Worried about my diet

[TiramisuIsMyFriend]

Hi all,

Just looking for some reassurance I suppose.

I'm 24+4 and I'm worried about how bad my diet has been up until now. I always imagined I'd be one of those women who eats nothing but organic dark leafy greens and lean meat when pregnant, everything the baby needs and not gaining a single lb more than necessary. Needless to say it hasn't entirely gone that way.

Early in pregnancy, cravings for sweet stuff started. Chocolate, cake, ice cream, you name it. It's not usually my thing so that's not just an excuse I've been using!

I've tried not to indulge too much, and I have been making sure to eat some fruit every day, some salad and veg when I can. But the nature of my job (traveling away from home a lot, staying in places where I have no kitchen so no place to cook healthy meals) and my craving for sugar have meant i've been eating much more crap than I wanted to. And a lot of my breakfasts and lunches have been carb based (toast, sandwiches etc) rather than protein based like I'd have preferred.

I haven't actually gained a huge amount of weight (17lb or so, which my doctor is happy enough with) and I haven't got any bigger apart from my bump. So I'm not worried about that (at this point) but just feeling really guilty that I haven't given my baby the best start and that he will be too big and I will develop diabetes (have my test in 2 weeks).

Is it too late to make a big difference if I change my eating habits now (I'm going to do it regardless but would be good to get some reassurance that I can turn things around!). Has anyone else eaten like this and had a fine and healthy baby? I feel awful

Hi OP, I felt exactly the same in terms of expectations about pregnancy and then feeling like I've not tried my best.

I was full of ideas about doing lots of exercise and not eating more than normal- but the reality of pregnancy then hit me and for quite a while if I didn't eat much more regularly than normal I felt faint and dizzy. This coupled with physically getting exhausted at very little exercise left me feeling shit about how I wasn't having as healthy a pregnancy as I should.
I've now come round to think that all we can do is try our best and if we're craving specific things then to go with it but try not go overboard. You've already said that you've not put on much weight and you're just bump which is great! Plus your doctor is happy with it so there's no issue.

Carbs are fine, it's not like you're eating a whole chocolate cake for breakfast every day! You need carbs for energy and bread etc for fibre (I should know- I was low-carbing before pregnancy and had to abandon it as I got awful constipation from it!)

Honestly it sounds like you're being very hard on yourself- cut yourself some slack!

If you really feel the need then replace some of the crap with things like nuts/fruits/seeds etc but honestly your current diet sounds varied and perfectly normal to me.

I think most of us struggle to live up to such ambitions in reality! I was exactly the same. Perhaps if we all had time to do nothing but shop and cook instead of going to work...

It sounds like you're ding great if you've got to 24w with no weight gain other than bump. I'm 26w and clothes are tight everywhere, not just where you grow babies! And I have never put on weight even though I eat like a horse. I just don't burn it off any more with the tiredness, and general lethargy.

Anyway, here are some diet tips which I've found useful:

Milk - you really need calcium, and it is very filling. If you're hungry have with Fruit & Fibre cereal or similar.

Greek / natural yoghurt. Or fruit flavoured if you've not had too much sugar.

Frozen forest / tropical fruit. More exciting than standard fruit, cheaper and doesn't go off.

Spinach - goes in anything - salad, pasta, stir fry, even on top of pizza.

Seeds - as above.

Oh you are both stars, thank you!

Irispurple, some great diet tips in there. I have been eating loads of yoghurt and actually for a while I ate cereal for breakfast and dinner most days, so plenty of milk. It's just the amount of sugar I'm worried about. I never ever usually buy chocolate or anything but I've been eating a chocolate bar at least 5 days a week for months now. Although the other day I had a word with myself and bought q bag of almonds, which I've been carrying around and munching when I feel the need to snack.

I guess I'm just worried about my baby's health, what with so much sugar being so bad for us both. Hoping I haven't done any lasting damage- they do say obesity begins in the womb (I think...do they say that?!)

Gosh I'm exactly the same. Before I became pregnant I was a strict vegetarian and took a lot of care to eat really healthily. Now I just stuff my face with sausage rolls ha...
I've found that smoothies help keep my fruit intake up but other than that I have to really make an effort to stay away from junk food.