to go as *natural* as possible when it comes to delivery. My previous MW made a huge deal out of my weight gain, she didn't want me to gain more than 15 lbs, since I am only 5 feet tall and a few lbs overweight, but I gained 25 lbs. EAch time I had to get weighed I would get nervous, it's not nice when you have anxiety about before you go in to see your MW.

Anyway, I just need some meal ideas, mostly for dinner. M/S hasn't started for me yet, I'm sure when that hits, I'll be eating whatever works for a while.

[dziejen]

I gained 50lbs with each of my dd's despite my best efforts with the second child. This time around I am exercising a couple days a week and just trying to eat in moderation. Luckily I have not been too nauseaus (?) so I have been trying to eat a lot of salad, fruits, veggies and lean protein like chicken. Cereal has been wonderful when I am not feeling so good. Basically I am just trying to avoid the junk food which hasn't really appealed to me at all this time around anyway. Maybe someone else has some good ideas?

[MistyB]

I try to keep lots of fruit around (usually pineapple, watermelon and oranges)and also lots of cooked veggies in the fridge so if I want something healthy, it is available. I eat egg whites usually every other day (they have been tasting pretty gross as of late), lots of nuts and a bit of soy stuff.

[Geofizz]

... on the weight gain issue, I'm a firm believer that if you eat well (good quality and variety of foods, eat when hungry) then your body will put on the amount of weight it needs. Period. From mid-way through high school until I got pregnant (about 12 years), my weight had never varied by more than 5 pounds. I wasn't sure that I would be able to gain weight while pregnant. I continued to eat well, get tons of exercise, and I gained 40 pounds. I wan't trying to gain, and I wasn't trying to keep from gaining. My body did what it needed to do to produce DD.

If your mw has a certain number of pounds minimum or maximum to gain, this is a sign that the midwife is looking at numbers, not the person.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now...

At the moment, I'm eating bagels with cream cheese, cheddar cheese and carrots. That's about what stays down, and I'm not going to rock the boat.

[DesireeH]

Morning sickness has struck (not just morning) so I am just eating what sounds good (mostly strawberries and pineapple!) LOL

[IncaMama]

oooh pineapple sounds good.
sweet things have been giving me problems, but fruit sounds sooo good right now.
i've been eating bagels with cream cheese, homemade mac & cheese, carrots, aaaaaand that's about it. :( i'm trying.

i gained about 50lbs with DS but 11 of it was in the last week and i'm pretty sure it was just water weight. i'm not gonna stress about how much weight i gain this time around. i didn't last time, won't this time. there are so many other things to worry about, i don't have that much time! LOL

[carolyn_babycakes]

I've been trying really hard to do the Blue Ribbon Baby diet..lots of protein etc. Even though I have no nausea, it's really hard to eat that much protein! It's an adjustment. :irked:

[drnmd1216]

all I want lately is sweets and potatoes these last few weeks...I am having really bad aversions to all kinds of meats and a lot of veggies...hoping it leaves me soon bc carbs are NOT a good thing for my body (I tend to put on weight quickly with them!!)

[hottmama]

I've been eating everything in sight! I feel constantly hungry. I usually don't eat much protein, so I've been making sure I eat protein at every meal (like I put silken tofu in my breakfast smoothie, ate chicken at lunch- which I usually avoid, drinking chocolate soymilk instead of pop or juice, etc).

[JenniferH]

I weigh more now than I did when I delivered my first pregnancy! I used to have an excellent diet--little or no fried food, low sugar intake, very little caffiene and hardly any fast food.

It's really gone downhill in the last 6 years. Now that I'm faced with another pregnancy, I'm concerned about my blood pressure and my knees. Even though I look 20 lbs lighter than I am, I'm still a few lbs overweight. If I gain as much as I did last pregnancy I'll be just over 200 lbs.

At the moment I'm eating chicken breasts, biscuits, and garlic herb rice with broccoli. YUM.

I have 2 dogs, so plenty of excuse to get out and walk them. We all need the exercise and it will certainly help with the pregnancy.

Aside: My BP is normally 90/70 or some ridiculously low number, so even if I get up to 120/80 I get headaches. Not good.

[screamingyellow]

Unfortunately I am eating anything and everything, so I am no help!

[*Amy*]

I ordered out, Chinese. Beef & peapods and vegetable fried rice. Oh my gahhh! It was sooooo good. It's the closest I've been to orgasm since DH left. :LOL

[littleteapot]

With my last pregnancy I didn't have the dietary restrictions I do now. I was meat-eating, and sugar-eating. I ate well, for someone who ate those things, but not perfect. :) My vices were chocolate milk and OJ. I can't even BEGIN to calculate how much money was spent on just those two things. The woman at the corner store used to order extra cases of chocolate milk just for me, and call at 7am when the shipment came in so my hub could go down and buy it! :LOL

I gained 45lbs with that pregnancy, and I was 10lbs underweight when I started.

This time I'm the same weight I was when I started that one (about 103lb) and so far I've gained about 7lb. I'm a vegetarian now, and we don't eat refined sugar. We're on a strict, strict budget but we eat organic whenever possible and make our meals from scratch, so all I'm hoping is that I gain however much weight this baby and my body needs. :) At least I have the confidence of knowing I'm eating healthier this time.

I bought OptiNatal prenatal vitamins (http://www.1cascade.com/natural_products/eclecticvitamins/optinatal/), and have been eating lots of fresh fruit, peanut butter, cheese, dark leafy greens, a bit of organic fortified soy milk, etc. So far so good. I'm just starting to feel aversions, but I figure that it's best to eat and throw up 20 minutes later, having absorbed some, then not eat at all!

