Pregnancy diet - healthy eating

[Ozziegirly]

Ok, I've been reading what I probably should be eating during my pregnancy, but the serving sizes/portions etc is making me feel that I'm not eating enough (which astounds me as I love food and feel like I am eating constantly).

On the other hand, I read that you only need to increase calories by something like 1 glass of milk per day.

So, would anyone mind commenting on what I'm currently eating and let me know if it's ok?

I don't see a dr for another 3 weeks and a lot of baby growing is going on until then. I'm 7 +2 by the way.

Breakfast - 1/2 a slice of toast and vegemite, glass of orange juice.

Mid morning - 2 vitawheat with olive oil spread. Cup of decaf tea.

Lunch - cheese or tuna sandwich on seed bread (2 slices), yogurt, cherries or grapes and sometimes a kit kat.

mid afternoon - apple or similar

Home from work - slice of bread and butter.

DInner - normal meal - protein with some carb (chilli, spag bol, fajitas, chicken pie etc) followed by an apple and some grapes/cherries.

Plus 1 1/2 litres of water and a couple of cups of peppermint tea in the evening.

Does that sound ok? Or too much? or too little?

Sounds pretty good to me, although I have managed to sneak in a few timtams here and there.

Rather than be too strict with my pregnancy eating I have just gone with what I feel like eating.

When I was pregnant with DD I had horrorsome MS, went off all sweets, choc, cake etc so ate pretty well.

When I was pregnant with DS I was the opposite and gorged myself on lovely chocolate whenever I could.

With this pregnancy I have been pretty much the same as the last, healthyish but chocolate is my weakness again (I wonder if I am having another DS??).

I would just say eat as you normally do, take your vitamins and treat yourself if you want to!

Funnily enough, before I was pregnant DH and I would often easily get through a packet of timtams in an evening, but since I have been pregnant I haven't had a sweet tooth at all.

I have been fancying cheese and more cheese and bread mainly. DH jokes that my idea of a cheese sandwich is some cheese in between two pieces of cheese. I'm not quite that bad (yet).

Your diet sounds very healthy! Mine hasn't been that for DD1 or this pregnancy I've pretty much got it in my head eat what I want when I want and not worry about it too much!

Your diet sounds pretty healthy, although I don't think you're eating much for breakfast -1/2 slice of toast isn't much to start your day with. what about a bowl of porridge? slow release energy and nice and warming in this crap weather! You can make it with skimmed milk or water if you're worried about the calories.

I was really worried about how much I was eating until I started to get nausea at about week 6 - then I ate for Britain!! Anything I could get my hands on to keep the sickness at bay. I say go with what you feel you want to eat and your body will give you the right signals. You don't need to worry about gaining weight - your Dr will tell you if your gaining too much/too little. My Midwife wasn't shy about telling me I was getting fat

It isn't much for breakfast but it's about all I can face at this stage. I don't really feel queasy, but just have zero hunger in the morning. That's why I have the vitawheat mid morning as by then I feel properly hungry.

(Oh and I'm in Oz, it's 39 degrees here so I need a bit less of a warming brekky)

Thing is, I put on weight so easily, it's been a battle forever, so I am a bit scared of just letting go as I know I will balloon!

THanks for your input, I seem to be doing ok then, not too much. I feel like I am eating all the time, as before I never snacked and had a salad or soup for lunch so it feels weird to suddenly eat bread and cheese whenever.

Hello, think your quantities are prob ok but you could possibly do with a bit less bread and more vegetables. If you are used to eating soup or salad for lunch you should probably stick with that and have cheese and bread with it if you want. I dont think you need to force yourself to eat. I was not hungry for first few weeks of pregnancy but now have a much bigger appetite (20 weeks). Just go with your appetite. If you feel ill in the morning, a banana is a good start, and maybe some yoghurt or a smoothie. You could possibly do with more calcium. When you feel less ill, muesli with lots of seeds would be good so you get some omega oils. It also increase your calcium if you have it with milk or yoghurt.
Also this might be controversial but butter is better for you than any type of spread (which is close to being plastic).

