Eating healthily

[inmybelly]

Hiya,

I'm 7w3d and whilst I normally eat a healthy diet with loads of fruit and veg, for the last few weeks my diet has been absolutely appalling. I just can't stomach veg at all, and am forcing the odd bit of fruit down my neck.

It's not that I feel sick exactly, but just that I have no apetite for healthy food. All I fancy is snacking on things like white bread, chocolate, biscuits and crisps. Quite honestly, I hardly touched this kind of thing prior to pregnancy.

I'm getting worried that my embryo isn't getting what it needs from me :( I'm taking pregnacare everyday but not convinced it's enough.

Decided to make a concerted effort to eat more fruit, perhaps in a smoothie or something?! And some healthy protein. Somehow.

Any tips?

Hi inmybelly. I wouldn't worry too much, I've been told baby will take whatever he/she needs as I was the same a few weeks ago due to sickness. At nearly 15 weeks I am now finally enjoying some veg again and can't stomach meat. Probably a good idea to tey a vitamin for piece of mind. Good luck for a happy, healthy pregnancy

This is me exactly too. I'm not on the cakes and biscuits but bread is one of the only things I can stomach and I had cut it out of my diet last year. My food aversions Are terrible and I m living off bread,cheese, fish fingers, a small amount of tuna, ham, eggs, jacket spuds,baked beans,cereal,bananas,apples and milk. I'm also taking vitamins too. I think it's best to eat what you fancy rather than nothing at all and I also don't think you should force yourself to eat anything you really don't want just because it's good for you. Agree with above and good luck!

And yes I'm kind of doing smoothies its a great idea. Tried adding yogurt but that didn't sit too well and neither did juice so its basically just banana milkshake really but I'll hang around in case someone else comes up with something I can add, i have been putting vanilla extract in them too but im sure extra protein is a good idea too.

This is extremely common. I had the same loss of appetite in both my pregnancies. It passed. Absolutely do not worry about the embryo, and just try to eat what you can. Smoothies are a good idea; maybe add peanut butter for protein?

I was the same, pre preg I ate really healthily but from about week 5 all I could manage was plain pasta and cheese toasties! It's passing now though and I can eat proper dinners again (I'm 11+5) so hopefully won't last too long for you.

Advice I was given was if it's all you can eat, it's better than nothing. Fingers crossed for you it passes soon x

That's good to hear misog, 11+2 here. Still not eating proper dinner it was a slice of toast and a glass of milk last night. I will try adding pb to a smoothie I think I could handle that. And yes I've eaten a fair few cheese toasties of late!

I've bought a smoothie maker, I'm only 5 weeks but not interested in food at all.
I've not had morning sickness yet but a smoothie that has ginger in it is lovely so hope it will help if I do have ms.
Here are 2 recipes that I make

1 teaspoon of lazy ginger (chopped ginger in a jar)
Chop as many pears as you fit in to the smoothie maker
Tin of crushed/pineapple pieces in juice
...............
1 bag of frozen raspberries, defrost
1 bags of frozen strawberries, defrost
1 large pot of natural yogurt

Blitz both recipes until smooth and fill 500ml bottles, you freeze them.

Don't worry. Your baby is absolutely tiny, and is getting everything it needs from you. Remember you've still got supplies of vits and minerals in your body, and you're taking supplements too.

I had a huge need for hot chips in my first few weeks. I can't explain it, but it's really what I wanted. Later, I ended up enjoying a very good diet, but in first tri it seemed all bets were off. Often, being so tired meant I couldn't face anything other than fishfingers sandwiches. Congratulations! Hopefully, you'll feel more normal again soon.

Although I wouldn't worry particularly do you think you could manage veg in sauces for your pasta or potatoes? You can add them
To cheese or tomato based sauce, blended if need be

I m Off salad, I hate the smell of green veg and also the smell of onions cooking so I've had the odd bit of spag bol but only when dh has cooked it. I can handle mushrooms in scrambled egg though so maybe I should do more of that sort of thing to get more veg.

I found grapes were quite good, particularly if chilled a bit - they seemed to slip down quite easily. I've heard people swear by frozen fruit juice ice lollies. But as everyone says, just eat what you can and trust that your baby will get what it needs. Hope you'll soon feel better and be able to get back to a more normal diet.

I was like this in the beginning and most of thebsexond trinester. Went from eating lots of veg, salads and fruit to feeling sick at the thought of it. Mt diet was white bread, crisps and fat coke (Ive never drank fat coke really)

Someone told me that in the beginning the baby's brain is being made and that it needs a lot of fat to do this hence why the fatty cravings (no idea if true or not!)

Anyway at 37 weeks I am now craving fruit and juices and even tomatoes on the vine yesterday so it has come full circle!

Oh and I did take pregnacare throughout most of my pregnancy apart from a few weeks in the second trimester when suddenly felt sick and would gag at taking those too! Back on them now though.

Smoothies are a great way to sneak in veg I've found, it might sound odd but you can easily include a cucumber or a bunch of lettuce with some strong tasting berries (and whatever else you put in) and you will barely notice the veg is there. I went off leafy greens during the first tri and still struggle with them now (27 weeks) but in a smoothie I can get a hit of veg without too much trouble. Especially now that it's (hopefully) warming up a bit, smoothies take on even more appeal for me.

Other ideas that have worked for me are adding chia seeds to things (taste of nothing, nutritional powerhouses) and just taking a few more supplements for insurance. In addition to my multi-vit, I take calcium and also liquid iron (floradix) and my blood work and midwife appts have gone perfectly.

Good luck!

Don't worry, I'm the same! I'm now addicted to salt and vinegar crisps, and chips with vinegar, and anything else soaked in vinegar. I almost never ate crisps/chips before pregnancy. And now I can't bring myself to eat things like tofu, vegetables (unless they're pickled) or red meat, which I used to love before.

Studies have been done which followed starving pregnant women during wartime. I forget the details but I remember learning about it in a lecture years ago. Starvation didn't affect the baby at all if it happened in the first or second trimester. If the woman starves in the third trimester, the baby would come out smaller on average, but was otherwise healthy.

Don't know if anyone else can recall any more details of the study. It was quite interesting.

I swear I ate a tin of spaghetti hoops EVERYDAY of the third month of my pregnancy!! DS is healthy and gorgeous- not winning Mother of the Year any time soon but not the end of the World either!!

Wow that's great information, thank you to everyone for the reassurance and giving all those tips.

I'm definitely going to invest in a smoothie maker and try those healthy recipes.

However, tonight it's toast for dinner (might try peanut butter) and my boyfriend has gone to get me some innocent smoothie as a short cut, will just hold my nose and down it if I have to! If nothing else I need to fruit to combat the constipation!!