Many pregnant women have to deal with the constant feeling of hunger. Although you can indulge your desires from time to time, remember that your child needs rational and well-chosen nutrition. Therefore, a pregnant woman should monitor her diet, include only healthy foods that will benefit both her and her baby. A balanced diet will also help you avoid gaining weight during pregnancy.
Steps
Part 1
healthy eating habits- To eat more slowly, try cutting or breaking your food into small pieces if possible.
- Eat from a small plate. By filling a small plate with food, you will create the illusion that you are eating a lot. In fact, you will eat much less, but at the same time you will be satisfied.
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Listen to yourself. Pay attention to the signs your body is giving you. If you're craving something sweet, you may be deficient in certain vitamins found in fruits. If you crave salty foods, your body may need more sodium. Try to listen to your body, instead of indulging all its desires.
Part 2
Formulating a diet-
Include grains in your diet. Carbohydrates are the main source of human energy. Whole grain products should be an integral part of your diet. About 50% of your total grain intake should be whole grains, such as pasta, rice, or bread. You can purchase breads and cereals with added vitamins, iron, fiber, minerals, and folic acid.
Include fruits and vegetables in your diet. You should eat enough fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. Opt for dark green vegetables like spinach as they are a great source of fiber, folic acid and vitamin A. Citrus fruits are a great source of vitamin C. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Include protein foods in your diet. Proteins are essential for the normal development of the fetus. Therefore, include protein foods in your daily diet. Meat, fish, beans, eggs are the main sources of protein. Fish contains important omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for the development of the child's brain. Include at least 150-200 g of protein foods in your diet.
Include dairy products in your diet. Calcium is a vital element that is essential for the formation of bones and teeth. Try including Greek yogurt in your daily diet. Milk with cereal is a great food combination. Try to eat three glasses of dairy products per day (for example, one glass of milk, one glass of yogurt, one glass of grated cheese).
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Choose foods that contain good fats. Fat is a necessary component of the prenatal diet. However, include only healthy fats in your diet and reduce your intake of saturated and hydrogenated fats. These fats are found in fatty meats, butter, and many processed foods such as crackers and chips. Instead, include in your diet:
- Monounsaturated fats found in nuts, olives, avocados, almond or peanut butter.
- Polyunsaturated fats found in sunflower seeds, flaxseed and soybean oil.
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Talk to your doctor about proper weight gain during pregnancy. Skinny women need to gain more pounds during pregnancy. Women with a higher body mass index (BMI) should watch their weight during pregnancy to avoid gaining extra pounds. Adhere to the following principles:
Follow a calorie intake schedule. You don't have to eat for two. If your BMI was within the normal range before pregnancy, you should increase your calorie intake by 340 during your second trimester. In the third trimester, increase this value to 452. Follow these rules:
Limit access to unhealthy food. Although sometimes you may have an irresistible desire to eat a pickle or a chocolate bar, you should stay away from fast food. Try to limit your intake of potato chips, cookies, and sugary sodas. Remember, everything you eat, your child eats.
Disaccustom yourself to "seize" emotions. During pregnancy, changing hormonal levels cause a dramatic change in mood, which is why many women find solace in food. If you're feeling overwhelmed, take a walk or spend time with a good friend. Alternatively, you can indulge in a healthy fruit like a banana, which contains amino acids that help increase dopamine and serotonin levels, which are responsible for a good mood.
Eat slowly. Slow absorption of food allows the body to feel full before you have time to overeat. If you eat slowly and take small breaks during meals, hormones associated with the process of digestion give the brain a signal that you are full. Try to have fun while eating. Do not watch TV while eating - it is unlikely that you will be able to enjoy food in such an environment.
Before answering this question, let's read contraindications to the use of curative fasting, where pregnancy, regardless of the term, is an absolute contraindication.
And this is reasonable, because during pregnancy, especially in its first half, any intervention in the body of a woman is very undesirable. At this time, it is not recommended to use drugs, alcohol. Obviously, fasting should not be used either.
Moreover, it is difficult to find reasons why it is so necessary to starve during pregnancy. Fasting for weight loss, cleansing, treatment of diseases is best done before or after pregnancy. And at the time of bearing a child, it is best to pause.
