I met with my personal dietitian today, and she told me that basically if my eyes were open, I should be stuffing food down my throat. I'm actually supposed to consume at least 3000 calories a day and 120 grams of protein. Just to give you an idea of how much protein that is, here are some common "high protein" foods and how much protein they have in them:
1 oz meat = 7 grams protein
1 cup milk = 8 grams protein
1 egg = 7 grams protein
1/2 cup beans/lentils = 7-10 grams protein
If you start doing the math, you'll see that to get 120 grams protein/day, I would have to eat constantly. Luckily, she said that as my "insurance," I could use protein powder in shakes and pudding 1-2 times per day. Each dose of the powder gives me 20 grams of protein.
Here are some of the foods she recommended to me:
Greek Yogurt (called Fage)-I am supposed to coat it with honey and add nuts. 1 cup of the stuff with nuts gives me about 20 grams of protein. I just had some, and it was yummy! One little container of yogurt has 12 grams of fat and 210 calories! That's no light and fluffy Yoplait.
Whole wheat crackers/chips with bean dip or peanut butter or hummus
Trail mix
Granola
Nuts
Hot ham & cheese sandwiches
Lentil soup
Chicken salad
Edamame
Protein bars
Tuna (6 oz/week)
She also recommended that I switch to organic, low-fat milk, instead of skim. I'm supposed to have 100 ounces of fluid per day, but she wants me to switch 50 ounces of that fluid from water to juices, chocolate milk, or anything else liquid with calories.
I told her that I was having trouble cooking because the odors grossed me out. On her sheet of recommendations she wrote, "No Cooking! Eat dinner out." She said that if I missed one meal because of being repulsed by smells, I would not meet my protein requirements for the day, and it wasn't worth it.
She explained that this is the point in the pregnancy when I need to gain the most weight. With any pregnancy, an expanding uterus puts pressure on your stomach as you grow larger. It's even more so with multiples. Then, you become less hungry, and you get full faster. My overall weight gain goal should be 50 lbs!
She said not to wait until I'm hungry to eat. I must just eat, no matter what. She even said that if wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I should take advantage of the opportunity to eat. The thought of eating in the middle of the night makes me feel like some lazy, fat ass. I just got so hungry sleeping that I had to eat a hot ham and cheese in the middle of the night! Can you imagine? I just don't know what is appropriate for me to eat at 2 a.m. Is there a certain food that people eat at that time?
I should really stop typing and start eating. Women always say they wish they could eat whatever they wanted and not feel guilty. This is my chance. I just wish that I didn't feel so sick so I could actually enjoy becoming a pig. I hope I'm able to readjust my eating habits after these babies are born. I don't think that a carton of 210 calorie yogurt drenched in honey and nuts will be conducive to losing 50 lbs when this is all over.
3 comments:
I wouldn't worry about losing the weight...I think taking care of 3 will take care of the weight for you!!!! I hope you can enjoy your binge eating soon!
Hot ham and cheese at 2 AM does not sound even remotely good. I have woken up hungry in the middle of the night though, and cereal always sounds good to me. Either way you'd have to brush your teeth again. What a pain! Oh well, it is worth it for those little buggers to grow big and strong!!! Now, get to chowin' down!
i love the new avatar!! enjoy this time eating for your little ones and as becky said, the weight will take care of itself when you're chasing them around later :-)
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