Any semi-vegetarian/vegan pregnancies out there?

[MissKGF]

Hi, am about 23 weeks! Hate processed food, always have but now have went off meat bar fish (mostly Salmon/Tuna once a week) & the occasional chicken completely. I only eat fresh food/organic & non fatty products apart from the odd biscuit where possible. How is everyone else doing? any tips? Can you reccomend any recipies I could try..... I live on salads and mostly traditional fare ie soups.

[MolotovCocktail]

Hi, I'm not currently pg, but have carried 2 healthy babies to term on a pescaterian diet (fish only).

You need to get loads of dairy into your diet - perhaps an extra 250ml of organic whole or semi-skimmed milk. Tofu is excellent for protein, as are Quorn meat-substitute products (try the sandwich 'chicken' and 'bacon' rashers - yum!) Dark chocolate has loads of iron: Green & Blacks with a nice orange is a healthy, tasty snack (oranges help te body to absorb iron).

Dark green, leafy veggies added to curries are tasty (kale and spinach are my favourites) and butternut squash is a nice extra ingredient, too.

You need 2 portions of oily fish per week - salmon (but not smoked salmon as there is a tiny risk of listeria being present) and mackerel are good (more nutritious than tuna - tuna is still good, though).

Eggs are very nutritious - just make sure they are fully cooked, so scrambled or hard-boiled. No dippy eggs in pregnancy, I'm afraid!

[MolotovCocktail]

Oh, and lentil soup is good :)

[myfirstkitchen]

Get nutritional yeast - health food shop. Sprinkle it on food like salad and veg and it'll make sure you get enough B vitamins.
Hazelnuts and dried apricots for iron.

[MissKGF]

Thanks, got some great ideas now :) heading to the health shop to stock up! hope I can persuade the rest of the family to follow suit!

[DameFanny]

You don't really need extra dairy , get the calcium where the chores do, from green leafys. But food combining is your friend, things like a boiled egg with a glass of grapefruit juice, so the vit c helps you absorb the iron?

[DameFanny]

That's 'cows' not 'chores'. [hauntedphone]

[Empress77]

Im veggie and pregnant ( 5 weeks!), just bought some marmite to up my B12! Goes well in stews as well as on toast. Im also going to invest in an egg cup so I can have boiled eggs! Fortified cereal & soy milk is really good too xx

[MissKGF]

Congrats Empress77!! Oh I'd love to be able to eat eggs but am allergic to them :( there do handy & versatile too!

[Empress77]

Thanks MissKGF (so exciting!)x

[CoraBear]

I was vegan then vegetarian for my entire pregnancy (Spinach and ricotta cheese cannelloni was my downfall). It wasn't too hard. I took pregnancy multivits (Biocare Antenatal Forte) and put that liquid iron supplement in my orange juice every morning just to make up any shortfall. I only put on a stone during pregnancy and felt fine once the morning sickness went away.

Soups are great for getting nutrients, the fresher the better.
Put spinach in everything.
Stirfries are such hand, quick meals.
Smoothies are fantastic or those little pots of ready made cut up fruit. Great for a snack and really refreshing.
Change to wholegrain breads and pasta and brown rice for the fibre and b vitamins.
Chickpeas, lentils, any sort of bean are really good for fibre and protein.
Tofu, quorn, cheatin' meats, Linda Mc Cartney stuff is all safe to eat during pregnancy, just watch out for the salt levels.
Homemade pesto with fresh herbs is soooo good for you.
Google different recipes for ideas so you don't end up cooking the same thing over and over (I was guilty of this)
Linwoods do pouches of crushed up seeds that you can add to soy yoghurts and soups and they are jammed full of vitamins and minerals and save you having to crush the seeds yourself.
Fortified cereals are great, again just watch out for the salt and sugar levels.

Most of all just enjoy your pregnancy and if 80% of your meals are nutritious that leaves plenty of wiggle room for crisps. Posting this has made me want to get pregnant again!

Good luck!