A Full Week of Nourishing Pregnancy Meals
Happy Wednesday Friends! I am officially in my second trimester of my second pregnancy, and I’m pleased to announce that my appetite is officially back! Woohoo! This a BIG deal - if you follow me on YouTube, you’ll know that I’m one of the unlucky few who suffer from hyperemesis during my first trimesters of pregnancy. That means that my nutrition was sorely lacking for the first 3 months of pregnancy. I survived off of biweekly IV drips at the hospital, and a small amount of simple carbs. It was not fun. Now that I’m feeling (mostly) better, it’s time to get things back on track and start properly nourishing both myself and this growing baby in my womb.
We know that good nutrition is important at all stages of life, but it is increasingly recognized that the nutritional environment and individual experiences before birth is particularly important for later metabolic health. Exposure to inadequate nutritional supply during those critical windows of development in the womb can predispose a baby to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and much more later in life. We know the diet consumed by pregnant women is a key determinant of metabolic health in offspring.
Knowing all this, I’m prioritizing real whole foods throughout the remainder of this pregnancy. Do I cheat once in awhile? For sure - you gotta feed the soul too, ya know? ;) But for the most part, what you see below is exactly how I’ve been eating these last couple months, and I’m feeling amazing.
How I’m having a Healthy Pregnancy:
For full transparency, I’ll very briefly outline my full wellness protocol I have in place for this pregnancy:
real whole foods aiming for between 1500 - 1800 calories per day (my normal maintenance calories is 1400)
100 grams protein minimum (you’ll see below that most days I easily get more!)
min. 30 minutes walking per day (this can be outside or on the walking pad)
30 minutes strength training 4 x per week (using two 10lb dumbbells and this specific pregnancy safe workout routine)
Now let’s get into my week of nourishing pregnancy meals…
Note: You might notice that this week features a lot of chicken - that is what was on sale during my weekly shop! It’s important to take in a variety of protein sources, so next week, I’ll probably plan our dinners more around beef, beans and some fish.
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
There are so many things in pregnancy that are out of our control (genetics, age, family history of disease, etc.), but the things that are within our control - diet, exercise, sleep habits, toxin exposure, and more - can have a significant impact on our pregnancies and can have a lasting impact on our babies.
I hope you enjoyed this post! As always, thank you for visiting the blog today - it means the world. Xx Julia Rae Connor
