When will I be back?

[catherine_as1]

Hi everyone.

 

I was paleo for a year before I got pregnant- I'm 10 weeks now. I had never felt or looked better while paleo. Since about week 4 of pregnancy, I have felt just plain terrible (terrible doesn't even actually describe it)- nauseous, tired, blood sugar up and down, gagging, dry heaves, major food aversions and yellow, sallow sunken skin. I am sad that I have fallen off the paleo bandwagon- I loved it and it really worked for me. Now, I am basically eating whatever I think I can choke down which most of the time isn't even close to paleo. I used to love eggs, but even the site of them now makes me gag. I can't even stomach rice or rice crackers. Pizza and macaroni and cheese stay down. So do cheerios and potato chips. I'm pretty sure that part of why I feel so sick is that I have returned to the SAD. I want to get back to paleo but I feel like it is truly impossible right now. I just hope I feel better as I move into the second trimester and I can get back to a better way of nourishing myself.

 

thanks for letting me share!

[picklesandmeat]

I hear you! I lived on honey nut Cheerios and milk for SIX months. I couldn't even look or smell literally any thing else. It gets better. Do what you can and just go with it. It will get better! (And get those preggie pops, no lie)

[lbosmer]

Hi Catherine, I was/still sort of am in the same boat as you. I am 15 weeks about to be 16 and I promise it does get better. Just give yourself some time. I to was paleo and had done 2 whole30s for more than a year and was pretty strict most of the time. When I got pregnant around week 5 I started having food aversions (Or really more like food loathing) to ALL of the foods that I had grown to love. Eggs, no way. Red meat, nope. Fermented veggies, gross. It was really hard for me to wrap my head around it. I even tried forcing myself to eat these things and that was an epic disaster. All I wanted were crackers, bagels, pb&j sandwiches. I have to say that in those early days I just ate what I felt I could keep down. Try not to stress too much about it. It will be okay...I promise. Here at week 15 almost 16 I must say that I still have food aversions to most foods but it is not as severe as in those early days. Now I can eat eggs...maybe not in the morning but in the afternoon and sneak in good meats and veggies then too. I have found dairy to be my friend throughout this. Plain greek yogurt, with some fruit and nuts and honey is what I ate for breakfast for weeks straight. I also found RxBars to be really helpful. Smoothies were great also...if you have a good source for eggs that you trust throw an egg in there.  I know having no energy is also not helpful either. I cannot even bring myself to cook sometimes because I am either too tired or the thought of handling raw meat makes me sick. If you have a spouse or significant other, have them cook for you...if they are able to (I found that if a plate of food was placed in front of me I was more likely to eat it than if I had cooked it.) So, with all that said, chin up sista. It will be okay if you eat cheerios for a few weeks if thats all you can eat right now. Just try as much as you can to make healthy choices. I also believe that your health BEFORE pregnancy matters a lot and can help sustain a healthy baby in the first trimester. 

 

Here is an article Melissa wrote when she was pregnant...see, it happens to the best of us!

 

http://www.whole9life.com/2013/01/pregnancy-and-food-aversions/

[Noelle]

I'm so sorry you're feeling awful. Food aversions really are the worst!

 

With both my kids, I was back to "normal" around the 13-week mark...but in my experience, it's a slow and steady process. I kept waiting for a switch to flip and suddenly think, "Oooh, a salad sounds delicious!" That didn't happen. But slowly and surely, I found I could eat broccoli again. And then cauliflower. And then peaches. And so on, until I was eating all of my normal, healthy stuff (with some treats mixed in, because that's what I chose to do).

 

The thing that helped me beat the nausea with my second baby was devoting a whole weekend (when my partner could cook) to just choking down whatever protein I could manage. For me, that meant a lot of scrambled eggs and roast turkey. I found I could make myself eat the food if I didn't have to cook it or be in the kitchen. And once I had a couple high-protein days under my belt, I started to feel MUCH better.

 

Best of luck, Catherine, and congratulations on your pregnancy! You'll feel better soon!

[conniedraws]

Thanks for bringing this up. I haven't been devoted nearly as long as you but have been eating non stop and eating all sorts of bread and sweets because they sound so good. Im 14 weeks now, so I think I can stomach real food now. I'm hoping to transisition back slowly into more veg, and switch back to sweet potatoes as my main carb. I'm guessing that I'm giving in too much to the sugar dragon and using my tiredness as an excuse, as in I'm just being lazy.

Would love to hear an update or what's working for you?

Connie

[upsidedawn]

My nausea and food aversions were really bad from 6-14 weeks or so-- I basically lived on corn chex and thought I'd never be able to eat meat again!

Don't worry, your baby will benefit from all the good food choices you made before pregnancy, and any good choices you're able to make from here on out. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!