Thursday, April 28, 2011

The impossibility of my pregnancy diet

 When you grow a human there are all kinds of things that you should be eating to help this human to grow and to keep you (the host) healthy. I'm finding that all of these "regulations" on my diet are impossible to meet every day because there are so many! See below:

1. Okay, as a pregnant woman in my 3rd trimester, I am supposed to be taking in at least 2600 calories a day. Which doesn't seem like a ridiculous amount of calories, but having an active toddler to look after and feed makes it difficult for me to feed myself that many calories in one day... that come from nutritious foods.

2. I should be consuming 2 eggs a day, which seems pretty easy, but unfortunately I can't handle the smell of cooking eggs. One of those pregnancy things. The only way I've been meeting this regulation is by making a bunch of deviled eggs and eating them throughout the week for breakfast. If I run out and don't get a chance to make more... well, I try to get a breakfast burrito or something but I just can't physically choke down scrambled eggs.

3. I am also supposed to be taking in 80 - 100 grams of protein a day. Granted, a lot of the things I like have protein, but they also require some preparation... which requires time which happens to be in short supply.

4. My midwife said that I'm slightly low on iron and need to up my iron intake, so I take an iron supplement in the morning and in the evening. She also told me to eat more iron-rich foods and to pair them with foods rich in vitamin C... not an easy thing to accomplish, actually. I do make a smoothie in the afternoon that contains oranges and spinach (among other things), I get in the occasional cup of nettle tea, and we've been trying to eat steak twice a week, which all sound great, right? Unfortunately, I have difficulty doing them every day, mostly because of regulation #5.

5. To make sure I'm providing enough calcium for my skeleton and my baby's, I have to drink at least three glasses of milk. Normally, this would be easy because I can drink milk like water, but guess what? Calcium inhibits iron absorption. So all of that iron I'm supposed to be having can't be consumed around the same time as my milk drinking.

Basically, it's impossible for me to make sure that I'm eating/drinking everything I should be to provide the best nutrition for myself and my baby (and to keep from risking out of birthing at my birth center). But I am trying! I get points for that, right?

2 comments:

  1. this is crazy! i didn't realize your diet has to be so regimented. add to that all the things that are off-limits and it must be tough!

    can you put the eggs and greens together? i came across a recipe for a hard-boiled egg chop with spinach and toasted almonds that i've been meaning to try. i could send you the recipe if it sounds good. something else to do with those hard-cooked eggs...

    miss you!

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  2. seriously, getting 3 servings of dairy a day without it inhibiting any iron absorption (a big issue with me since i don't eat meat) is ridiculous. how has the human race survived? and don't forget that you're supposed to get 8 hours of sleep, floss twice a day, get an hour of exercise, etc etc etc!

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