Pregnancy diet

[pregs]

Hi i'm 5 months pregnant now and working. As this is my first-time I was wondering what other pregnant ladies are eating while at work...like breakfast, lunch and tea-time or even dinner.  
Reading the pregnancy books on healthy meals is one thing but finding those suggested healthy foods while at work is another considering the time constraint and the foods available outside of home.

Can you ladies please share details about your meals here. Thanks.

[pregnant no more]

I just ate a normal diet, with cereal or toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch (made at home and taken to work).

If you find that it's a bit hot to make your own lunch and it gets ruined, just stick an ice pack in next to it and it should last until you get to work.

I also ate lots of snacks (as I got hungry more often) and usually had salad sandwiches with ham or cheese and some fruit etc.

just have a basic, nutritious diet and you and the baby should be very healthy.

[Sasha]

I recommend the Brewster Pregnancy Diet.  Research indicates that for a healthy baby and mother, we need extra protein while pregnant, plenty of water, salt to taste, plenty of veggies.

[This message has been edited by BoardManager (edited 03-12-2003).]

[dietexpert]

Brewster diet sounds like Atkins!

[Larry Flint]

this is absolutely stupid.

you should not consider anything like a diet when pregnant. be prepared to gain heaps of weight, it's normal and natural for gods sake!  how do you expect your baby to grow healthy if you are limiting what you eat.  how many skinny pregnant women have you seen?  do some research into what happens to babys with not the right amount of nutrition.  it's not very plesaant.

the best way to try and maintain what you had before you got pregnant is to ensure your fit before you get pregnant and stay as active as you can.  most women who do this loose the weight very fast (breastfeeding helps) because of the condition of the body before pregnancy.

[pregnant no more]

Chill out Larry, by diet I meant normal eating diet, not weight reduction diet.  

When people say 'diet' they are talking about a way of eating, not necessarily a losing weight diet, although the word diet has sadly become associated with the losing weight variety.

[nms]

Hi "Pregs"

I am 5 months too, also first time. I am pretty much eating the same as I was before I got pregnant. The only changes have been drinking extra milk, putting yoghurt on my cereal in the morning & a cereal bar or something mid-afternoon. I've been lucky so far as my appetite hasn't increased that much.

My main concern is getting enough protein - does anyone have any suggestions for easy, low-fat ways to increase the amount I eat? My husband rarely has dinner at home so I don't usually cook.

[WAHM]

When I was pg I used to make batches of healthy (and tasty) bran muffins which I would then freeze. I can share the recipe if anyone is interested. Each morning I'd take one out of the freezer and take it to work - by mid morning it had defrosted and was much healthier than buying a chocolate muffin from Starbucks - and cheaper too.

I know what you mean, it can be hard to find healthy food choices but even places like Delifrance sell wholemeal bread these days and fruit salads and at hawker centres you can load up with veggies and fresh fruit etc. Just avoid too much fried noodles, laksa and so on.

Taking snacks to work in your bag such as dried fruit, nuts, rice cakes etc helps you avoid pigging out on junk food when you get the munchies.

At home if you don't like to cook try quick stir fries, tofu, chicken or prawns with a huge pile of veggies and rice, or something like jacket potato and tuna, omelette, chicken salad, or pasta could all be good choices. Protein wise if you don't like to eat meat you can whizz up some silken tofu in the blender with some fresh fruits such as mango and banana, add soya or cows milk and crushed ice for a great tasting smoothie. Even if you don't like tofu this tastes good.

[TCT]

I just continued with my normal foods.  Just make sure you have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and adequate protein and dairy  foods for iron and calcium needs.  I'd recommend taking a folic acid supplement to guard  against spina bifida.  If you have any allergies in the family, even if its just  a bit of exzema or hayfever then it could be a good idea to stay off peanuts while you are pregnant.  My first son has food allergies - and we didn't have any family history of that, just the hayfever and exzema - so I was advised to stay off peanuts while breastfeeding and during subsequent pregnancies. Peanut allergies can be life threatening (as can other food allergies) so I think it's worth trying to stay away from peanuts just to be on the safe side.  Good luck!

[8 Months]

NMS,

Try steaming to-fu and eat with soya sauce.  Low fat and very high in protein.  Alternatively, you can drink soya bean milk each day, high in protein and calcium