Baby Announcement

The First Trimester | Surviving Nausea

amandanicolesmithLifestyle, Pregnancy Leave a Comment

What an exciting few months it has been, at the very beginning of the year Dominick and I found out we are expecting! Since then it has been anything but smooth sailing. The morning sickness set in full force almost a week after finding out, around 6 weeks. The term morning sickness is highly misleading because really it was all day everyday nausea and thankfully just occasional vomiting. This is why I haven’t posted any new recipes, I wasn’t even able to think about food without wanting to throw up. SOO much fun, let me tell you.

Now that I’m 14 weeks I wanted to recollect the first trimester, and give my tips on how to survive the first trimester nausea. Warning there may be TMI!! 

Nausea

This was by far the worst symptom of them all, my regular diet was thrown out the window, and amidst feeling terrible I was forced to create a new meal plan through trial and error. Thankfully I was able to use my Purified Lifestyle food journal/meal plan module, to track all my findings.

Here are a few guidelines I followed.

  • Mono meals were essential to my meal planning, if I combined too many foods at once I would have no idea what was working and what wasn’t working. Not to mention I could barely get off the couch, let alone make myself something to eat.
  • I had to follow good food combining rules, or I would feel indigestion and heartburn, which could eventually lead to throwing up.
  • If I ate too many acidic foods I would have false hunger. The hungrier I got, the more I would eat, which would lead to nausea and throwing up.
  • If I didn’t eat enough I’d have nausea, and throw up bile and mucous in the morning.

There were only a few foods that I knew with certainty would fill me up, give me nutrients and not make me nauseas, and it was basically all unprocessed, whole foods. There’s no doubt about it, any processed foods made me feel like crap, so no matter how much I craved processed foods, the feeling of not wanting to get sick over-threw all cravings.

Breakfast

In the morning, I normally would drink about a quart of water or tea to clear out, and then start eating a bunch of fruits. But that changed, if I drank a quart of water, I would be throwing up a quart of water in a matter of seconds. So I tried eating fruit right off the bat, and this helped a lot, but not every fruit was the winning ticket.

I basically survived off of grapefruit, mango, bananas, lemon, oranges and occasionally grapes. Because it is winter, I didn’t have much of a choice. All the out of season fruits at the market just aren’t the same, so I shall wait for the peaches, melons, and berries…I can’t wait!!! After a mango and banana I could eat whatever fruits I wanted, but if I ate a grapefruit first, trouble lie ahead.

Snacks

Nuts were next in line, pistachios were a huge part of my diet, along with cashews, almonds, and walnuts mixed with raisins, goji berries, golden berries, cranberries and blueberries.

These trail mixes were super easy to make and take with me when I needed to teach flexibility and pole classes. I can’t stress enough how easy-meals were my only option, all my energy had to be saved up for work.

Lunch

I craved a heavy meal but I knew if I caved into my cravings, I would be on the fast track to the toilet or feeling incredibly nauseas for the rest of the day. Small and steady meals were what I needed.

So the next order of business was getting in my vegetables, and this is probably the hardest thing in the winter. Anything cooked turned my stomach, or anything with a smell, and in the winter that’s pretty much all you get, cooked root vegetables and some broccoli if your lucky.

The only thing I could think about without gagging, was salads. Thankfully the farmers had a plethora of greenhouse greens. I added as many veggies as possible; carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, and store-bought red bell peppers and cucumbers, smothered in french dressing and cottage cheese. This was one of my childhood favorites!! I was hesitant to buy the red bell pepper and cucumbers because they are out of season. The reason I don’t like out of season produce is because they normally lack flavor and nutrients from such long travel times, and also many have waxes that are hard for me to digest.

Snacks

After lunch and before dinner I craved popcorn, chips, pretzels and basically anything salty and crunchy. However my body didn’t like these foods, and ended up making me feel false hunger immediately after eating, causing me to over-eat and get nauseas. So I would just snack on more nuts and dried fruits to make it until dinner or I’d make some chocolate avocado pudding which really hit the spot.

Dinner

Dinner was by far the hardest, at this point I needed a good hearty meal, but every smell turned me off, so that left me with cold foods as my only option for a while. Thankfully the local market down the street has good quality sushi, which I could only eat the cooked shrimp and maryland crab rolls. I thought about being strictly vegan because meat makes me sick, even just the thought of it, but I was craving fish and dairy!! Anytime I have a huge craving and no aversion, I assume this is what baby needs! 

Dessert

Dessert is pretty much non existent these days, eating sugar on top of meals and going to bed made me feel ravenous all through the night, like I hadn’t eaten anything in days. Pretty much anything with empty carbs and sugary foods gave me false hunger and caused issues. So If I want anything sweet it has to be limited and before dinner.

Drinks

I used to drink over a gallon of water a day, but large amounts of water was making me queasy, as well as tea. I found that spirulina mixed with water did wonders, it filled me up for a few hours and kept me hydrated. Kombucha was my other saving grace, normally my nausea was caused by trapped gas, but kombucha gets me burping and feeling much better! And lastly lemonade was a great choice to ease nausea and keep hydrated.

Serious Aversions

The foods that gave me so many problems, that I promised myself to never eat again until baby is born, even though I love it!!!

Anything with cooked tomatoes, oh my lord, cooked tomatoes had me dying with heartburn, indigestion, and nausea. My favorite condiment ketchup, gone, my favorite easy dish, Italian pasta and tomato sauce; a mere memory, and chips and salsa; I can’t believe my life. All my favorite things banished.

Bread also didn’t like me, or baby didn’t like bread, or whatever. I tried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; heart burn, cinnamon toast with honey; heartburn, anything with bread and protein equaled problems which brings me back to, I had to strictly follow food combining rules. Also all those things are acidic, and what I need most now is alkaline foods.

Alkaline vs Acidic Food Chart

Cravings

I craved pancakes on the daily, but they didn’t make me feel great.

I also craved eggs in the beginning, then developed an aversion to them.

Juicy fruits and vegetables,  thankfully these made me feel good.

Activities That Helped Me Through The Nausea

  • Sleeping
  • Deep breaths
  • Meditation in the sun
  • Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic for iPad
  • Working on Purified Lifestyle
  • Sitting up straight so my intestines and lungs have room
  • Diffuser with lemon essential oil
  • Sucking on lemon slices
  • Chewing raw ginger slices

Other Symptoms

Increased blood circulation caused me to have a dry stuffy nose, so I used a dehumidifier with eucalyptus and lavender essential oil all night long. This also helped with the overall dryness I have been experiencing, partly due to pregnancy, and partly due to winter.

Achey body – Stretching, light walks, and my acupressure mat saved me.

The Bump

It’s funny once I started telling people I was pregnant, the first thing they would do when they saw me next was check the bump. For a while it looked like I ate one too many slices of pizza or something, so I wore my loose tanks. But I’d say the bump has gotten substantial as of week 14.

These past few months may have been extremely difficult and exhausting, but I am so thankful for this experience none-the-less. I can’t wait to meet the newest addition to our family and give him/her so many kisses!!!

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