What I eat (pregnancy edition)

#WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday) has become a popular tag used by health and fitness bloggers over the past several years. A quick search and you’ll see loads of examples, many by women who are often also dietitians. What I’ve found most concerning about these posts is that in many cases they are great examples of grossly under eating -particularly, when it comes to protein and fat. They also look like a blood sugar roller coaster with the portion-controlled processed grains every couple of hours. I’ve been there and done that before and all it leads to is low energy, sluggish metabolism, and (at least for me) practically panicking about having enough food with me for those blood sugar crashes. No thanks!

While we all have different nutrient needs, and these needs vary even on a daily basis for so many reasons, there is no way around the fact that these women are restricting. Instead of linking to specific examples of this, I thought I would share an example of typical day for me. It might surprise you. Granted, I’m at the end of my third trimester of pregnancy, so this is a little more food for me than normal but it isn’t far off from my pre-pregnancy eating.  And I started this pregnancy at a healthy weight, have gained a healthy amount of weight, and as you’ll see, I eat! Real food!

Breakfast:

Eggs are a staple part of my breakfast on most days. Pictured here are two eggs scrambled with some chopped red bell pepper (my favorite vegetable), cooked in ghee. I also added a small, purple sweet potato (previously baked a bunch and had in the fridge) topped with a couple dollops of full-fat greek yogurt. Because this baby is taking up a lot of room these days, I’m not able to eat the same portions of foods at once as I used to so I had the egg scramble around 7am and then saved the sweet potato for 9:30am.

Lunch (part 1):

Breakfast always carries me well to lunch. This wasn’t always the case. Back when I used to start my day with just oatmeal and fruit, I’d be starving an hour later. I had this at 12:45pm when I was hungry but not ravenous. Pictured here is a simple salad: mixed greens, carrots, olives, organic cheddar cheese, sprouted walnuts dressed with my favorite olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This is a little low in protein. I typically would throw some leftover chicken, salmon, etc. on top but ended up with no leftovers from the night before. Instead, I knew I’d have a protein-rich snack mid-afternoon.

Lunch (part 2) at 2:00 pm:

Again, volume is an issue for me right now so dividing up meals helps. This is full-fat greek yogurt with homemade granola (soaked oats, sprouted nuts & seeds, raisins and honey).

Dinner at 6:30 pm :

Cod with cauliflower rice (both cooked in Chosen Foods Avocado Oil) and mixed greens with olive oil and balsamic.

Not pictured: a couple of cups of tea, some dark chocolate, and an orange 🙂

What do you think about this day of food? What does your day look like?