I don't usually make a habit of counting calories, grams of protein, calcium, iron, etc. In the past, I've kept track of my daily food intake using Fitday just to make sure I was meeting my dietary needs.
The main things I learned when logging food (besides that I occasionally eat too much) was that as long as I kept my diet varied and included fruit, veggies, beans, nuts and grains, then I more than met my nutritional goals. So my mantra has simply been, "Eat! Enjoy!". Now, without driving myself too crazy, I've found myself in need of keeping track a little better. Recently my dietary needs have changed, because I'm growing a little vegan kid in my belly. (Don't worry, I don't plan on turning this into a pregnancy blog. You are welcome to keep track of things at my other blog here, if interested.)
So, my new nutritional needs mainly consist of doubling my protein intake, and making sure I'm getting enough calcium. Eating enough protein has never been a problem before, and I refuse to become a vegan stereotype while pregnant! Getting more protein than usual just takes a little more planning on my part.
Main meals have been fairly well balanced, it's the snacks in between that I'm working on to make sure they fill me up with what I need, not just fill me up. Here are some of my higher-protein snack options so far. I would love to hear suggestions for more protein rich snacks!
Peanut butter on toast
Hummus on wheat crackers
Bagels (they average about 7g protein!)
Walnuts, cashews, almonds
Primal Strips
Tofurky sammich (yes, as a snack. I'm hungry all the time!)
Soy yogurt
Sunflower seeds
Smoothie with rice protein
Tofu "egg" salad
Tempeh "chicken" salad
As far as the calcium-rich foods, I'm incorporating as much for these foods as possible:
Kale
Chard
Collard greens
Enriched vegan milks
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Almonds
Soy yogurt
When I told the midwife that I don't eat dairy, I was expecting a lecture. But she didn't give two shits about it. She just told me to eat plenty of greens and maybe take the occasional Tums. I like her.
I'm good on meal planning, but I need quality snack advice, folks! I would lovefor you to weigh in on this, if you can.
Thanks!
5 comments:
Hooray! Congratulations! That's wonderful news!
Congratulations! I hope you will keep us posted at least a little. :-) Yay for vegan babies!
I didn't know you and K are having a baby! This is very exciting Leigh!
I try to carry around luna bars, a trail mix that i made, and an apple at all times (that is...minimum, have the time i have almond butter in my purse. and I mean a real jar, not those wimpy 1 ounce servings haha)
You know what I've been doing for protein? I like to make up a huge batch of roasted chickpeas and snack on them all day. I roast them in Tamari, Lemon Juice, Olive oil and nutritional yeast (plus some hot sauce at times). I've also taken to having a morning smoothie for more protein and less calories. Rice protein has been the favorite protein I've found just because it seems really neutral and doesn't make drinks very gritty.
I love chickpeas, so I definitely need to roast some up for snacking. Thanks for the tip, Lacey!
Congratulations! And thank you for this post, as another pregnant vegan lady I appreciate all the protein snack ideas!
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