The effect of fasting on the fetus
It may happen that a woman goes hungry without knowing that she is pregnant. Such cases were noted and they did not have any negative effect on the fetus. Although it is believed that fasting in the first trimester of pregnancy can lead to fetal fading. It should immediately be noted that this applies to fasting for at least more than 5 days.
Short fasting for a period of 1-3 days cannot affect pregnancy in any way. During this time, significant changes in the body do not occur and such starvation usually does not affect the fetus. In addition, our body is quite adapted to the irregular intake of food.
Fasting longer periods may have an effect on the fetus, but it is difficult to say what this effect will be without experimental confirmation. One can only assume that at the initial stage of pregnancy, prolonged starvation can lead to the fact that the survival of the mother's body will be more important than the survival of the developing fetus. But these are only assumptions that have not been proven by practice and have not been studied in humans.
With regard to late fasting, there is an opinion of fasting experts that it can be beneficial for both the mother and the fetus. At the same time, the use of even long periods of fasting for more than 10 days is not denied. However, all this is subject to the experience of previous fasting in the mother.
So Herbert Shelton recommends fasting for pregnant women when symptoms of toxicosis appear: “The stomach and body of a toxic woman protests, they reject food, the liver increases its excretory function. Much bile is vomited into the stomach and vomited out. It may even develop a physical aversion to food - such is the requirement of the body to cleanse.
If we understood at least once that nature does everything to prepare a clean and healthy home for the birth of a new life, we would understand the need to help her in these conditions and would not insert sticks into the machine of life.
Suppression of vomiting with medication and continued eating only aggravate the condition and prolong it. Fasting will be the only way to cleanse the body of accumulated toxins.
Therefore, as soon as the pregnant woman feels a slight approach of nausea and vomiting, she should voluntarily stop eating. It won't hurt her or the baby. A long fast can be harmful, but a few days of abstinence early in pregnancy (which is especially recommended for women with "morning sickness") will definitely help.
She should go to bed and rest warm. It is necessary to discard all fears and mentally relax. Do not take any medication. My experience is that fasting for 3 to 10 days is enough to get the body in order and save a woman from nausea and vomiting for the rest of the pregnancy. ”
In what cases can you starve during pregnancy.
With toxicosis of pregnancy, it is quite possible to use fasting on water for 1-2 days, regardless of the period.
Longer fasting should not be used during pregnancy.
If you want to cleanse the body, then spend several courses of cleansing fasting for a period of 7-10 days before pregnancy. This will undoubtedly improve your condition during pregnancy, facilitate its course and will contribute to a better development of the fetus.
After all, a healthy and “clean” mother’s body is the key to a strong future offspring.
Pregnancy is not a disease, it is a physiological process and nature has taken care to protect the fetus from the possible negative impact of the environment on the child's body.
Ideal conditions for the course of pregnancy do not exist. There have always been and will always be risks of harmful effects. If earlier it was hunger, lack of food, wars, various stresses, now it is the same stresses, toxic environmental influences, a sedentary lifestyle, overeating. But children have been born and continue to be born.
Therefore, you should not be so afraid of fasting, but you should also use it carefully during pregnancy.
There is an opinion among the people that a pregnant woman must definitely eat for two. Most expectant mothers heed this advice and do just that, but at the end of the term comes the retribution in the form of hypertension, swelling, back pain and other disorders.
Women who are expecting a baby are often tempted to eat something tasty, and sometimes not even tasty, but just to eat, something to chew on. How to proceed in such a case? Is it normal when during pregnancy constantly pulls to eat and why does it pull at all?
Causes of hunger when carrying a baby
The main factor that provokes the desire to refresh yourself is the restructuring of the whole organism at the hormonal level.
Changes cause other new desires and sensations. For example, women begin to eat with great pleasure the product and dishes that they could not stand before. Also, the body may require a combination of food, which in its normal state will seem completely tasteless - sweet and salty, sweet and spicy. Future women in labor in the winter may have a strong desire to eat watermelon, melon, peach or some other summer ones.
Gynecologists say that taste changes and the appearance of super appetite are completely normal and familiar. Because the body of women urgently needs calories for the normal development and growth of the unborn baby, they increase.
A rather interesting fact is that the psychological factor plays an important role in increasing appetite. This refers to the idea that during such a period one should eat for two. But doctors do not agree with this interpretation and argue that during pregnancy, a woman simply needs to increase her diet not only in the first, but also in the second trimester, by about 30 calories, and 450 calories in the third trimester.
