My Pregnancy Diet

You know you’ve reached the last throes of pregnancy when something like a bedpan or catheter starts to sound like a good idea if it means you won’t have to drag your giant belly up from the couch to get to the bathroom 5 times an hour.

Of course, I wouldn’t have to go that much if a) I weren’t consuming about three quarts of water a day (that’s 96 ounces for those of you counting at home) and b) when I did go, more than 2 ounces at a time came out.

But the water’s all part of the regimen. It’s the same one I’ve been following, with a few adjustments, since early in the pregnancy.

I didn’t really get into this with a plan about how I’d eat, but as someone who is both obsessed with food and fairly vigilant about eating healthy (to a good, but not really hard-core degree), I ended up following a fairly regular plan. I’m not going to call it a diet, since that implies too much restriction (and which can’t really be taken seriously from a person who, as I write this, is eating from a handful of M&Ms conveniently perched on the top of my stomach). But it’s the reason why, despite all my concern over my weight gain over the past 8 months (which, as loyal readers know, includes a few tears and a ban on me weighing myself on Wii Fit), I’m generally pleased not only with my overall added poundage to date (about 30 with 6 weeks to go, well within my targeted 35-40 pound range) but with how I actually look.

Sure, some of this is just luck and genetics. But plenty of it has to do with the fact that I’ve made an effort to get regular, if not immensely high-impact, exercise throughout this pregnancy (that’s slowed down quite a bit at this point, but give me a break) and that I have understood, from day one, that the biggest myth about pregnancy was just that – a myth. Sorry to burst the bubble for all of you looking forward to a 10-month binge, but here’s the truth:

NO, YOU CANNOT EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT WHEN YOU’RE PREGNANT.

Despite all the stories you hear about women who consume entire packages of cookies or pints of ice cream in a sitting, grab three Big Macs at the drive thru for lunch or eat French fries with every meal (including breakfast), the truth is that pregnant women only need to consume about 300 calories more per day. Am I eating more than 300 extra calories per day? Yes, I have little doubt that in general, I am. But I’m not eating 1,000 more either – and I’m trying to make the ones I do eat really count.

Even my beloved Cinnamon Toast Crunch – which I still have at least 4 times a week – hides significant amounts of vitamins and minerals amid its thick, glorious dusting of  sugar. And I don’t have a giant bowl of it, either – just the 1 cup serving (though lately, I admit, it’s a little more – the baby is doing a huge amount of growing right now!).

Overall, my philosophy is to eat pretty healthfully throughout the day, loosen up a bit more at dinner and do most of my splurging on the weekends. I’ve found that keeping a somewhat regular routine helps me stay on track. Here’s the breakdown:

Breakfast: plain oat-bran bagel (weekend variation: toasted bagel with thin layer of cream cheeese, or two eggs and a piece of whole wheat toast, or an open-faced sandwich of egg and cheese on whole-wheat toast)

Morning snack: banana, carrots, clementine orange (in season) or cheese

Lunch: salad with vinegar or low-cal dressing and low cal/fat soup (often homemade earlier on, but as this trimester wears on, often canned but still healthy kinds like lentil, split pea, tomato and vegetable); sometimes I’ll sub in a chicken or turkey sandwich (no mayo) for one of those

Afternoon snack: two of the following: carrots, cheese, trail mix, apple, strawberries, or yogurt and granola (and often a small piece of chocolate nabbed from my editor’s candy jar)

Dinner: something tasty but not overindulgent, like grilled bison burgers and roasted potatoes, pasta with turkey meat sauce or something like tonight’s green curry chicken kebabs, grilled veggies and cilantro-mint chutney

Evening snacks: Cinnamon Toast Crunch, chocolate pudding, pretzels, strawberries or sometimes, chocolate ice cream (it’s so, so good)

Weekends: I’m much less regimented, since I’m running around more and not as limited to what I bring to work (a helpful part of staying on the plan). So that’s the time I let myself indulge more, especially since we usually eat out Fridays and Saturdays. I’ll have that burger, or ribs, or pizza, or other yummy foods I eat more sparingly when I’m not pregnant.

So, really, I’m not here to totally bust the myth of decadent pregnancy dining. I definitely have eaten more chocolate, candy, burgers and pizza in the past 8 months than I normally would. But I eat even more fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean proteins, too. It’s what’s worked for me, and I’m planning to carry it through to the end as best I can.

Wow, that turned into a kind of long diatribe. Man, do I need a snack …

Feeding the Beast

That topic refers to me, not my unborn, of course.

As someone who obsesses about food even in normal times (in a healthy way, of course!) I find myself thinking about it even more in these most abnormal of times. I’ve been reading up on what foods are best for me right now, and while by no means do I plan to become some sort of perfect pregnancy eater, I figure that if I stock up on a few good-for-me basics, it can’t hurt.

Yesterday Shelly and I went on a big shopping trip. Among other things, we bought lots of fruits and veggies, walnuts, almonds, some trail mix, a big tub of nonfat plain yogurt, nonfat powdered milk (to mix into things like waffle and pancake batters for extra calcium), wheat germ (to add to muffins, smoothies and wherever else I can sneak it in), whole-wheat flour (to bake healthy but tasty treats) milk and hot cocoa mix (so I might actually drink the milk).

Armed with all these goodies, we started off the day on a healthy note with some yummy smoothies. I’m not normally a smoothie person–they’re too sweet and cloying, too big and too full of calories and sugar–but these were good. Shelly made them with the yogurt, frozen strawberries (the store had fresh ones but they’re really expensive now that they’re not in season), a splash of orange juice, a little wheat germ and a banana. They were creamy, cool and not too sweet. Next time we may put in more wheat germ now that we know it didn’t affect the taste, or we might throw in some oats for a little more body.

The smoothies will be a good thing for me to drink on the way to work now that I need to start eating a better breakfast (not that there’s anything wrong with the hummus and crackers I’ve been eating at work for breakfast for the last several years, but I could probably use something that packs a bit more of a punch). I can make them the night before (if I’m ambitious) and have them on the go, since I don’t like to take away a minute of precious sleep before work to make or eat breakfast at home.

We also bought the fixings for tonight’s dinner that I didn’t already have in the pantry. The polenta and black bean casserole with hominy, green salsa, chiles and a touch of pepper Jack cheese (cut down the cream, cut WAY down on the cheese and add extra chiles to the original recipe) is the perfect hearty, warming dinner for a cold, early winter’s night. We ate it with a salad that had craisins, toasted walnuts, red onions, goat cheese (pasteurized, of course) and homemade apple cider vinaigrette.

I was tired after all that cooking, so we’re holding off on the whole-wheat banana muffins with wheat germ (from Eating for Pregnancy) for tomorrow night … this healthy pregnancy eating might not be so bad after all! (But that doesn’t mean I’ll be giving up my Doritos, either.)