Food for Thought
I just got back from a doctors appointment. I must admit, it was such a disappointment. My regular OB is on holidays, and in her place was a doctor with the personality of a rock. He was cold and unfriendly, but he did what was required and expected of him. I just really missed the cheery and charismatic personality of my regular OB.
More importantly however, everything is progressing well with baby. I have gained another 5 pounds this month, which puts me at a total weight gain of 18 pounds.
For fun, I thought I would take a moment and analyze my typical food consumption for a day.
Here is what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast:
½ cup of coffee
1 Whole Grain, Flax Seed bagel with peanut butter
1 glass of calcium fortified orange juice
Mid Morning Snack:
1 granny smith apple
1 small carrot muffin
Milkshake
Lunch:
1 Whole Grain, Flax Seed bagel with cheese and butter
A handful of baby carrots
1 can of V8 juice
Mid Afternoon Snack:
2 low fat yogurts
3 tangerine oranges
Dinner:
Minestrone soup
1 can of Canada Dry (Gingerale)
Evening Snack:
Crackers and Cheese
Handful of Peanuts
And of course, I take three prenatal vitamins a day. I take the kind with calcium because I am not a huge fan of milk. I eat milk, but only in cream soups, Kraft dinner, cream sauces, milkshakes and smoothies and the like.
Here is how my food intake stacks up against the Vegetarian Food Guide for Pregnant Woman.
Recommended:
Grains (7 or more)
Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, Milks (5 or more)
Vegetables (4 or more)
Fruit (4 or more)
Karla’s Intake:
Grains (7)
Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, Milks (7)
Vegetables (4)
Fruit (4)
Many people are quite surprised and shocked when I tell them I am pregnant and have chosen not to eat meat. I considered (with much dread) altering my diet and including chicken for the pregnancy, but after talking to my doctor and researching vegetarianism and pregnancy, I was contented to learn that vegetarian woman who eat a well balanced diet have completely healthy babies (in fact, babies born to vegetarian woman have surprisingly higher birth weights compared to those babies born from woman who consumed meat).
I have been a vegetarian for 13 or 14 years now. I do not eat any fish, meat (including chicken), or eggs. I do however, consume dairy products, and eat food that has been prepared with eggs as an ingredient (i.e. cake, bread, etc).
My husband, on the other hand, is a meat-a-tarian. Veggies and fruit, according to him, are some gruesome form of punishment. As I’m sure you can imagine, meal time in our home is somewhat challenging, and were still working on how exactly to handle our conflicting eating habits once our baby arrives and starts sitting down to eat meals with us. That however, is a story for another day.
posted by karla @ 1:40 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I admire vegetarians, especially people who do it right like you --- well-balanced and planned and all that. I do somewhat better than I used to, but I am simply not drawn to fruits and veggies. Aside from the animal rights issue, eating vegetarian is so much more planet-friendly. Way to go!
No thanks to the higher birth weight thing! The bigger, the badder! You are so disciplined with your eating...I'm both jealous and ashamed. I try to eat some veggies each day, when I can remember, and they usually come from a can. My love for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches has gone beyond normal, and I tend to eat one at least every other day. I usually can't find any meat around the house, unless Trey makes a pepperoni pizza. I guess I cover the protein part with the peanut butter, right! I get more than my share of carbs, as almost everything I eat is a sandwich. I thought about it today, and I must get a lot of sodium, too, b/c I pretty much live off of sandwiches and soup. My worst thing is that I don't eat enough for breakfast (I can't, rather), and by lunch I am STARVING. I don't get a break, so there's no time to have a snack. Today I took a little snack of fruit chews to try to scarf down while the students were working. I barely got them open before the students were gathered around my desk with their hands held out! What's worse, is that before I even realized what I was doing, I had given them to them! So much for that idea! My best friend is a vegetarian, was raised that way, and if you ever have any questions or just want to talk to a fellow vegetarian, she is perfect. She's under Julia's Page on my blog. She has two kids who are in perfect health, and she can tell you anything you could ever need to know about eating vegetarian, especially how to make AWESOME meals out of (to me) the strangest stuff!
Oh, btw, you made my day today. I always wondered if anyone noticed that I wished everyone well each day, or if it actually brightened anyone's day. I got a big, goofy grin on my face when you wrote what you did!
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