I need to eat NOW!
I guess, sooner or later, I have to address the question of my pregnant appetite. Cravings, too, but they warrant an entry of their very own.
My appetite has raged through most of my pregnancy. In fact, one of the best ways to cope with morning sickness was to eat. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to make sure I never really got hungry. I actually kept in my night-table a ziploc baggie filled with Purity Lemon Cream biscuits so that I had something soothing to nibble on before stepping out of bed.
During the first trimester, and the first half or so of the second trimester, my appetite was a source of embarassment. After all, I wasn't showing, but I ate enough to put a lumberjack to shame. While we were in Tofino with Werner's parents, I had an especially voracious hunger one morning. We were about to check out of our hotel, and I knew we wouldn't be eating again for hours, so I had to be sure to get enough to keep me going until we reached the Tim Horton's in Port Alberni. (My morning sickness had caught back up with me during this trip, so I couldn't take the chance of getting hungry and subsequently getting sick on the windy, twisty mountain pass.) The restaurant at the Tin Wis serves the most amazing 'Oaty Pancakes', and I knew I had to have them. (I always do when we stay there.) But I also knew I needed some protein if I wanted to make it past the national park, never mind all the way to Port Alberni, so I asked for a side order of bacon. On this particular morning, I broke down and ordered a decaf Americano rather than a glass of juice, so I felt guilty. To assuage my guilt, I ordered a fruit plate.
And you know what? My appetite was up for every last morsel. Except, shame struck, and I left one quarter of the last of the three pancakes. Not because I couldn't eat it, but because I was just too embarassed at how much food I had already put away.
(To make matters worse, the night before I had ordered linguine vongole - a favourite - for supper, and just couldn't eat it. A weird food aversion struck out of nowhere, and the thought of eating it made me gag.)
Once I started showing, I felt somewhat less self conscious about my appetite. Nevertheless, I didn't want to turn into a stereotype. You know, eating for two. But I still had (and continue to have) many moments when I have to eat right now and even a second later would mean the end of my world. I am astonished at how quickly the hunger hits. One moment I'm fine, the next moment I fear for any beef cattle who happen to cross my path.
At first I kept mini chocolate bars in my purse. The instant sugar rush was enough to keep me going until I could find something nutrious to nibble on. Then someone from church gave me an inside tip: dried fruit. Now I carry in my purse (at all times) a ziplock baggie filled with dried apricots and whole almonds. The mix is delicious, and the protein of the almonds combined with the fibre and natural sugars in the apricots keeps me going a reasonable period of time. Since these are healthful alternatives, if I cannot get to a shop or restaurant really quickly, I don't mind having another apricot or two. (Yes, I know they still have calories, but they are nutrient-rich. And definitely better than chocolate, nutritionally at least. So there.)
Now that I'm definitely into the third trimester, I cannot eat as much in one sitting as I could earlier on. As Bärchen pushes most of my internal organs up into my throat, there isn't much space left for my needs. More than once I've found myself facing a plate with a normal amount of food (that is, the amount a reasonable and non-pregnant person would find appealing), and not being able to finish it. In fact, over the last two suppers, I've eaten one whole hamburger. Yes, that's right, one half of the burger for each of two nights. And tons of veggies.
As a rule, I try not to graze, because then it is too easy to eat far more than one realises. But I think that grazing will be the only way for me to make it through these last two organ-smooshing months. Moo.1 Because, after all, I am pregnant, and we all know pregnant women are eating for two!
1 Yes, I know I'll probably be saying mooooooo quite a lot once I'm nursing...
My appetite has raged through most of my pregnancy. In fact, one of the best ways to cope with morning sickness was to eat. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to make sure I never really got hungry. I actually kept in my night-table a ziploc baggie filled with Purity Lemon Cream biscuits so that I had something soothing to nibble on before stepping out of bed.
During the first trimester, and the first half or so of the second trimester, my appetite was a source of embarassment. After all, I wasn't showing, but I ate enough to put a lumberjack to shame. While we were in Tofino with Werner's parents, I had an especially voracious hunger one morning. We were about to check out of our hotel, and I knew we wouldn't be eating again for hours, so I had to be sure to get enough to keep me going until we reached the Tim Horton's in Port Alberni. (My morning sickness had caught back up with me during this trip, so I couldn't take the chance of getting hungry and subsequently getting sick on the windy, twisty mountain pass.) The restaurant at the Tin Wis serves the most amazing 'Oaty Pancakes', and I knew I had to have them. (I always do when we stay there.) But I also knew I needed some protein if I wanted to make it past the national park, never mind all the way to Port Alberni, so I asked for a side order of bacon. On this particular morning, I broke down and ordered a decaf Americano rather than a glass of juice, so I felt guilty. To assuage my guilt, I ordered a fruit plate.
And you know what? My appetite was up for every last morsel. Except, shame struck, and I left one quarter of the last of the three pancakes. Not because I couldn't eat it, but because I was just too embarassed at how much food I had already put away.
(To make matters worse, the night before I had ordered linguine vongole - a favourite - for supper, and just couldn't eat it. A weird food aversion struck out of nowhere, and the thought of eating it made me gag.)
Once I started showing, I felt somewhat less self conscious about my appetite. Nevertheless, I didn't want to turn into a stereotype. You know, eating for two. But I still had (and continue to have) many moments when I have to eat right now and even a second later would mean the end of my world. I am astonished at how quickly the hunger hits. One moment I'm fine, the next moment I fear for any beef cattle who happen to cross my path.
At first I kept mini chocolate bars in my purse. The instant sugar rush was enough to keep me going until I could find something nutrious to nibble on. Then someone from church gave me an inside tip: dried fruit. Now I carry in my purse (at all times) a ziplock baggie filled with dried apricots and whole almonds. The mix is delicious, and the protein of the almonds combined with the fibre and natural sugars in the apricots keeps me going a reasonable period of time. Since these are healthful alternatives, if I cannot get to a shop or restaurant really quickly, I don't mind having another apricot or two. (Yes, I know they still have calories, but they are nutrient-rich. And definitely better than chocolate, nutritionally at least. So there.)
Now that I'm definitely into the third trimester, I cannot eat as much in one sitting as I could earlier on. As Bärchen pushes most of my internal organs up into my throat, there isn't much space left for my needs. More than once I've found myself facing a plate with a normal amount of food (that is, the amount a reasonable and non-pregnant person would find appealing), and not being able to finish it. In fact, over the last two suppers, I've eaten one whole hamburger. Yes, that's right, one half of the burger for each of two nights. And tons of veggies.
As a rule, I try not to graze, because then it is too easy to eat far more than one realises. But I think that grazing will be the only way for me to make it through these last two organ-smooshing months. Moo.1 Because, after all, I am pregnant, and we all know pregnant women are eating for two!
1 Yes, I know I'll probably be saying mooooooo quite a lot once I'm nursing...
posted by Melanie A at 6:54 p.m.
1 Comments:
I gotta laugh. I could eat an order of pancakes, a side of bacon, and a fruit plate right now, and I just had lunch, never mind pregnant and hungry! Mind you, I am nursing.
With J I gave up coffee for the first trimester because it suddenly nauseated me (actually, it was my first sign of pregnancy). But then I went back to a cup or two a day. With A, I *craved* coffee from the beginning of the pregnancy, so limited myself to one full cup followed by unlimited (water process) decaf. Then I figured out I could brew my coffee 1/2 caf, which I did - and then drank about 4 cups a day, knowing it had the caffeine of two.
I thought they would come out all jittery and caffeine-addicted, but they seem fine. Having caffeine in the afternoons, I discovered, did interfere with the nursing baby's sleep at night!
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