Healthy foods for nausea, do they exist?

[mgross]

FTM here entering my 5th week and I’m preparing myself for the infamous morning sickness. I’ve been intermittent fasting for a year now and I know that will soon have to come to an end so I wanted to ask what you all are eating when the wave of nausea hits in the morning? I don’t want to be eating saltines first thing in the morning but also realize I might not have a choice if that’s the only thing that helps.
Taking suggestions, TIA!
P.S praying I can continue my morning workouts as I just signed up for Pure Barre and solid core classes.

Edit 8/8
Thanks for all of your advice. Coming back to this post and LOL’ing as I’ve been plagued by nausea for the last few weeks and haven’t eaten a single healthy thing.
My diet consists of potato chips, pizza, chocolate, occasional banana or apple, and all the refined carbs I can find (oh and some clean protein powder). I haven’t eaten this unhealthy since I was in college .
Oh and the Pure Barre I naively signed up for? Haven’t gone since I posted my original post!

Thank you for letting me vent. Very much looking forward to second trimester.

 

[zjmcdon98]

@mgross

1. Nausea won't necessarily hit you in the mornings, it's an all day thing. You might also not get any.
2. Foods will depend on what you can stomach, and you'll have to find what works for you. These are very personal taste moments - saltines work great for some people, or very bland foods, others will try ginger based products. You'll have to figure out what works for you... Honestly your cravings will tell you what works. Had 0 morning sickness with my first and was totally fine, with this pregnancy I could only eat buttered toast and tea, no coffee for the entire first trimester.
3. You should reframe your approach to exercise during pregnancy. Your body is creating a human and it takes a lot of energy, in the first trimester your body is growing a new organ. Yes, staying active is important, but that can literally mean going for a 30 min walk or a 20 min yoga class. Obviously if you feel great, go for it, but don't put pressure on yourself to do things just because you signed up for a class

Good luck!

 

[mgross]

@zjmcdon98 Really appreciate your response especially the third point. Reading that made me realize just how much I HAVE been pressuring myself to stay on top of workouts that last few weeks. I will keep this in mind as my pregnancy progresses and will give myself more credit. Thank you

 

[realdoll]

@zjmcdon98 Agree with all of the above!

Just to emphasize what was said above…

First trimester I felt best in the morning and then progressively sicker until nighttime. The foods that made me feel better were never the same week to week and were entirely driven by cravings. I couldn’t stand sugar at all to the point where any carb tasted too sweet. Nuts, eggs, and veggies were my go to during that period (which is not normal at all). I also had to cut back drastically on working out.

Everything, for me, started to improve after 12 weeks. Now at 26 weeks, I’ve mostly gone back to my normal workout routine and my normal diet (albeit pregnancy safe). That’s not everyone’s experience. Just mine!

Every pregnancy is different and every body needs something different. Just go with what your body says it needs!

 

[lexiheigh]

@mgross Really recommend reading Real Foods for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols! I didn’t struggle much with nausea and just became a later breakfast kinda gal with a green juice before my morning workouts, and following that with a bigger nutritious meal and a latte.

 

[meghan1]

@lexiheigh This book is amazing!! So comprehensive and detailed and has been really motivating when trying (struggling) to make healthy food choices

 

[coachlittlez23]

@lexiheigh I just finished reading this book and loved it so much. I’m struggling with her recommendation for liver though. I want to take liver capsules but I’m so indoctrinated in the belief that I’ll give my baby vitamin A toxicity that I can’t seem to believe her report on the evidence.

 

[lexiheigh]

@coachlittlez23 I understand where you are coming from, there’s such an overload of information that every decision in pregnancy feels so heavy. For what it’s worth, this book inspired me to eat lots of beef and chicken liver during pregnancy and I’ve never stopped- now I feed it to my baby too!

 

[coachlittlez23]

@lexiheigh That’s really reassuring to hear!

 

[elfwine]

@lexiheigh It's fantastic, and she experienced morning sickness and has a good chapter on this. I remember one of her tips was to swap saltines for salted cashews at your bedside.

There's really no telling what will happen with nausea symptoms. I had really awful, debilitating "morning" sickness that lasted until about week 19. Then it cleared, and it was only at 5 months that I could go back to working out. I have plenty of friends who either didn't experience it at all, or mildly enough that it didn't impact their routines too much.

My breakfast suggestion is eggs on toast. This kept me afloat throughout those first few months. Yogurt with apple also worked well for me. (My list basically stops there, lol). If you do get sick, it will be your aversions that ultimately decide, though! For me the most important thing was to set an alarm and eat something with PROTEIN every two hours, so something to keep in mind if you do experience nausea.

 

[codygmarshall]

@mgross For me, addressing the some of the causes of nausea helped me not to eat crackers all day. So things that made my nausea worse: going to bed on an empty stomach, waiting more than an hour after I got up in the morning to eat, doing hard workouts the day before and not fueling properly. Basically, you have to eat something. Getting ahead of it might allow you to make better choices over all.

 

[jgleason]

@codygmarshall It wasn’t until my second pregnancy that it clicked that nausea was a late hunger sign!! I know that some people have it regardless of how much they eat, but for me staying on top of eating was the majority of the issue. It feels so backwards to eat when you are nauseous, but pregnancy is confusing sometimes I guess hah.

 

[cathy1532]

@mgross I wanted to be all healthy, smoothies, avocado toast and all. Around week 9 my diet was dry cereal, toasted bagel, buttery pasta with a vegan veggie patty (that my husband had to make with all the windows open and no coconut oil cause I would vomit) crackers, pain au lait (from trader joes) lemon water and hydration packs. Around week 12-14 I was able to keep more down and that’s when I went back to working out and eating better

 

[mgross]

@cathy1532 Haha your response made me lol! Thanks for your honesty!

 

[kd1616]

@mgross No, I didn’t find there were any healthy foods to be had in the first trimester outside of fruit. I ate bagel bites and frozen burritos and accepted that for 8 weeks I was just surviving. My advice would be to do your best and simply accept it if you can’t.

 

[katrina2017]

@mgross Morning sickness doesn't have to come in the morning, you could basically feel sick at any time of the day (or not at all). I'd just wait it out, and see what feels edible to you if you're getting nauseous. For me, that was crackers, toast, yoghurt, broccoli, potatoes and apple sauce mostly, but it differs per person.

 

[trevorwoofer2]

@mgross I had a period of only being able to stomach dry sweet cereal, sourdough toast, mashed potatoes, basically anything white and carb-y. What helped me the most was having a Tupperware on my nightstand of dry cereal that I could eat immediately upon waking before I even got out of bed in the morning. It helped to settle my stomach enough to get downstairs and make something more substantial (usually toast or cream of rice). My advice is that if you find yourself needing to eat saltines in the morning, just go with it. Eat whatever makes you feel better. That stage won’t last forever. First trimester is just about survival.

I also do pure barre! I started it about a month before I got pregnant. I love it and I think it’s super pregnancy friendly. I’m 22 weeks now so some of the ab work is starting to get more difficult to do but they have a whole packet of pregnancy modifications that are helpful.

 

[jbjlove]

@mgross I had bad nausea and smell aversions, so even entering the kitchen made me throw up. It was pretty severe at dinner time, so I mostly ate fruits or yogurt or avocado for dinner (something light and non-greasy). Honestly I ate what I could stomach.

 

[meghan1]

@mgross Greek yogurt with berries has been my go to!

 

[cliffor]

@mgross I lived off the Belvita breakfast biscuits and protein shakes. Real food was too much for me. Also if your nausea gets too bad, highly recommend the Unisom plus vitamin B6 my nausea would last all day not just the mornings.