Tell me about your pregnancy superfoods - please!

[nearlythereyet]

I'm 7 weeks, I'm exhausted to the point of falling asleep if I sit down. I need to eat well and be strong for work, two-year-old DD and life in general. It's time to do a big food shop, so what should/shouldn't I be putting in my trolley? What super-foods do you swear by?

Particularly interested in packed lunch ideas, because I'm thinking my carb-laden sandwiches maybe aren't the best idea to beat the afternoon slump.

I dont know how much I can help as I basically ate whatever I thought I could keep down (vomming twice a day til 15weeks).

Hopefully someoe will be along soon who knows more.

Oh, by 25 weeks I had started a daily Snickers routine where I simply coulndt do any more work without a snickers.

Not sure it is a superfood exactly, but I really like oatcakes as a reasonably healthy version of having carbs. With topping or on their own if they have a nice flavour.

Sorry gnocchi - didn't mean to be insensitive to people with MS. A daily choc bar sounds good.

Thanks wild. You know, I might actually have some oatcakes somewhere.

If I am organised then I make a big quinoa salad with grated carrot, parsley, kidney beans, celery, peppers etc and have with honey roasted salmon. I've been eating lots of avocado and tomatoes, and porridge with raspberries and a hemp/goji berry mix from holland and Barrett. I also like doing roast beetroot with honey and balsamic and have in a salad with spinach, walnuts, feta etc. And I make Thai curries or tagines with lots of herbs and veg and some kind of protein. I've also been having cake/choc every day but don't mind so much if most of the rest of my diet is healthy. It isn't always though, and if I am rushing around, I find it's harder to make healthy choices

I got into good routine making up fruit salad at the beginning of the working week and taking it to work. Only fruit that would sit in tupperware in the fridge so grapes and oranges mainly with some oj/aj on as juice. Then when I got to work I'd cut up banana and strawbs, kiwi as I had it each morn and sit at my desk and eat. Sure you could add yog/granola-ery type stuff to that.

Also ate dried apricots a lot - good for iron - essentially as a snack. But they aren't good for teeth ... but I have crap teeth anyway so not sure if it contributed or not.

And DP cooked me steak once a week - again for iron.

Will watch with interst what others suggest.

Quite often did cold noodle salads to take to work for lunch with lots of broccoli, grean beans and sesame oil to get my dark greens too.

The key for me was to make it quick and easy to eat healthily every day if at all possible and because I was working to make the effort at beginning of the day/week.

Healthy-food wise I've been trying to have more fruit - apples and (tinned) pineapple mainly.
Also yoghurts and cereal (no matter what time of day!)
Also on my list of 'should eats' are salmon, red meat, green veg (ie. spinach), and beans on toast!!

Unhealthy-food wise I have been munching my way through crisps, Pringles, Magnums and biscuits!! - I know they arent good for me particularly but they do give me an energy boost when I need it! (and obviously taste good!!)

A mixture of mixed seeds in yogurt.

Handfuls of dried fruit and mixed nuts.

Red meat with a glass of orange juice to help iron absorption. NO tea with or after iron rich foods as the tannin reduces absorption.

Not a huge fish eater so would up my fresh intake with tins of tuna/mackerel/sardines.

Wholegrain (brown) pasta keeps me going! Make some with a tomato-based sauce to heat in microwave at work, or alternatively make a cold tuna pasta salad- top healthy tip is to use fat-free natural yoghurt in this instead of mayonnaise- tastes exactly the same when mixed with the tuna and sweetcorn!

Ice lollies

Carbs - but go for slower release ones, so eg al dente pasta, pearl barley or oatcakes/ryvita rather than white bread, and brown rather than white rice. Oat/muesli cereals or wholegrain wheat rather than the very processed ones.

Cheese and nuts - I crave protein but couldn't (until recently) stomach a slab of meat. I eat a lot of mozzarella! Other dairy is good too eg yoghurt, milk.

Avocadoes are great. Also fresh fruit and salady crunchy things like radishes, red pepper, raw carrots.

BTW ... I found my nausea kicked in at 8 weeks so just in case yours is the same I wouldn't stock up on too many rich/smelly foods...

Wow, thanks for all the fab ideas. I'm hungry now. And I'd like Polly to please move in and cook for me

minipie, i didn't get sickness with my first pregnancy, so I'm hoping to avoid it with this one, but you never know. I spent the first week post BFP with both of them chained to the loo for other reasons. Nice!

Hi I was a big fan of the Indian Superfoods cookbook, I ate jjust about everything from the cookbook during my pregnancy! The recipes give you information about anti-oxidant levels, and I think it helped with my energy levels. I also had a lot of Indian superspices hayfever tea. Made with natural ingrediants, it really really helped my hayfever or I thought I was going to die without antihistamines!
Hope this helps.

Nearlythereyet I'll put the cat to work and send her over with food for you!

Fish. Lots of it. Full of healthy fats. Tinned sardines are easy. So are salmon steaks in foil with herbs - do double and have the other flaked into a salad for lunch the next day.

Other healthy oils: avocado oil, walnut oil, coconut oil to cook in.

My 2 new found secret to feeling AMAZEballs:
Spatone added to a (non-dairy) smoothie in the morning (high iron supplement).

And Water Kefir - I brew my own and it's FULL of probiotics - great for the immune system and if, like me, you suffer from IBS.

Cake and roast beef Monster Munch.