First Trimester Struggles

[lbosmer]

I am in my first trimester and am suffering from the normal pregnancy stuff...sour stomach and just about any food repulses me. The only thing I have been able to eat the past few days has been really bland stuff...sweet potatoes, bananas, broth. The thought of vegetables and meat and eggs right now sounds absolutely horrid. All I seem to really want are saltine crackers, toast, all the stuff I hate to eat...when I'm not pregnant.

 

I would love to hear from any of you who had morning sickness (or all day sickness) what you ate, if you stayed primal,and if you didn't how did you feel. Just looking for some ideas to get me through this spell.

 

Ugh

[Renee Lee]

Melissa talked about her experience here: http://www.whole9life.com/2013/01/pregnancy-and-food-aversions/

 

I haven't gone through it, so I don't want to give you any more input than that. Reach for approved foods first, if you can't even stomach the idea of that, go to the "less bad" choices, etc.

 

Do your best!

[Runningforme82]

I feel your pain, I'm In my 2nd tri, and can say it does get better. My food aversions were awful during the 1st tri and I ended up with some items that were gluten/dairy filled (I was not in the midst of an actual W30, but I pretty much eat very close to W30 all time). Guess what happened....I felt even worse! It was awful but I had to get calories down. I stumbled upon Melissa's article as I was entering my 2nd tri. Just do your best and know that it does get better. I've been back on track for a while now and feel Much better.

Also, be kind to yourself, try your best and don't stress

[mrsm14]

Food aversions in the first trimester have been a real difficulty for me as well. The only things that sounded good from about weeks 5-9 would all fall into the description of "bland". I've done a lot of whole30's in the last year, and follow paleo for my normal diet. With that said, I know the things that really bother me in general: gluten, soy, and nuts. I also know the things that don't bother me too much comparatively- grassfed dairy, rice, and corn. My biggest adjustment has been an inability to eat 3 large meals. I need to eat more throughout the day, which is hard at work.

 

My first trimester has been a lot of soups, thai food/light curries, crock pot meals, and fruit. Veggies and large portions of protein are big food aversions right now, so I'm trying to sneak them in to a nice brothy soup. I'm at about 10 weeks and things are finally getting a little better.

 

I would recommend thinking about those things that don't bother you, and keep them on hand for emergencies. The worst thing is being hungry and not having anything to eat. I've had to incorporate white rice cakes, rice as a side dish w/ grassfed butter, rice krispies w/grassfed whole milk (or half and half!)- I think you can see that I'm leaning towards rice and full fat, grassfed dairy. I would just trust yourself, accept that this time is hard, and try to make decisions using your intuition of what won't make you sick right now and what you know to be generally healthy for you.  

[smpyndus]

I remained primal throughout my first trimester for the most part, although found it really difficult to resist chewing gum and co-workers hard candies! I didn't suffer from morning sickness so long as I ate. I found that when I stopped snacking (something small every hour), the nausea would hit and I would feel "yucky". I have heard from quite a few other pregnant women that they wish they had known how much better they would have felt if they did eat when they felt ill.

 

I ate a lot more dairy and fruit during my first trimester as I had aversions to fatty meat (dark meat chicken in particular), leafy greens, and quite a few raw vegetables.

 

I'm 19 weeks and 5 days now and started my third whole30 (my last two were a year ago!) to detox the sugar and comfort foods (paleo baked goods!).

 

Keep up the good work mama, I know you're doing the best you can!

[Noelle]

The thing that helped me kick the first trimester nausea was actually eating some of the protein-y stuff that sounded so awful. It seemed like the worst idea in the world, but once I had a weekend's worth of protein-rich food "under my belt," my nausea improved by leaps and bounds.

 

I think the only reason I was able to force myself to eat some of the stuff that sounded awful was that I didn't have to cook it. My husband made me a lot of scrambled eggs and turkey sandwiches; I found I could eat them as long as I didn't have to be near the kitchen. It was both sad and hilarious. I would sit in the living room while he cooked/assembled the protein options that sounded "least awful" to me. It was easier to face the eggs when a plate of beautiful omelette would just appear on my lap out of nowhere.

[ksweet]

I'm in my first trimester now and am relying more heavily on paleo baked goods like muffins and breads. I know these are not Whole30 compliant (I finished my Whole30 right before finding out I was pregnant) but I feel like a paleo banana muffin is better than some other choices. These are particularly useful in the morning, when food is most repulsive. By suppertime, I can handle more meat and veggies. My other advice, like others, is to eat smaller portions more often. And, as this is my sixth time around, I keep telling myself that it does get better in a couple of months. 

[JustAMom]

I get really bad hospitalizing hypermesis. Protein. Protein. Protein.

One nibble of meat was more likely to have stayed down more than a few minutes.

And broth.

The most important thing is hydration.

Second is protein.

I had no idea at the time, but most of the things I did best on were actually w30 good.