The next reason why a woman feels a constant feeling of hunger is depression, which accompanies pregnant women very often. Psychologists say that depression is usually accompanied by a lack of serotonin - the hormone of joy. It is found mainly in sweets, including cocoa and chocolate. Here, the expectant mother is trying to compensate for the lack of joy in life by eating sweets and other favorite foods.
Hunger in early pregnancy
It is during this period of time that women in labor begin to experience a piston feeling of hunger, as well as a feeling of insatiability. Some are sure that this phenomenon is absolutely normal and even demand from their loved ones to provide an uninterrupted stream of sweets. Others control their weight, and when they observe a sharp increase in it, they come to the doctors with complaints of eternal constipation and so on. that they can not cope with the constant desire to eat. A competent specialist will explain to the pregnant woman the causes of the problem and give her recommendations.
Diet
You can fight the insatiable desire to sweep all the food from the refrigerator, but only by listening to the advice of a nutritionist doctor. The most important thing is not to listen to that inner voice that makes you eat and promises to fix everything after childbirth, to follow the doctor's recommendations. Because it can harm not only you, but also the health of the future crumbs. Diabetes gestational mellitus, impaired kidney function, edema, varicose veins are just some of the problems caused by overeating.
To calm your inclement body, you should follow these recommendations:
- Do not confuse the feeling of thirst with hunger. If you want to eat, drink water. Most likely, this will eliminate the feeling of hunger. Remember that drinking water after eating is very harmful to the body of any healthy person in a normal state, and even more so for pregnant women. Water can be drunk only 30-40 minutes after eating.
- Refuse to eat muffins and white bread.
- Eat in fractional portions. Snack on cereal or biscuits, low-fat yogurt, carrots, fruits.
- It is best to consume low acidic foods. They can cause increased acidity, and call for a feeling of hunger, irritating the stomach.
- Try to include fruits and vegetables in your daily menu. The fiber present in their composition copes very well with the feeling of hunger and gives full saturation.
- Protein should be included in the diet every day. Protein helps keep you feeling full for a long time. It is recommended to stew or steam meat dishes, refuse to eat fried meat.
- You do not need to eat in a hurry, as well as on the go, in which case the food is poorly digested and loses its beneficial properties. You need to chew slowly, sitting at the table, and you should not be distracted by talking on the phone, newspapers, books and TV.
- Be sure to include calcium in your diet. This trace element is present in large quantities in yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts,.
- Find classes that interest you. Indeed, in women, constant hunger very often arises precisely because of idleness and boredom.
Proper weight gain during pregnancy
Doctors suggest that during the bearing of a child, a woman needs to gain a certain weight. If, in addition to being overweight after bearing a child, it will be more, then there may be problems with labor, as a rule, such complications may occur. It is for this reason that, despite the constantly present feeling of hunger, one should not forget about one's own health.
Weight indicators that are considered normal:
- With a small weight in a woman before pregnancy, it is considered normal to gain 13-18 kg;
- A woman in labor with a normal weight should gain about 11-16 kg in weight;
- With excess weight before pregnancy, it is considered normal if she recovers by 7-11 kg;
- Those who are obese tend to gain 6-9 kg during the period of bearing a baby.
What foods should be avoided
There is a list of products that are only harmful to health in principle, and they are generally prohibited for pregnant women.
- You should not eat with a feeling of hunger such foods:
- Spicy food, various spices and sauces;
- Pickles, a large amount of salt in them causes swelling, it is best to replace with fresh vegetables;
- Smoked products;
- You do not need to eat a lot of citrus fruits and seafood in your diet, as they are strong allergens;
- Confectionery and all kinds of pastries should be eliminated, and fruits should be eaten instead, at least at the time of pregnancy;
- Tea, coffee, alcohol, lead to excessive excitability.
Feeling of hunger as a result of illness
Most often, bearing a child, hunger is a familiar feeling that you need to get used to and try to overcome it a little. But with a constant feeling of hunger, there may be a suspicion of the presence of various pathological conditions.
Such conditions when carrying a baby are extremely rarely detected, as a rule, if they exist, then the woman knows about them even before pregnancy, and in such cases, recommendations for eliminating hunger will be determined by your doctor.
After all, the expectant mother eats not only for herself, but also for her baby. Therefore, food should be tasty, healthy, varied, properly prepared and hypoallergenic. It is especially important to control nutrition during the difficult period of waiting for the baby, which is accompanied by “hunger attacks”.
