Food

I'm going to expand on the food symptoms.  Some of the issues I'm having and some of the solutions I'm finding.

As I said in my last post, my usual diet pretty much sucks.  And wow, my taste buds just won't allow me to get away with that anymore.  I've actually lost a few pounds since the beginning of this pregnancy.  And if my taste buds were like this all the time, I wouldn't be a fat woman.  I now honestly believe that fat people and thin people actually taste food differently from one another.

At first, I just didn't want to eat, period.  Every bite was an effort and it was a "have to" rather than a "want to".  I found that a 6 inch cold Subway sandwich was probably the best thing I could eat at any given time.  It had some protein, it had some veggies, it was basically fresh, and I like Subway so I could pretty much force myself to eat one of those sandwiches even when I didn't want to eat anything.  Then I found out about the whole shouldn't have deli meats thing unless it's been heated to steaming, and I haven't been back yet cuz I don't want a hot sandwich.

I started looking at raw veggie platters like they're porn.  I knew I had changed when I actually made myself a raw veggie platter for lunch one day because that's what I actually wanted.  My sense of taste is leading me to a varied yet healthy diet.  I'll want chicken one day and fish the next.

Oh, and milk.  I can't drink white milk anymore.  No matter how fresh it is, it all smells sour to me.  So we're keeping chocolate milk in the fridge and since that's too sweet, I'm pouring myself half white and half chocolate as one of my regular fluids.  Calcium, it's a good thing!

I've given up on trying to plan meals.  I just can't figure out 2 hours in advance what I'm actually going to be able to eat. 

My husband is being awesome through all of this.  He actually enjoys cooking (I hate it) and is becoming quite the foodie thanks to Food Network.  He's always been the primary cook in the house but now it's more difficult and he's really stepping up to the plate.  He's heading to the grocery store pretty much daily on his way home and he calls me from there to ask what I can eat tonight.  It seems like no matter how vague my instructions are, he's able to figure it out.

For example, I can't stand anything dry right now.  Granola bars, crackers, ick.  I really need moisture.  So I gave him that info and asked him if he could find some magical product that was moist, fairly mild in flavor, and portable so I could keep it in my purse because I pretty much need food available at all times.  I had no clue as to whether or not a product existed that met all of those requirements.  He came home with snack packs of mini muffins.  How perfect is that?  He really rocks my socks.

I'm having trouble with full meals.  I've never been able to eat a lot in one sitting and now it's just impossible.  I need to nibble all day and I'm full after a few bites until the next time I'm hungry.  So every night the husband would ask what I wanted for dinner, and this actually started to turn into a lot of pressure.  I don't know!  And I'm not going to be able to eat much of it anyway so leave me alone!  I was getting sick of packing the fridge full of leftovers from meals that I couldn't finish.  I finally told him to just start cooking for himself and expect me to take a few bites from his dinner.  So now he asks me "I'm going to make some spaghetti, do you want some?"  That gives me the opportunity to change the plan if I do want something specific and doesn't force me to figure out a meal we can both eat from thin air.  That system is working out much better.

I generally hate food in the morning.  I kind of hold off on eating for as many hours as I can because nothing ever appeals to me in the morning.  I used to deal with this by basically drinking a breakfast from Starbucks and getting a bagel or similar plain pastry if I was feeling particularly peckish.

That doesn't work when you're pregnant.  You wait up feeling a little nauseous, mostly because you're actually hungry.  And my daily Starbucks treat?  I'm allowed to do that still.  But like I said before, it now all tastes like oily, chemically, horribly sweet badness.  So while I still desperately want my usual tall 2 pump white chocolate mocha, what my taste buds remember that as being doesn't exist anymore.

I'm dealing with this by starting every morning off with a glass of orange juice.  I don't usually like orange juice, but I do like the low acid no pulp stuff.  That gets a few nutrients in my body, helps ease the hungry nausea and kind of jump starts my stomach into being prepared to accept some food.  Then I try something mild like a bagel or cottage cheese with fruit slices mixed in.

I was keeping peppermints in my purse for a while.  The vomity burps needed a flavor eraser.  But the mint got overwhelming.  I tried mentos too, but still too strong.  I've found a good medium to be peppermint flavored salt water taffy.  I've always loved that stuff anyway so now I have an excuse to have it in the house all the time.

So, to recap, here is the list of what are now fridge and purse staples:

Orange juice
Chocolate milk
Assorted hard candies and taffy for a bite of sweet and to erase bad tastes
Various muffins
Ice for ice water
Cottage cheese with a suitable fresh fruit to mix in.
Big fat seedless grapes.  nom!
Veggie platter style raw veggies and dip
Shredded cheese to sprinkle on cooked veggies for days that I'm lacking protein or calcium
Thick soups like lentil and chowders



What has exited from my diet:

Starbucks.  I'm trying about once a week to find something I actually like, but overall, just not going there anymore.  I've saved a ton of money this way!
McDonalds.  I tried it today for the first time since this all started.  It wasn't horrible, but meh.
Desserts.  We still have some in the house and I'll have a cookie from time to time.  But generally I'm just enjoying one bite of whatever my husband is getting and I'm good with that.
Spagettios.  One of my go to comfort foods.  I tried it the other day.  Blarg.
Soda.  I'd rather have water or juice.  But it's starting to make a little bit of a comeback actually.
Goat cheese.  I really like this but I'm not supposed to eat soft cheeses.  Poo.
Processed foods in general.  My diet is much more nature based than it's ever been before.


Basically, my palette is naturally leading me to eat a very healthy pregnancy diet.  I now actually want to eat those things that are on all the recommended diet plans.