More Protein, Please

So, apparently I've been getting too much 'empty calorie' food as of late. I try and eat healthy -- I make good food for the kids, buy a ton of expensive produce, and try and cook real meals made from scratch. But this pregnancy has found me hungry much of the time, but with no real desire for food. Meat, for instance. I could eat meatless meals every night of the week and not miss it in the least. Instead, I'm filling my body with random, easy food every few hours instead of the same high quality, healthy stuff I insist my children eat.

Turns out, when you do such a thing, your appointment at the midwives' office will betray your crappy habits and flash a huge EIGHT POUND weight gain across the scale. Crap.

My midwife wasn't actually that worried about it -- I'd only gained a few pounds the month before, and unless I keep up the colossal gain, I'm on track to gain a normal-ish amount of weight for the pregnancy. But it stressed me out. I found myself worrying about it the entire ride home, mentally obsessing over what I'm 'doing wrong', barely noticing when I ran a freaking red light! That snapped me back to reality, and I pulled over and took a few deep breaths and decided to calm down a bit.

I don't worry too much about the weight I gain in pregnancy. I've managed to lose the weight from my first two pregnancies (admittedly though, when I only gained 15 lbs. with Annie's pregnancy, it was a heck of a lot easier to lose the pregnancy weight and then some vs. Ellie's 40 lb. pregnancy gain that took several months longer to lose.) My bigger concern is where I know I'm lacking in my diet. Protein. I don't gain a lot of weight when I'm eating enough protein during pregnancy, but replace that with my diet full of quick, easy carbs and the pounds pack on.

So, it's time to reevaluate. Not just because I don't want to be double my normal size by the time I have the baby, but because protein is what's growing my baby and preparing my body for birth.

So, I'm drinking milk more often, despite it not being a favorite.

Replacing salty snacks, like crackers, with more nuts.

Eggs. Getting creative in working those into my diet (as I'm not a big fan of straight up egg dishes -- but french toast I can do.)

And, ugh, meat. I'm working chicken back into the diet a bit more. Even adding some lean red meats (despite them holding zero appeal for me -- I'm over the morning sickness, but my aversion to some of this stuff is as strong as it was at 9 weeks pregnant!) The key to this is making a bunch of meat dishes when I am in the mood for them, then just have them waiting in the freezer ready to go, for when cooking chicken is the last thing I want to do.

I have a bunch of frozen edamame in my freezer that I was eating as a snack all the time earlier in my pregnancy (probably during that 2 lb. weight gain month) . . . I should bust those out again!

Doubling the amount of yogurt in my morning smoothie. Making sure I make my morning smoothie, instead of getting lazy and just eating a banana for breakfast and nothing else 'til after 10AM.

My midwife's big suggestion was making sure we're getting a bunch of protein from whole grains -- but I feel good about that, since we eat almost exclusively whole wheat breads and pastas. I'm even making 1-3 loaves of whole wheat bread most weeks (did I mention I got a handy dandy wheat grinder for Christmas? And we're busting it out at least weekly to replace the wheat flour we're using.) Greg makes us whole wheat waffles and pizza dough at least once a week. Even something like cookies or sweet breads we use whole wheat. The one I haven't worked into my diet yet is more oatmeal. It just hasn't appealed to me lately -- but maybe I could try it again . . .

Heck, I'm even thinking of switching out my plain M&Ms for the almond kind. That's a good step, right? :-)


Hopefully with some more forethought and conscientious planning, I can manage to feed myself in a more healthful way this month. And not have to run red lights on the way home due to the trauma of near-double-digit-weight-gains! :-)

Any suggestions on healthy, easy, protein-heavy snacks for me to incorporate into my diet?

And, because it's semi-related -- Annie this evening kept getting annoyed when she was trying to cuddle up on my lap to watch a movie. She kept squirming around, trying to get comfortable, then she'd grumble something like, "I can't even stay on you Mom! It's like baby Isaac is just trying to push me right off!"
(The funny thing is she had plenty of room -- I mean, I'm only like 22 weeks pregnant, there's not that big of a baby bump (even with that extra nine pounds) -- she just couldn't get comfortable and it was annoying her to no end. So, she blamed the baby. I can't wait 'til she can actually feel him kicking her off my lap, that'll really piss her off!)

Oh, and we were at the doctor's office with Ellie today. We waited, along with about a dozen other people with coughing children, forever in the waiting room. Annie was getting very impatient, and started to loudly ask questions like, "Have they forgotten us?" "Is it our turn yet?" "Are they ever going to see Ellie?" "What are they waiting for?" Then, "Wait! They got here after us! Why do they get to go in!?" The people around us were amused.
Another time Annie was asking Ellie questions like, "So Ellie. Tell me. Who's your favorite? Mom or Dad?" The guy who'd been playing with his iPhone and ignoring us the entire time suddenly busted out laughing at that one.
Once we got in, Annie decided being put in the 'Beauty and the Beast' room (each exam room has giant murals painted on the walls -- this one being her favorite so far) was worth the wait. Ellie was running a 100 degree fever, her coughing was horrible, but her oxygen was at a decent 95%, so it's not bad enough to really stress about yet. Stupid RSV. Her ears are clear though, which was actually the main thing I was having them check out. I pretty much knew going in there wasn't anything they'd be able to do if she didn't have an ear infection -- it just always feels better for some reason after you've spent $15 to be told to do all the things you're already doing (like use a humidifier and tylenol.)

Oh -- and Ellie weighed in at a whopping 22 lbs. (dressed). She's really packing on the pounds now! :-)