As you know, some women during pregnancy experience bouts of "wolf" hunger. At such moments, they are so hungry that they are ready to “sweep away” everything that is at hand. The degree of such attacks, of course, is very individual. Someone just starts to eat a little more often, but there are also women who, without a box of snacks, are afraid to even step out of the house. What if hunger catches them on a walk or in line at the antenatal clinic.
Attacks of hunger are observed, as a rule, in the middle of pregnancy. Already early toxicosis with constant nausea has died down, and the body is trying to compensate for the period of forced hunger strike. And now the expectant mother eats and eats. But after all, it’s so short and gaining extra weight, which is fraught with poor health for the mother and oxygen deficiency for the baby. To prevent this from happening, consider healthy snacks - homemade and those that you can take with you when you go on business. In this case, "and the wolves are full, and the sheep are safe." That is, the weight is normal, and the mother is full and satisfied.
Healthy snacks
Among the snacks that you can whip up at home, there are many tasty and healthy dishes. Their choice depends only on your taste preferences. Here are a few options for hearty and healthy snacks that you can transform "for yourself."
Raspberry jelly. It perfectly "interrupts" the appetite, allows you to indulge in sweets, but at the same time low in calories. In addition, gelatin is very useful for the bones of the unborn baby.
Berry yogurt. Berries give the child vitamins, and regular consumption of yogurt allows you to normalize the intestinal flora and prevent constipation - a very common occurrence in pregnant women.
Turkey sandwich. Lettuce leaves are a storehouse of vitamins, turkey is a low-fat and hypoallergenic source of protein, bran bread is a normalization of mom's digestion. What else do you need for a healthy snack?
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Fish sandwich. Vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli) in this sandwich are rich in vitamins and trace elements, and thanks to fiber, they stimulate intestinal motility in the expectant mother. Salmon is rich in fatty acids necessary for the normal development of the fetal nervous system.
Steam omelet. The dish gives a feeling of satiety, pacifies hunger and supplies protein - the building material of all cells of the fetus.
Light salad. Any vegetables for a vitamin charge, and boiled chicken or tuna for satiety. And here is a wonderful, but low-fat and non-calorie weapon against bouts of hunger is ready!
Syrniki. Oven-baked syrniki are a source of protein, and besides, they do not load the gallbladder and liver, like their fried counterparts.
You can take it for a walk
Berries, fruits and vegetables. Fruits and berries: wash and dry thoroughly. Berries can be put in the tray as a whole, and fruits can be cut into several parts. In the tray, your snack will not be wrinkled and will help you out if an attack of hunger catches you on a walk or in line at the antenatal clinic.
Vegetables. Raw seasonal vegetables are the best snack. It is easiest to take with you those products that do not crumple, do not burst and do not give a lot of juice. Ideal companions to fight hunger are fresh cucumbers and carrots. They are nutritious, healthy and contain a large amount of vitamins and minerals. Isn't that what a baby most of all expects from his mother's meal?
Sandwiches. Take a light sandwich with you when you go for a walk. After all, it is more pleasant and healthier to eat outdoors. Moreover, the appetite is sure to play out! Remember that such a dish can be stored in your purse for no more than an hour (unless you are the owner of a thermal bag or a special cooler bag).
Yogurt. Drinking yogurt can keep its freshness for 2-3 hours out of the refrigerator. Wrap it in newspaper before going for a walk - this will slow down the process of heating it in your bag in the summer heat.
Flakes. If you want to satisfy your hunger on a walk, take a handful of corn flakes with you - you can nibble them with juice. Tasty, healthy, and not high in calories.
Dried fruits. You can wash and dry dried fruits in advance and put them in a camping tray. They perfectly satisfy hunger. However, remember that they are very high in calories, so you should not abuse them.
Hearty snacks. If you want to have a good meal, take a hard-boiled egg or a baked "in uniform" potato with you.
Products under the ban
- Coffee, strong tea and alcohol - they excite the nervous system of the fetus and can lead to the formation of congenital anomalies.
- Pickles - put a strain on the kidneys and can provoke edema or increase existing ones. Therefore, pickles, especially in the second half of pregnancy, should be forgotten.
- Persona non grata also: smoked sausage and fish, hot spices, marinades and fatty sauces.
