need help eating better

[starshaker]

At the moment im pregnant with twins and i know my diet isnt great. I started off overweight and am now 27 weeks pregnant and a stone lighter. I have never had a very good relationship with food. I go through phases where i will have breakfast lunch and dinner and make sure its healthy with lots of fruit and veg. But i also go through phases where i really dont eat much. I just dont feel hungry or if i have musli for breakfast it makes me sick. I tend to eat better on the weeks i have a bit of money other than that its basically crap. Ive started having my musli in the afternoon/early evening just so i know im having something decent. What else can i do too make sure im eating enough for me and 2 babies. Can only imagine its gonna get harder when the babies arrive and im trying to breast feed

[BrownPaperandString]

Mmmm. Do you like cooking or would you rather just grab some stuff and throw it together?

[starshaker]

Again i go through phases of cooking but its getting harder. Standing for more than 10 mins starts to hurt along the top of my bump. Its also getting more difficult to get close to the cooker lol

[BrownPaperandString]

Well.....ideas. Just make sure you eat something from all food groups and different coloured fruit and veg.

Fill the fridge with veggies that can be cut up as soon as you have the energy to do it (cut up a days supply only or it will dry out) and then leave it in tupperware or a bag in the fridge for you to pick from during the day - peppers, carrots, cucumber, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes - buy them from your local market - it will be much cheaper.

Pot of Humus for dipping

Cut up pack of flour tortillas in to triangles, lay on baking tray and bake until golden. cool and keep in airtight container. Really yummy if spread with grated cheese with pumpkin/sunflower seeds on the top before baking. Not sure how long those ones would store for though

Nibble on frozen peas

Do same with fruit - berries, apples, pears, plum, bananas, melon, grapes

Cook a whole chicken and then you can have it with baked potato and salad / sandwich / on it's own etc

Sticks of cheddar dipped in branston?

Smoothies? either bought or homemade

Soups - chop for 5 mins and throw in some stock then sit down for 30 mins then cool, blend & eat with toast.

Baked beans on toast?

[BrownPaperandString]

oh and packs of salami / hams and cream cheese (futura is lovely!) and marmite rice cakes if you like those or crackers.

[starshaker]

wow thank you so much for taking the time to write that. I like those ideas. I love fruit and veg. Havent had a baked pot for ages so may need to add some to my shopping list. I supose i could actually do most of the food prep sitting at the table.

[JazzieJeff]

How about something simple and quick like scrambled eggs on rye toast? You can buy rye bread in Tesco's ready sliced, in ours it's about the nuts and stuff. Rye bread properly fills you up and keeps you going better than normal bread too! It really helps me on the mornings I feel poorly for some reason... Have you tried Delia's how to Cheat book as well? It uses loads of quicker, perfectly healthy alternatives and I do her lasagne all the time; it's big enough to last DH and I two nights with two big portions each and where she wants you to use full fat creme fraiche, you can easily swap it for half fat or whatever. You can't go wrong with a jacket potato either with some beans (there's always low fat/low sugar versions of those too), and you could maybe put a small can of tuna with it too.
Also, if you don't really want to cook, do you have a DP/lovely friend handy who could help you out a bit? If I had a girlfriend in your situation and she asked me to sort her out with one meal a week (a stew or something simple that would last for two meals), if she bought the ingredients I would help her out no questions asked. You're pregnant, you're meant to be relaxing! If it's more complicated than being in the kitchen for any more than 10 minutes at a time, you shouldn't be doing it!

[mitfordsisters]

What sort of things do you have other than muesli? Have you applied for maternity grant if you are eligible?

You could get in the ingredients for simple snacks to make sure you are getting the nutrients without having to cook. I know not everyone agrees, but I think if you eat dairy products (milk, cheese, butter), get the full fat ones as they are purer:

Ryvita or wholemeal bread with:

peanut butter and banana
Humus
Ham and philadelphia
Fishfingers
Salad
Cheese and celery or tomato

Unsalted nuts
Yogurt and fruit (fresh or tinned in juice)

When you do cook, make big batches and freeze some.

