40 Weeks to Forever

Pregnancy + Nutrition 101

Episode Summary

As any pregnant woman knows, you are eating for yourself and your growing baby. While there’s no such thing as a “perfect” pregnancy diet plan, there are some basic guidelines that will help keep you and your little one healthy. In this episode of 40 Weeks to Forever, Lindsay Taylor talks about how to get the nutrients you and your baby need during pregnancy. She shares foods that can help with nausea, how to minimize food risks, and tips on prepping snacks. With the right info, you can give yourself and your little one the healthy foundation they need for a bright future. If you want to find out how to stay healthy and stock up on essential nutrients in your pregnancy diet plan, then this episode is for you! Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode: 1) Find out what foods can help with your nausea and morning sickness. 2) Learn how to get the nutrients you need during pregnancy — and how to get back to healthy eating after pregnancy. 3) Discover how to produce more milk and make healthy snacks.

Episode Notes

Episode Highlights

[01:46] Foods to Eat When You’re Nauseous

• Change your mindset around food and know that any food will give you energy, macronutrients, protein, fat, and carbs — which you and your baby need.
• When you’re pregnant, your blood sugar gets out of whack.
• Keep your blood sugar steady by eating protein as much as possible.
• When you wake up, stay in bed for 15 minutes and eat something rich in protein.

[06:01] What’s For Lunch and Dinner?

• Base your lunch, snack, or dinner around protein.
• Some protein-rich foods are peanut butter, almond butter, cheese, or seeds.
• If you feel an aversion to vegetables, you can still get the core nutrients from vegetables by eating fruits!

[08:43] Getting Back to Healthy Eating

• Don’t pressure yourself to eat healthy.
• In creating an effective pregnancy diet plan, keep your meals the same and add one or two things to that meal.
• Even if you’re not eating the most nutritious foods in the first trimester, your body has nutrients stored from before you were pregnant.

Lindsay: “... your body is so ready for this pregnancy journey. And even if you’re not eating the most nutritious foods in the first trimester, your body has nutrients stored up all over your body from the foods that you ate before you were pregnant. So those nutrients will start to be pulled into the placenta to be delivered to baby so that those key nutrients for growth and development can be met. So your body is really smart and is helping you out during that time.”

[11:03] Foods to Avoid

• Understand the risks of not eating certain foods.
• Consider your feelings around those risks since we have different risk tolerance.
• Think about how you can lower the risks.
• Look at policy changes around food safety and management.

Lindsay: “Nothing we can do will bring our risk down to zero, but it can almost bring our risk down to the same level of risk we get while eating any food because there is inherent risk of foodborne illness on even the safest foods that we have available to us in the grocery store.”

[16:11] Spilling the Coffee on Caffeine

• Pregnant women can have 200mg of caffeine per day.
• Be careful just before pregnancy and in the first semester due to the risk of miscarriage.
• Figure out how much caffeine you have throughout the day.

[20:10] Producing More Milk

• Calories and water are the things that contribute most to milk supply.
• Have a well-balanced diet and stay properly hydrated.
• Weigh the pros and cons of the culinary foods that might be galactagogues; even if they don’t contribute directly to milk production, they may still be beneficial.

[24:21] Quick, Healthy Snacks

• Eating well is important for your physical and mental health.
• In your pregnancy diet plan, pack anything you can with nut butters, seeds, oats, and dates.
• You can stock up on sweet snacks, such as granola bars, as well as savory snacks, such as egg muffins and meatballs.
• Prepare snacks to keep in the freezer for the seventh and eighth months.
• Keep in mind that you might feel more hungry, and hunger may come at random times.

[31:37] The Food Doula Cookbook

• Many people feel confused about food and nutrition during pregnancy.
• The Food Doula Cookbook contains a hundred recipes designed to make it way easier to eat during the whole pregnancy journey.
• It also tackles the different struggles and how to overcome them.
• Her favorite recipe is the Golden Mama Healing Stew.

[31:37] Taking Baby Steps

• During postpartum, food and nutrition become harder.
• Meet yourself where you’re at and take small steps towards eating healthier.

Lindsay: “It doesn’t need to be all or nothing. One small step to improve your nutrition to eat more, to eat better, to start to live that and feel the consequences of it, the benefits of it, because there’s nothing more motivating than seeing the difference in your life.”

About Lindsay

Lindsay Taylor is a pre & postnatal nutrition expert, health researcher, and doula who supports pregnant women to get confidently nourished before, during, and after pregnancy.

She is the author of The Food Doula Cookbook, which contains easy, delicious recipes for preconception, all three trimesters, and postpartum. She believes that we deserve to feel good and eat the food we love throughout our pregnancy journey.

If you want to know more about Lindsay and her work, you can connect with her on Instagram!

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