Sunday, July 23, 2006

Some of my tips for controlling nausea in early pregnancy

These are some of the things I've been doing to help keep my nausea at bay:

* make sure I have protein a couple times a day -- typically meat, fish or cheese (not liking eggs right now) -- remember a serving of protein is the size of a casette tape

* carry snacks in my purse -- fruit leather works well, as did nuts for a while though I'm not digging the bitterness of walnuts right now

* tortilla chips have helped me out at work in the afternoon, just plain with a little salt on them

* keep the water going at all times, I carry bottles of water with me just about everywhere. I alternate between wanting plain water, water with lemon or lime in it, or wanting sparkling water.

* if you start to feel it kicking up on you go eat something right away, eat slowly while sitting down

* don't eat too much at once -- eating small amounts all the time will help prevent you from wanting to binge. Eating too much at one sitting will just cause you to have digestive problems including gas and constipation which is really, really not fun

* make sure you are getting your fruits and veggies in with your protein. Portioning out grapes into baggies I could grab on the way out the door helped, also cutting up a cantelope or pineapple and having it ready to go

* try ginger if you are having acid indigestion, it might just surprise you at how well it works -- freshly grated with hot or cold water, or even spice cookies with ginger in them can help.

* don't go for the simple sugars, they aren't going to make you feel better -- it's just empty calories and your body knows the difference

I also haven't been eating fried foods at all, and I normally eat a low fat diet that's pretty high in fiber. My mother told me that she didn't have any vomiting when she was pregnant so maybe it's partially a physiological thing that we share.

Also, the other day I just was feeling so nauseous. I left my acu appointment and thought I would be fine until dinner but obviously my body had other ideas. I dug in my purse for a fruit leather and ate that but my body was on a rampage. My partner called to let me know he was going out with a friend and as I walked along I had this dialogue in my head about whether or not I could make it home without eating something. My body decided no, so I went into Westlake Mall and ate dinner right then and there in the food court. I felt a bit silly about it, but then again not eating was not an option -- my body was starting to send those signals that something awful was going to happen if I didn't eat right then (if you have been pregnant you will know what I'm talking about). I had a mediterranean platter and felt so much better after that -- grilled chicken, hummous, salad, tabouleh, falafel, pita -- a nice well rounded meal. Be good to yourself.

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