- You can not snack on fast food, chips, chocolates and soda.
- Be careful with strawberries, citrus fruits, nuts, seafood - they are pronounced allergens and can provoke negative reactions.
It's no secret that pregnancy is the most difficult and absolutely individual period in the life of any woman. It is full of all sorts of difficulties that are impossible to predict, but the expectant mother must be prepared for their appearance.
Correctly accepting them and learning to cope with them are the main tasks of a woman that must be completed for her own future comfortable life. Among them, special attention is drawn to the special appetite of women, which can truly surprise outsiders.
Strange taste decisions are not the biggest problem yet. A really big difficulty can be the constant feeling of hunger that a pregnant woman can experience from the earliest dates.
If some mothers complain of a headache and, then many others claim that they constantly want to eat during pregnancy. Strange as it may seem, but this is quite an ordinary problem for expectant mothers, which often causes great discomfort and interferes with a full life.
What to do if you cannot sleep at night due to hunger and run to the refrigerator every hour? But what if you are still working in the early stages of pregnancy, and the constant desire to eat prevents you from concentrating on your business?
Initially, this difficulty is due to the fact that now a woman has to eat for two in the truest sense of the expression. During pregnancy, the speed of all metabolic processes increases, which means that the absorption of food consumed is faster. This is one of the reasons that causes a feeling of hunger every two hours, and sometimes even more often.
It should also be noted that during the period of bearing a child, a woman needs everything possible. That is why, often, the expectant mother may want to eat rather strange combinations of foods that are unlikely to be tried by any of us in ordinary life.
When the body lacks certain substances, it immediately sends a signal to the brain that it is necessary to replenish their supply. Accordingly, there is an impulse-desire to eat this or that product, which will contain a sufficient amount of missing minerals or vitamins. Therefore, the desire to eat many different foods can be explained by the lack of certain nutrients that are necessary for the normal development of the child and mother.
In a situation where you constantly want to eat during pregnancy, the psychological factor of the mother also plays an important role. If in their ordinary life many women monitor their diet, correctly compose their diet, do not allow themselves to eat extra harmful foods, then during pregnancy they forget about everything and become “machines” for consuming any food that they may want. Often this becomes the reason that the expectant mother listens to the urges of her body and eats not the most healthy foods in unlimited quantities. There are also situations when women lose control of themselves, which leads them to the hospital for a certain time.
Diet
One of the important stages of pregnancy is drawing up, which will help the expectant mother control herself and her appetite.
First of all, it is important to consume neutral foods that are not too sour or sweet (may cause a jump in the amount of certain substances, which may be reflected in the developing child). Jam, buns, jam, cakes - all of them will not be able to help you adequately calm the feeling of hunger, but they will remain in your body in the form of additional fat deposits or a jump in blood sugar levels.
It is much healthier and more correct to eat a piece of meat or poultry, vegetable salad or fruit, which will give you additional nutrients and create a feeling of satiety.
Moreover, simple carbohydrates from flour and sweet are digested much faster than carbohydrates from plant foods, so when you eat the latter, you will feel hungry again much later.
If you constantly want to eat during pregnancy, then you should try to increase the consumption of both animal and vegetable origin:
All these products are absolutely indispensable, since they play the role of "builders" in the developing body of the baby, because the soft tissues of the child (muscles, tendons, ligaments) are formed and developed with the participation of protein. In addition to the above products, the expectant mother also needs to eat meat dishes.
Meal frequency
Also, for the diet, it is important not only its internal content, but also the regularity of food consumption. If you accustom yourself to constantly go to the refrigerator and have a snack, albeit little by little, then the body easily gets used to a constant meal and begins to demand it itself. It would be much more correct to make a rule for yourself, according to which a meal is made no earlier than two to three hours after the previous one. This will allow you not to overeat, but at the same time satisfy. At first, such a schedule can be very difficult, but soon your body will adapt to the conditions set for it.
In addition to such drastic measures as following a diet, you can also use little tricks that sometimes help to greatly simplify the solution to the problem that has arisen when you constantly want to eat during pregnancy. For example, to avoid feeling hungry at night, drink or eat a small amount of something nutritious before going to bed. If you really want to eat a bun, then you should replace it with whole grain bread. It is rich in fiber, which is slowly absorbed and will keep you feeling full for a long time.
From this video you will learn more about proper nutrition during pregnancy:
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