please be thruthful - is my diet appalling?

[gem1981]

Hi
feeling pangs of guilt at the moment I am 22 weeks pg and normally (ie when not pregnant) have a healthy diet.

I seem to be gorging on crisps/sweets (perhaps 2 packets of crisps a day and I am eating sucking sweets most of the day to keep nausea at bay) and we are averaging about 1 takeaway a week. also I am drinking more fizzy drinks

i am trying to cut down but my body just seems to be craving cr*p stodgy foods.

Feeling lke I maybe harming baby and I am feeling vv guilty about it.

Nah. You're fine.

I spent a couple of months on the antenatal ward when pg and the food in hospital is appalling!

Wait till you see the diet that a toddler can survive on!

Take vitamins and spatone.

Children's multivitamin gummy sweets are nice

Well it doesn't sound like the greatest diet in the world, but if you are feeling sick, you need to eat whatever you can.

Your body will take nutrients from you for the baby, so you may be harming yourself if you don't eat anything at all but sweets, but the baby should be ok.

I ate chips every day, often followed my mashed potatoes and crisps when pg with dd1, but just accepted that my body needed the extra carbs!

I'd try to add more fruit and veg but not beat yourself up about it too much

The baby will be fine, if these are extras you will be fine although may regret it if you end up with extra weight to shifter after baby, if this is the basis of your diet you may need to watch out that you dont become anaemic

the vitamins are in my cupboard so I will put them on the side to make i take them every day (they are the pregnancy ones) not the greatest at remembering them.

i do try to snack on apples / oranges in the evening so i am getting some fruit and veg

my instincts are telling me that I could be eating a lot better so perhaps my body is trying to tell me something!!!!

Have you thought that the bad diet may be making your sickness etc worse? Don't mean to be preachy but it has that effect on me.

the rubbish food is on top of my usual stuff.

today i had cereal for brekkie and an omelette and a sandwich for lunch (was starving!!!)

2 paskets of crisps this afternoon and some sweets for a snack

for tea tonight....pizza

just had a banana!!!!

it's not all that bad, not as if it's a bottle of vodka and sixty fags a day is it!

slinkie

i think it might be what i am eating that is making me feel more lousy but i feel as though it is a cylical thing - I feel as though i need some sugar/starch so i eat some rubbish - feel fine for a bit then feel sick again shortly afterwards then start to crave coke/crisps etc

i do feel that i physically need some stodgy stuff though at times as i go quite shaky/sick especially first thing in the morning - i can eat loads and loads of cold stuff eg cereal fruit youghurts but I will just not feel better until I have something hot or something salty like crips.

Perhaps i need to start having some slow release foods as snacks.

no totalchaos I am keeping those cravings at bay!! (JOKE!!!!)

Doesn't sound that bad! Don't have a guilt trip, it'll just make you feel worse, I had a spell of practically living on rich tea biccies with dd, they were all i could stomach.
Second taking vits and an iron supplement like spatone or floradix. Have you tried the tooth-friendly chewing gum instead of sucking sweets for the nausea?

Bananas are the way to go!

I pretty healthily with dd (apart from a bar of chocolate almost every day!) and with ds I had a thing for eggs, bacon, sausages, burgers, kebabs etc

I put on more weight with dd than ds for some odd reason.

it doesn't sound dreadful and I wouldn't worry too much. just try and include some dark greens, spinach, rocket, broccoli, some avocado and some oily fish....
Hark at me.. who ate nothing but processed sausages and pork pies through her 1st pregnancy and put on a million gazillion stone whopping healthy baby though....

I am mega healthy in my diet, but during my pregnancy I couldnt abide fruit or veg and mainly lived on cheese sandwiches, macdonalds and chips. Baby was born totally healthy, and I was completely fine too. I literally stuffed cr*p food into my mouth the whole time (when the heart burn wasn't bringing it back up again)
Just be careful with the sugar intake as one chocolate bar used to floor me completely. (the sugar crash afterwards)

Doh - meant to add that after discussing my awful diet with the MW she reckoned I was fine because of my ultra healthy pre pregnancy diet reserves - if that makes sense?

I've taken some comfort in the fact that my appetite came back (after severe nausea that stopped me wanting to eat anything) during the summer - so I've tried to eat loads of fruit when I need/want sugar - strawbs, cherries, peaches and nectarines are favourites. Makes me feel better re: fibre, Vit C and energy. If you are craving salty things can you try making stirfry veg with soy sauce/oyster sauce and rice/noodles? I try to avoid potatoes as I only like them cooked/eaten with loads of butter, cheese, sour cream, grk yogurt etc.

Also fruit juice with fizzy water did the trick when I wanted coke - I've still had the odd one tho and my god they taste good when I do!

Good luck!

I ate chocolate all the time during my first pregnancy. made not a jot of difference to ds who prefers fruit. Enjoy, guilt free!

I'm so pleased to read this thread! Before I was pregas I read a healthy diet is optimal for a healthy, brainy baby. Of course you want to do everything you can and my diet usually is quite good, so I didn't think it would be hard... How wrong was I, I could not face vegies, salad or fish. My virtuous healthy diet plan went out the window. I've never eaten so much crap. When the nausea kicked in, the only thing I could handle was crisps, crackers, corn chips and bread with vegemite. Then the donut and sweets phase took over. Now I'm feeling a little better, my diet is improving, albeit my husband now does runs to the shops for ice-cream and sorbet. My baby knows its seasons! Also my sense of smell is in over drive and that just puts me off food, but strangly not things that come out of a packet!

I had loads of stomach problems pre-preg. Since getting pregnant I've been able to eat almost anything for the first time in 5 years - I stopped throwing up! I've found myself craving piles of meat, fish, tofu + cheese (hm, you think I might need protein??!), piles of fruit, plus lots of things like danish pastries and cake - previously I couldn't eat much meat, no cheese or pastry or cake.

When I was totally knackered (weeks 15-24) the midwives suggested simply eating more calories, aiming for a mixture of sugar and others, so I guess part of it is just your body demanding what it needs. I also started drinking 2 lattes a day, for the caffiene and protein, after not being able to drink coffee at all.

Been too tired to prepare food, so have been eating lots of cottage cheese+tinned fruit, custard tarts, and bread+cheese/meat since being at home.

thanks everyone feel a lot better now and not as guitly - deffo going to try out the tips you have suggested to at least try and cut down on the rubbishy stuff.

thanks again - and here's to me trying to be a little bit more healthy!!!

Your body cravings are natural, go with it - I don't think your diet sounds that bad and as everyone has said your baby takes from you what it needs.

Just remember though, during my pregnancy I ate cheesecake virtually everyday , not a whole one (!) and craved sweet things, actually thinking about it I think I craved most things but anyway put 4 stones on and am just down to my last stone to lose to be back to around pre preggie weight and my DD is nearly 9 months old. It's been bloody hard graft to shift the weight.

I'd definately be more careful next time......well perhaps!

Good luck.

Don't deny yourself, just maybe think of an alternative that is slightly better. For example:

Fizzy water instead of fizzy pop
Digestives instead of a chocolate bar
Fruit and nut mix
etc etc

I realised I was eating crap in the early part of my pregnancy because it was always quick and available. Maybe always have pitta bread and houmous in the house, and ready chopped carrot and cucumber etc.

You may find that in a few weeks it is all change and you can't get enough of fresh fruit and veg.

Don't worry about it too much.