[starshaker]

Ive applied for the dreaded HIP grant lol. Will probably do a big shop and ask a friend to help me cook and freeze a lot of things. Dont have a dp/dh but i do have a dd (5) who i always make sure has proper food. Ive been told i need to have an extra 600 calories a day (told buy the doctor) as i am growing 2 babies.

I try and have musli once aday as it fills me up and i feel like ive eaten at least 1 thing thats good. Eat cheese toasties quite often and used to love scrambled egg but seem to have gone off it at the moment. My snack obsession (sometimes ill just snack instead of a proper meal) is the krisprolls with cottages cheese and pineapple mmmmmm.

[JazzieJeff]

OMG mitfordsisters yes; peanut butter rocks. You can spread it on spelt crackers to make them taste good.
What about bagels? You can get delicious flavoured ones and the supermarkets do their own brands too, which are nicer than the branded ones.
You could chop up some fresh fruit and stir it into a Mullerlight or other big yoghurt to make it chunkier and last longer.
I buy full fat butter because of the ingredients in marg, but I know that's not the slimming approach.
Snack a jacks or other flavoured rice cakes.
You can chuck the ingredients for porridge in a slow cooker before you go to bed and it'll be ready for when you get up in the morning, all hot and lush.
Try frozen yoghurt or sorbet instead of ice cream.
If you have a tiered steamer, you can put chicken/fish the first layer, potatoes in the second and veg in the third. Bang in all in and set the timer and wait for the ping.
Raw sugar snap peas (and you can buy bags of ready cut carrot batons, put them in the freezer and defrost as you need... lazy!) dipped in humous or philly.
Freeze pots of yoghurt and devour in front of the TV.
Cherry tomatoes and cheese chunks.
Bread sticks you can dip in low fat dips.
xx

[CheeseChomper]

Cheesy beans on toast sorts everything!

Also, I love jacket potatoes with allsorts: Tuna, beans, cottage cheese is the current obsession.

Krisprolls with cheddar, hummous, carrot sticks, cucumber and cherry tomatoes.

Fajittas- the old el paso ones are good, either with ready sliced/diced chicken or quorn, and chopped peppers and onions. Very easy and quick to make.

Decent fresh soups from the supermarket are great, with wholemeal bread/krisprolls and cheese (can you tell I ,love cheese?!)

Add a piece of fruit and yoghurt to any of the above and you've got quite a decent meal going on

[japhrimel]

Having wholegrain bread in the house is really helpful I find - add houmous or cheese and maybe some sliced tomato or a lettuce leaf and you have a relatively nutritious filling snack with minimal effort.

[knackered76]

My breakfast is innocent smoothie with pumpkin and sunflower seeds mixed in with oats. Generally fills me until lunchtime. If I'm feeling even more fruity I add in handful of blueberries and then that's 3 of your 5 in one shot!

Cut up vegetables and storing them in the freezer is a great idea for those times you can't be arsed to cut stuff up.

Steamer also great to cook it all at once.

Don't beat yourself up too much if you can't manage it all the time. Aim to try and be healthy the majority of the time and don't stress if you don't manage it all the time

[Hevster]

Innocent smoothies are great, bit expensive but often on an offer at the supermarket and 2 of your 5 a day in 1 glass. If you want really easy options then add a glass of orange juice and baked beans for tea and thats 4 of the 5 the government think you require!

[vitapulchra]

Hi Starshaker (waves). I've been going through phases exactly like you and get discouraged when I know I'm not taking proper care of myself. I also love a cheese toasty! But I've found that wraps are my salvation this pg. I just buy a packet of tortilla wraps or some similar kind of flatbread, and these are my fillings:

-various raw veg cut up and a smear of hummus
-asparagus broiled in oven for 3 minutes with olive oil and mustard (so simple, no time at all and delicious!)
-lg bunch raw spinach packed in with a couple roasted peppers from a jar
-for dinner, tinned refried beans, lettuce, tomato, and salsa. Could also do cheese too.

HTH. I've found these my salvation. I can eat one-handed (whilst holding the baby) and feel virtuous in no time. Plus I love them.