BTW I was also a bit obsessed with cheese to start with but that eased off. I couldn't get enough baked potatoes with cheese, mmm fancy one right now actually.

Lucky you by the way being in Oz, we have had weeks of minus temperatures and snow here!
Hopefully this makes sense and doesn't stress you out more.

If it helps at all to know it, I ate cheese and crackers and grapes for the first 3 months of my pregnancy, with the occasional glass of milk and plenty of brisk throwing up - appalling MS. So you are eating MUCH more healthily than I am and my LO is now 23 weeks and doing brilliantly (clever girl.)

Here's what it says in my pregnancy book (put this on the fridge so that I could laugh hollowly at it during the MS days) - are you getting enough protein? Oh and I excluded all the fish advice because I can't eat it at the moment without hurling:

PROTEIN
2-3 servings of protein-rich foods:
? 85g red meat or poultry
? 150g fish
? 30-60g hard cheese
? 125g pulses, grains or cereals

CARBS
4-6 servings a day of complex carbs:
? 1 slice wholemeal bread
? 60-120g wholewheat pasta, brown rice or potatoes
? 60 cereal

DAIRY
2-4 servings:
? 30-60g hard cheese
? 200ml semi-skimmed milk

VITAMINS + MINERALS
? A ? orange and green fruit and veg; egg yolk
? B ? red meat, dairy, eggs, nuts, wholemeal carbs
? Folic acid ? pulses, yeast extract, green veg
? C ? kiwi and citrus, tomatoes, sweet peppers, potato skins
? D ? sunlight, eggs, dairy
? Iron ? red meat, eggs (have with citrus and not dairy)
? Calcium ? dairy, eggs, at least 1000m
? Zinc ? beef, nuts, onions, bananas, wholegrains

FRUIT + VEG
Five++ daily.

I would love to have butter but it's just impossible here - in the fridge it's frozen and in the cupboard it's liquid in 15 minutes.

I think I could probably cut down on the bread too - it's so nice and yummy though...I think you're right, I do need more veggies, although my evening meal is normally at least 1/2 made of veg. I will try to add in a salad at lunch as well.

Looking at your list LuckyC I actually am not doing too badly apart from my veg is probably a bit low. Good to know.

I've read that it's better to stay away from decaf tea because the process of decaffing is not good. Why not stick to the peppermint or drink rooibos instead?

Just as long as your caffeine is below 300mg (or 200 to allow for some chocolate) you're fine. After the first trimester, I go back on one or two regular cups a day.

Ozziegirly, I think you're doing really well - I'm sure babs is getting everything he needs with your diet just as it is... I'm sure you're taking a multivitamin as well though, just in case??

You're putting me to shame - when I was at your stage, I couldn't handle anything but Ribena, jelly sweets and cheese sandwiches...

(37wks)

Ozzygirl, I think your diet is amazing! At your stage I was eating about 6 slices of toast a day on top of all my normal meals! As a comparison today I've eaten:

1. Pain au chocolate for brekkie with tea

1. Hot roast pork roll with apple sauce for lunch with cup of chocolate milkshake

and I'll have a curry for my dinner....

I would fit in fruit as a snack. Except it doesnt taste as nice as chocolate... (err, does apple sauce count do you think?!)

So keep up your good work and don't worry!

(33 weeks)

I think with weight, pregnant or not, the key thing is to be able to listen to what your body wants. At 7 weeks, your body in theory needs no extra calories. BUT I had a hugh appetite at that time. So I filled up with larger servings at lunch and dinner rather than snacking more. Later, appetite waned, so I ate less. It should all balance out if you're really listening to your body (sounds all new-agey I know).

In my last pg I had days where I suddenly had a raging appetite and I was very worried about over eating so I didn't cede. This time around, I intend to eat as much as my body tells me I need to eat and not feel guilty. I think this is the healthier for the baby.