It should go without saying, but this post is in no way prescriptive.**
For my second appointment at the midwifery, I had to fill in a dietary recall sheet! Hooray! One of the things that attracted to me to the midwifery is the fact that they place a heavy emphasis on how your diet and exercise affect your unborn baby as well as how well you will physically be able to manage labor and delivery. I’m not qualified to comment, but obviously to this point I’ve had great results with very regular exercise and a mostly paleo/primal diet. Every pregnancy is different, and if I do this again someday, I know that I may have to approach some things differently. Every pregnancy is different, etc., etc.
Moving on, I went ahead and filled out the first day before I got around to looking at the suggestions in my paperwork from the midwifery. I was shocked when I read that the paperwork suggested eating a measly 60-75 grams of protein and 2,600 calories! Even on a day where I succumb to English muffins and Annie’s mac ‘n’ cheese, I would usually hit over 100 grams of protein. So I think I’d have to be eating a pretty lousy diet to only get 75g. I got a little huffy reading their sample menu. I realize they are attempting to make it realistic, but I just can’t see all of the low-fat dairy and sugary snacks like pudding and graham crackers. Of course, they aren’t coming from a paleo perspective, so I am happy that they at least encourage some fat like coconut oil!
Here’s what my macronutrient breakdown for the week looked like on the MyFitnessPal app: (ignore the goals, you just have to have something in there)
I was pretty happy with my results, even with the inclusion of some Pumpkin Spice English muffins and Angie’s popcorn. :) When I’m not pregnant, I personally try to keep the carbs a bit lower, but that seems to be a good level for me now. I’m continuing to log this week, and it looks like the macros are shaking out to be pretty much the exact same.
Here’s a great post from the Modern Paleo Midwife someone who actually does know what she’s talking about on second trimester macronutrients.
So here’s what I’ve been eating:
Good quality bacon & eggs & coffee with organic half & half or heavy whipping cream. Sometimes I have an English muffin with Kerrygold. Once or twice a week I have Starbucks. I wish I ate vegetables with breakfast, but I typically do not.
I usually eat breakfast fairly late so I don’t do a whole lot of morning snacking. Sometimes if I go to CrossFit at 11:45AM, and I want a little boost, I have half a LaraBar or a random bite of leftovers.
I’m in a total lunch rut with twice baked sweet potatoes. Technically yams, I guess. But I always think of them as sweet potatoes. I use either grassfed beef or organic chicken with buffalo sauce, Kerrygold butter and/or Kerrygold cheddar, onions, and usually a side of steamed broccoli. Carrots were my first trimester vegetable, and broccoli is my second trimester fave. Came out of nowhere, but that tends to be the thing I randomly have to send my husband to the grocery store for when I run out of it! Again, I could do better eating a wider range of vegetables.
Afternoon snack is usually yogurt. I don’t particularly love yogurt, but I want the probiotic benefits. I buy plain organic full-fat and mix it with frozen mixed berries. This is a high sugar snack, for me since even plain yogurt has a good amount of sugar so we’re looking at 15-20 grams for a snack I don’t really like. Boo!!! I’d rather have more chocolate, but I’m doing it for now. Sometimes I have Noosa yogurt instead, which is deliciously sweet, but an even bigger sugar bomb. I feel at this point the pros of good probiotics outweigh the sugar cons. For vitamins, I’m reluctantly taking Vitamin K Pure Encapsulations which I first heard about in a podcast from Chris Kresser. I’ll be honest, I didn’t take any during the first trimester. For part of it, I didn’t know I was pregnant! And for the rest, I was in denial and just trying to figure out what I was doing. I’m a huge skeptic of supplements, and I have no interest in taking synthetics so this seems to be the best way to go for now. I take 3 per day, not the recommended 6.
Dinner is almost always salad. Grassfed beef, chicken, or pork usually with some coconut oil. Some combination of spinach/cabbage slaw/spring mix. Sometimes with Wholly Guacamole. Other random vegetables.
Nighttime snack is dark chocolate and sometimes an apple, depending on how late I ate dinner/how hungry I am.
Thursday night is date night. We usually go for burgers or something decent. What I would LIKE to do is go to Panda Express, my new all-time favorite restaurant for whatever reason. It’s the worst! I haven’t been there in a long time, but I’m just telling you where I’d like to go. Haha. So usually Park Burger or Larkburger or this week we’re thinking about the Slotted Spoon. The more conscious you are of what you eat, the more difficult it is to eat out. Boo!
My total calorie intake is maybe about 2,300 on average. You can’t log things perfectly, so I’m kind of hoping maybe it’s actually a little higher. I don’t measure or weigh my food so there’s definitely a huge margin for error!!!! I can’t comment on my weight gain because I haven’t been tracking it. It’s just not enjoyable for me to see higher numbers on the scale so I’m not going to focus on it. I will say that I can still fit my regular jeans just fine (thank you, low rise!!!!!), and that yesterday I pr’ed my push press (135lbs – went up easy). So everything below and above the baby is in pretty good shape still. Ha ha.
I am, by no means, eating perfect paleo or primal. I don’t do organ meat or bone broth or fermented foods. I’m just not that “advanced.” But I’m doing the best I can for me and my baby. This week, Kevin has gotten more on board with watching his nutrition so that makes things a little bit easier. We are mostly trying to eat 21DSD style, and I am trying to be even more careful about my sugar intake as I approach Week 28 — the gestation diabetes test. Booo!!! I’ve been a little concerned about getting a false positive (I’ve read the internet forums — it happens to paleo/low carb ladies at times just because of the shock to your system), but the good news is that the Midwifery tests you with organic juice boxes from Whole Foods. Haha. I never drink juice, but hopefully that will bel ess shocking.
Oh, a word on my doctor’s appointment. Thanks for all of your sweet comments. Honestly, it didn’t go well again, in my opinion. I’m fine. The baby’s totally fine. But I manage to leave totally stressed and frustrated every time I go in. My blood pressure tested a little on the high side again, but they didn’t have to retake it. So that’s good. I got put with the same midwife, who unfortunately remembered me, and gave me some more warnings about getting kicked out of the practice if it gets any higher and out of their “safe zone.” I kind of want to go get my bp tested somewhere else because they’ve made it this big paranoid deal for me, and they also seem to be pretty inconsistent with their procedures. Since I don’t think my blood pressure is actually high, it’s extremely frustrating because there’s nothing I can do about it! I’ve researched things that lower your bp, because why not, but it’s basically exactly what I do already. I’d be tempted to transfer out on my own, but I really want to deliver there so I’m going to hang in there. The only thing I’ve really had anxiety about during my pregnancy is all the stinking trips to ultrasounds and doctors, but I just have to suck it up!!!!!
Has anyone ever tried making their own yogurt? I’ve been looking into it a little bit!
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