A Dietitian's Pregnancy Food Journal
If bare bellies bother you.. well, too late:)
But really, can you see her little bootie (hint: she’s hanging out to the left of my belly button)? She is notorious for making herself known these days and loves to stick her little body parts out for all to see/feel. She’s got her work cut out for her when she arrives this summer.
After my OB appointment last week, I decided to start journalling my food intake/meal times. I preach up and down the benefits of journalling for weight loss + maintenance – but never thought about it doing good in healthy weight gain in pregnancy, just to simply make sure you are taking in enough for both you and the baby.
One thing I realized is that I have been eating a lot of the same foods. Mainly because whatever it is is easy, convenient, and thats what sounds the best to my belly at the moment.
Something that has been on the forefront of my mind has been every sammie variety known to man, and therefore I’ve been eating a TON of Subway. Traveling for work these last several weeks and eating out – I mostly stopped in for a footlong on my way to the hotel to chow down on while lounging in the king size bed all to myself.
Since being home.. I have been able to control what I’m eating much easier, allowing me to get in some solid wholesome meals and snacks.
No better place to start than breakfast, right?
B R E A K F A S T
Oatmeal + Ground Flax + Peanut Butter
my go to breakfast about 4 of the 7 days a week. Other times I’m eating yogurt + fruit or almond butter toast + banana. The toast in the morning has been giving me heartburn, so that has been more for something I eat in the afternoon (snack).
I usually have 1 or 2 cups of decaf coffee and 3 tablespoons of creamer in each cup + 18-20 ounces of water
L U N C H
Lunch is boring.. really.boring.
I am good for either one of three things:
1.) a sandwich (duh)
2.) leftovers (if they haven’t completely grossed me out)
3.) the veggie/protein bowl (pictured)
4 ounces deli rotisserie chicken (heated in the microwave) + Mediterranean Quinoa + Steamed Broccoli + 1/4 cup (pasteurized) feta cheese
I found these single serve packs of quinoa blends by Archer Farms at Target and they have changed my life! The Mediterranean and the Moroccan are my favorites.
I drink about 28 ounce of water + 1 Diet Coke at lunch
I think about this Diet Coke all day.. it is like my special treat!
No harm to me or my babe for drinking a good ol’ DC.
Occasionally I’ll head out for lunch with a handful of my co-workers- so nice to get out of the office here and there!
Chipotle Bowl (barbacoa, double meat + pinot beans + fajita veggies + salsa + sour cream + guacamole + lettuce + cheese)
I skip out on the rice because rice and pasta make me SO full these days.
S N A C K S
Snacks are pretty habitual for this dietitian.
Greek Yogurt. Fruit. Greek Yogurt. Luna Bar. Greek Yogurt. Cereal..
water.water.water.
See a pattern? One thing I do focus on (and this is general nutrition, but also beneficial for my fellow PCOS’ers) is always always always pairing a protein + carb. Carbohydrates are our body’s number one fuel source for energy, so it gets used up really quickly (mostly by our brain) and we end up feeling hungry sooner than we should. Eat an apple by itself and I’m hungry in a half hour. Add in some nut butter or cheese and that snack carries me over much further to my next meal time.
Why?
Protein slows digestion and keeps that food fueling your body rather than the quick intake of glucose (carbohydrate) acts on its own.
Your biochemistry lesson for the day:)
One of my favorite ‘treats’ (aside from the Diet Coke, ya’ll) is reduced fat chocolate milk
High protein, low sugar, low saturated fat – and oh-so delicious!
Steel City Pops sets out on their Pop Trail every Wednesday.. so when your place of work is on the Trail and among this week’s flavor options is Blood Orange, you play your part and pick up two.
the honeycrisp – pregnancy talk at its finest.
Add an ounce or two of swiss cheese and call it a snack.
Becoming one of my favorite things to eat after I come home from work in the afternoons:
whole grain toast + peanut butter + 1/2 banana + berries
D I N N E R
Dinner is whatever we make of it. After many weeks of this pregnancy passing by with ‘wasted’ ingredients in the fridge because I didn’t have the energy to cook, we decided that me planning just one or two meals a week was the smart way to go (hence my lack of weekly meal plan posts)
I love using my crock pot, throwing together a yummy casserole or grilling chicken to go on top of a great big salad.
A couple dinner meals from this last week:
Mexican Chicken Casserole + 1/2 avocado + 1 tablespoon nonfat Greek yogurt
toasted naan flatbread + chopped kale + chopped romaine + grilled chicken + bbq ranch dressing
(dressing: lowfat ranch dressing, bbq sauce, apple cider vinegar)
More of our (healthy) family dinner ideas HERE
So, there we have it. My eating habits are relatively close to the same everyday – but I don’t count calories or protein the way I did while pregnant with Parker and Jolie.
In general, pregnant (with a singleton) women need between 2,200 calories and 2,900 calories a day. A gradual increase of calories as the baby grows is the best bet to remain healthy for mom and baby. The first trimester does not require any extra calories. During the second trimester an additional 340 calories a day are recommended. For the third trimester the recommendation is 450 calories more a day than when you are not pregnant.
WATER: I have a 20 ounce water bottle that I fill multiple times a day – counted three times between breakfast and lunch and three times during the afternoon. I usually stop drinking after dinner in fear that I’ll be awake way too many times during the night for trips to the potty. I completely relate my relatively heavy water intake to any lack of swelling.
I hope this was helpful! Feel free to email or comment with any questions you might have:)
April 23, 2015
Loved reading about your pregnancy and how you felt, interesting how many cravings you went through 🙂 Good for you for staying healthy and eating lots of veggies!
Sabrina
http://www.babymoonadvice.com
Good post. I'm a few weeks behind you & like to see what the professionals are eating! 🙂
Nicole K.
You seriously make just a normal snack look SO delicious!!
As always, I love these posts. And I'm SO EXCITED to check out my Target for these single-serving quinoa packets!
I love this post! Would this calorie range be similar to what you would recommend for a nursing mama?
Aspartame is a known neurotoxin. I'd avoid it like the plague, especially during pregnancy.
Always comments with the diet drinks… guess they forgot to read your dietitian conference post where you referenced that 😉 besides…EVERYONE has their "poison", amiright?
Anywho, I absolutely loved this post mucho! I always love your food posts but I liked the journal to see snacks and all. These past few weeks (probably even month!) we have been in the worst slump of not hardly cooking and not eating even close to healthy. It's been baaaad, so thank you for the rejuvenation and inspiration to drag my self to the grocery store to restock on on all the good stuff. 🙂
Amber, i'd love to see a post about what a typical grocery list for the week looks like for your family.