It's no secret that many women struggle to maintain the same activity levels and keenness towards healthy eating during the 9-10 months of pregnancy. I, too, have struggled with this. During my first pregnancy, I basically just embraced the concept of "eating for two" and I didn't exercise nearly as much as I should have. My main form of exercise was walking, which I tried to stick to at least 4 times a week.
This time around, I was armed with a better plan for eating and a plan for exercising and I have to admit that it has fallen to the wayside a little bit, but that I am still doing better than the first time around. Not surprisingly, I am finding my belly growing at a much quicker rate than I did during my first pregnancy, and I am also finding that I am significantly more tired due to more family responsibilities and a bit of a longer commute to work.
In the past few weeks (over the holidays), I definitely slipped up on healthy eating more than I intended to (I think almost everyone can relate to this, though). However, I got in more exercise than usual as well. We spent a lot of time outdoors with Molly, and a lot of time walking. I did yoga and some indoor biking and a bit of strength training too.
Here are some suggestions I have for eating during pregnancy:
1) Incorporate 5-6 small meals into your day. If I don't eat something small every 3 hours, I am ravenous, and then I eat a huge meal and can barely move afterwards. I suffered through heartburn when I was pregnant with Molly, and it is returning a bit again this time around at nearly 28 weeks.
2) To avoid heartburn, don't drink within a half hour of eating (I find this nearly impossible to do, but I try my best), avoid certain trigger foods such as fatty foods and chocolate, drink peppermint tea, don't change positions while eating (i.e. don't walk around and eat, just sit, take small bites, chew a lot, and then move around a bit after).
Here are some other tips, too.
3) Start the day with a glass of hot lemon water. I bought a huge bag of lemons at Costco and squeezed them all into ice cube trays, so I just pop out a lemon juice ice cube, put it in a mug of hot water and drink it before eating anything in the morning. This has MANY benefits including aiding in digestion and re-setting your body each morning.
4) Don't eat your calories instead of drinking. I find it difficult sometimes in social situations because my husband or friends can have a beer or two, and I can't, so I think that I tend to rationalize poorer eating choices or drink choices (i.e. drinking pop which I almost never do otherwise). It's best for me to stick to water and only eat when I am feeling actually hungry.
5) Don't eat too close to bedtime.
Here are a few videos online that I've been using as workouts:
and some great resources for eating healthy and meal planning:
I have had a harder time getting in veggies this pregnancy, and I have been craving carbs almost constantly (Christmas didn't help with that!). I've found one of the best things I can eat is a fruit-and-veggie smoothie as a morning snack or for breakfast/lunch. My go-to (self-invented?) recipe is as follows:
I always have some sort of pureed veggies on hand because I like to make these smoothies for Molly, but you could really include anything you want! I know these are also tasty if you include frozen peaches or mangoes...whatever you have on hand, really!!
Any tips for me? What are your favourite ways to sneak in extra veggies?
