low-carbing with morning sickness/pregnancy

[erikab922]

I've been doing low-carb eating for about 4 months now and I love it, I lost weight, am so much less bloated and I feel a million times better (I eat so much more veg!).

I just found out this week that I'm pregnant and the morning/all-day sickness is starting to kick-in. Part of me wants a bit of toast or a crumpet, but on the few occasions in the past couple of months when I've tried to eat more carbs, I bloated so bad and felt awful. Can't imagine that on top of morning sickness, even if just to satisfy a craving.

Just wondering if anyone did low-carb and actually stuck with it throughout their pregnancy?

I was paleo pre pregnancy (am convinced it helped us get pregnant btw!) but since getting pregnant i've been having the odd bad carb here and there. Denying them to myself woudl have made the MS worse i think! i've escaped without any MS at all.. now i've still tried to leave out really bad carbs (like croissants for eg) and now that i'm over 13 weeks i'm going to start going primal (as opposed to paleo) so eating good carbs like quinoa but allowing myself the odd crumpet if i fancy one! if your body is craving a crumpet, allow yourself a crumpet!

It's only bad bad carbs that make me feel bloated- the rest of them arent bad, and they definitely help ward off the nausea too. if i manage to steer clear of the junk i'll be delighted- i wont beat myself up about carbs.
sorry, bit of along winded/inconclusive reply lol

Hi Erika I am a dedicated low carber- did it and lost a stone and felt great. However, I fought against carb cravings in first trimester and in retrospect it was pointless as I just felt sick and end up eating other junk. The happy medium that worked in the end was eating good carbs to combat the nausea - honestly it is for such a short period in your life and if you feel crap, just go with what your body tells you.
The things that worked for me were carbs like whole meal crackers, oatcakes, sweet potatoes etc.
once the nausea subsided around 5 months I've gone back to being healthier (most of the time.)
Good luck!

yes, that's what i was trying to get at- reaching for the carbs is certainly better than reaching for chocolate or sweets or crisps etc.. and i definitely felt like the good carbs helped stave off the nausea.

God, i'd love a large McDonald's fries now!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

Sorry to break this to you, but carbs are your friend when you're suffering from morning sickness. You don't have to eat a lot, but they tend to be the food you can keep down. Good luck, I know how awful feeling sick all day is, hope it doesn't last too long for you.

I had hideous morning sickness - could manage oranges, salt and vinegar crisps, kit Kat's and cheese & pickled onion sarnies and that was it for about four months!

Have you ever looked at the GI diet? It's lower carb but does include small amounts of complex carbs - brown rice, whole wheat pasta, seeds, wholewheat flour/bread etc.

Perhaps that would give you a happy medium?

Hi, congrats on the pregnancy. I generally eat low carb and found that even though I craved the carbs in the first trimester, the peaks and troughs of blood sugar really really made my nausea much worse, so actually staying fairly low carb was the best for me. I agree with other posters though about the good carbs- really dense grainy stuff like rye etc boosted my energy levels. Nuts and dates rather reaching for a biscuit. Easier said than done!

Like you I was low carb before pregnancy and intended to carry on.

I'm 24 weeks and the only thing to have stopped my severe sickness has been medication and ..... Carbs.

I've gained two and a half stone already. I gained the first stone in a week just from eating carbs all day (all I could eat at one point was mashed pototoes and white bread, and I had to eat every two hours or all hell broke lose with sickness).

I was a dedicated low carber but had to stop in early pregnancy, it just wasn't sustainable - I was hungry & nauseous.

I have unfortunately piled on weight but will go back to my pate and soft cheese ASAP once baby is here! Xx

I was on Atkins induction stage when I found out I was pregnant and asked the midwife about it. She told me that I should come off it straight away. That was the harsh induction stage as I say so I suspected she would say that.

You could still cut out the 'bad' carbs and let yourself off according to your cravings maybe?

Another one who had to live off crisps, white toast and oranges and has piled on weight! I can't bear the thought of exacerbating the severe nausea I have suffered and at 21 weeks am still eating whatever I want when I want it. I will low carb after pregnancy - I will need to! But pregnancy nausea for me is a case of fire-fighting all the time and doing anything I can to soothe it - which unfortunately is refined carbs! Oh, and I couldn't stomach water for weeks and had to drink flat coke or lemonade instead. It depends how bad you feel and how long for but I wouldn't put yourself under any pressure to eat in a particular way just noe.

now