[wawoof]

I gained 55lb with DS, but I eventually took it all off and I was still in really good aerobic shape, so I'm not worried about how much I gain while pregnant. That's a bit wierd since I had a long history of body image concerns and even eating disorders before my first pregnancy, but when pregnant, for some reason I'm just able to focus on what the baby needs, just going with what my body wants as long as it's healthy. I tend to crave a lot of protein normally and especially when pregnant. I'm more concerned about making time for workouts this time around, as I have *much* less time for that. I think yoga was super beneficial to me last time, but it's really hard to fit in classes now.

Hmm, as to what I'm eating, I've really been craving cream cheese (neufchatel to limit the fat a little) and cheese a lot more than usual. Other than that, I'm eating toast, eggs, fruit/protein smoothies, fruit, chinese food, chicken, tofu, and whatever veggies I can get around to making. The things I can't stand to even think about right now are peanut butter and sweets (even sweet coffee/chocolate drinks). I'm also not much into fruits by themselves right now - must be with other food. Oh, and I don't feel like drinking straight milk - but I'm getting a lot of dairy with the yogurt in the smoothies, cheese, and cream cheese. I crave a decaf latte about every other day and the rest of the time coffee is unappealing - wierd, huh?

[JLav]

I agree with Geofizz, that you should eat healthy choices and let your body do what it needs to. I think that weight gain varies so much from woman to woman and it's different for each baby you are nurturing. I think that it is most important to make healty choices, stay away from processed foods as much as possible and watch your sugar intake...and to get a little exercise everyday. Listen to what your tummy is telling you. :)
I gained nearly 50lbs with DS and I can attribute most of it to my gallon a day oj habit and rocky road ice cream. I sat behind a desk all day and snacked! Lately I've been liking bagels with cream cheese and apricot preserves, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and yogurt. I haven't been pukey but still pretty icky so not a lot sounds good. I've been trying to get out for a walk everyday even if it's just for 10 minutes...it's made a big difference in how I feel emotionally and physically.
For dinners I've been making fresh veggies, rice and bean dishes and pasta.
This thread is making me hungry again.... :bag:

[JLav]

.I crave a decaf latte about every other day and the rest of the time coffee is unappealing - wierd, huh?
Mmmmm....coffee has been sounding so good to me. I hadn't thought about getting decaf.

[selazenby]

I just want to second the posts about eating well then letting your body gain what it will. I too firmly believe that you will crave what you need. Of course, you will want things that you don't need too, and it's fine to give in to those wants on occassion as well - but I think full fledged cravings are indicative of a need your body has. I craved parsely all through my last pregnancy and have already started craving it this time - and I know it's because my diet doesn't have enough iron. The true "normal" range of weight gain is a huge spread - not just the 25-35 pounds we hear about all the time. People can gain less or much more and still have very healthy low risk pregnancies. And of course, those enthusiastic nursing babies will suck the fat right off of you in the end :)

[iris0110]

If your midwife is so stressed about your weight that she wants to limit you to 15lbs and makes you stressed too, i think you should change midwives. My midwife never stresses about my weight gain. She will try to help me keep my gaining under control if that is what I want, but she always says that a way too restrictive diet is bad for baby. Limiting your weight gain can cause placenta issues and Pre-e and fetal demise. That isn't something I would want to mess with personally. Try each day to eat foods that are healthy, and get a little exercise (walking, stationary bike, swimming ect). Don't let your weight stress you out. I gained 75lbs when I was pregnant with Ds. I went way overboard on junkfood (I was a teenager and didn't know any better). I lost most of that weight, but not all of it before I became pregnant with Arawyn. I was nauseated during the first 12 weeks of my Pregnancy with Arawyn and so I didn't gain nearly as much. I was very limited on what I could eat without getting sick. By 22 weeks I had gained about 20lbs. For this pregnancy I started out weighing way more than I would like. So far I haven't gained any weight, but that isn't because I haven't been eating well. I just don't seem to be gaining.

Here are some healthy meal ideas for you for dinners. I personally love salmon and it is very good for you. Try it baked, broiled or grilled. I like to marinate it all day in Lemon juice and garlic before cooking it. Serve it with salad and your choice of veggies. Also Grilled or baked chicken breast is a healthy meal. I like to grill it and dip it in barbecue sauce. Veggies are good cooked on the grill too. Whole grain pasta and Marinara sauce served with breaded and backed boneless skinless chicken breast makes a super meal that will keep you full. Those are just some of my ideas for healthier meals. I am personally not sitting down for big meals right now because of my nausea, but hopefully I will be soon.

[*Amy*]

I went to the grocery store today and was so happy that sooo many things looked/sounded good: fruits, veggies, bagels, turkey. But the thing I *had* to eat immediately upon returning home? GrapeNuts. Mmmmmm! I haven't had them since I was a kid, so go figure. I told DH and he said, "are you craving....tree bark?" :LOL

[Minnow_]

Amy, that's funny! Cereal has been the one thing that has consistently sounded good to me, even when nothing else seems at all appealing. Mmmm, bran flakes. :)

[iris0110]

Amy and Minnow, it seems so weird to me that you are craving cereal. Even looking at cold cereal makes me feel sick. Now a nice bowl of soup mmmmm. Pregnancy is so strange.

[*Amy*]

OK, well Shannon, here's what's funny - soup almost *always* sounds good to me in the morning! LOL! I have had soup for breakfast on more than one occasion, while cereal at night usually does me up just right. (And it even rhymes!) I love "Oh's" cereal right now, and I can do Cherrios from time to time. I like cereal that tastes good with fresh fruit mixed in.