The Pregnancy Diet

I think one of the first things everyone does when they find out they are pregnant is look up what foods you can and can't have.  And after you look on more than 2 websites you find that someone has an issue or reason why you can't eat pretty much every food out there.  It's a little frightening at first until you have your first appointment.  Since I am on Tricare, I had to attend a group orientation on pregnancy where they went over the basics.  In the nutrition seminar, this is what I remember being told.

1) You are supposed to gain 25-35 lbs (Holy moley that sounds like a lot!).  After your first trimester you are supposed to gain 1 lb a week. So far I've found that pretty accurate, but its crazy how fast the weight comes on!

2) You are supposed to increase your calorie intake by 300 calories first trimester, 350 second trimester, and up to 500 third trimester.  I've found this hard to keep track up so I recently downloaded the My FitnessPal app.  It's actually a diet app, but I like that counts calories and categorizes them so I know what areas I need to increase my intake in (usually vegetables).  I don't follow it to a T, but it's nice to check it once a day and see if I am getting enough of the correct vitamins and nutrition from the food I'm eating. ( I also plan on using this tool after the baby comes to get by butt back into shape and adjust to a normal diet).

3) Caffeine- You are not supposed to have more than 200 mgs of caffeine in a day.  This ends up being a lot more than I thought it was.  I expected it to be harder to cut back, but that equals 4 diet cokes a day, 2 cups of coffee, or 5+ glasses of tea.  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211

4) Lunch Meat-This was probably the hardest for me at the beginning, but now after some of my own research I don't really follow it.  I love sandwiches, like could eat them every day and still love them.  First trimester I cut them out completely when at all possible.  Now, I've gotten back on to them and while I try not to eat them everyday, I do still have lunch meat twice a week.  Apparently lunch meat can grow bacteria that causes listeria.  There are only a handful of cases each year, but since 50% of them are from pregnant women, they advise you not to eat it.  My interpretation is make sure the meat isn't sitting out for a long time, left in the fridge for too long, expired, or looks like it has something growing on it.  http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/listeria.html

5) Artificial sweeteners-This one is also difficult: a) its hard to know if some things have artificial sweetener without reading every single label closely and b) while I understand that a growing baby will be more sensitive to fake sugar then my body will be, I do not think it's possible for cut it out completely.

6) Other things- no soft cheeses, don't eat too much fish with mercury, sushi, cook meat till it's well done, no raw eggs mean no cookie dough and brownie batter :(

7) Prenatal vitamins- It's easy. Take them.  They are very important for the baby.

I think that's about all I really try to remember, but like I said, you can find some website where you can find something wrong with pretty much everything, besides water.  You also have to think about the psychological aspect of food.  If I am constantly analyzing every single bite of food I put into my body, I will go crazy.  I think it's just as important to be happy as it is to be healthy and if this stuff is turning into you a worrywart, then you really to rethink how much you think about it.  Lately I've been trying to concentrate on eating more whole foods and less processed foods, which is something I would like to continue to do in the future as well.  While I can't fork over the money to shop at Whole Foods, I have noticed that I feel better when I eat better.