I constantly see unrealistic pregnancy nutrition advice being offered to women.

A couple days ago I posted this on my Facebook page:

Apparently, you agree 😉

I love food. All kinds of food. I’m also a fitness coach and Kinesiologist who specifically trains women in pregnancy and moms, so I fully understand “health” and what is optimal for mom and baby.

Not-pregnant, I love veggies, meats, smoothies, bacon, eggs, fish, fruits, cookies, wine – I’m on board with all the things.

Pregnancy? No. Nothing was good. From immediately pregnant to Week 22, everything was horrible. And, again from Week 32-42.

Food aversions like I’ve never experienced. All day nausea. The 24-hour a day cycle of “don’t want to eat anything because nothing tastes good, but have to eat something or I’ll just be more nauseous”.

Fun!

I just can’t imagine how anyone who’s been through pregnancy could believe that the above post is the most helpful advice to give.

And, this is what most women are being told by their health professionals. And, they feel confused and lost and frustrated with themselves. They start to beat themselves up because they’re not doing pregnancy “good enough”.

Pregnancy Nutrition Convo with Lana

This is a convo via text I’ve been having with a girlfriend the last few days. She normally eats tons of great, health-promoting foods and LOVES them.

Now pregnant? Can barely keep anything down. 

I get that it seems like reasonable health advice. And, it is, don’t get me wrong.

If you are loving food and enjoying eating all the things in pregnancy, then absolutely, try to get your additional daily cals from these sources – as all people “should”.

But, let me offer you a different perspective as someone who loves food and wound up HATING food for the majority of pregnancy.

My experience with intense food aversions and nausea for MONTHS during pregnancy, tells me that simply eat lots of protein, fats, and veggies, isn’t always possible.

From the hundreds of women I’ve coached in pregnancy, and all the current pregnant mama’s in the To Pregnancy & Beyond coaching club, I know that  I wasn’t alone. If you’re normally a “healthy eater” in regular life, but struggled to find any food that tasted good and you could keep down in pregnancy, you aren’t alone either.

Typical pregnancy nutrition advice generally makes women feel worse rather than better. It makes us feel more confused, more frustrated, because we can’t DO IT and so we feel like we’re not giving our babies the best start.

You’re doing fine. Perfectly, completely fine. Your baby is going to be a-ok. They won’t hate vegetables and only want to eat sugar because you ate some ice cream every night.

I ate about 3 different veggies my whole pregnancy and barely ate meat. Guess what? My baby loves all veggies and all meats.

Don’t stress, mama-to-be.

The Worst Pregnancy Nutrition Advice:

1). Eat an extra 200-300 calories per day in pregnancy.

A great thought. But, what about when you’re barely keeping any food down? What about when everything you normally love tastes horrible?

What about when you’re starving constantly? What about when you need to eat every 30 minutes to keep the nausea at bay?

Trust yourself.

2). Get all your nutrients from whole food sources.

If by “whole food sources” you mean a healthy dose of bagels, grilled cheese sandwiches, and frozen yogurt, then I’m in.

Oh, and that time I ate hotdogs + Cheez Whiz in my second trimester because my husband forced me to eat SOMETHING that day? Twice.

Does that even count as food? Lololol.

3). Don’t rely on carbs and grains for your calories.

Those are the only things that even tasted decent for me in pregnancy until Week 22 and then again from Weeks 32-42.

Pre-pregnancy, I wasn’t much for grains. During pregnancy? All of them, please.

The Best Pregnancy Nutrition Advice:

1). Eat whatever the hell you can get down, on the day.

Seriously. I would go to the grocery store daily. Walk the same damn aisles and just hope something would catch my eye that day.

Eat food. Whatever you can. My best recommendation? As nutrient dense as possible, when possible.

2). Can’t get any meat down? Use protein powder.

The advice to not use protein powder in pregnancy is one that I don’t fully agree with.

If you are struggling to get any protein in, then I believe that protein powder can be a good choice. I recommend choosing a good quality protein powder than doesn’t have artificial sweeteners, colours, and that is sourced from quality ingredients.

Read this article from my friend, mama, and protein powder expert Anna Sward.

3). Eat like a toddler.

This is my fave piece of pregnancy nutrition advice to give. How do toddlers eat?

• Raw veggies and dips

• Cut up raw fruits

• Hide veggies in baking and sauces

• Smoothies

• Sandwiches and wraps

• Chicken fingers (you can make your own if you want!)

These helped me in pregnancy to be able to eat decently nutritious food. I hope they help you along, too!

Don’t stress, do your best, and know that you’ll go back to your “normal” patterns post-pregnancy.

Jess

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