Pregnancy comes with so many surprises and bodily changes that the small things sometimes get overlooked. For many pregnant women, morning sickness is tolerable because it doesn’t last long or it isn’t really bad. But for those women who really suffer from nausea when pregnant, let me tell you what I learned by listening to my patients. You need a balanced diet of carbs, protein, and fat to maintain blood sugar levels high enough to avoid nausea. Eat like a diabetic with three big meals and three or four small meals in between big meals.
In your first trimester, your body has to increase its blood volume by several liters. This increase in blood volume leads to your having low blood sugar part of the time. In addition, your baby will get the blood sugar it needs first, possibly leaving you dizzy and unable to eat.
I recommend trying to manage morning sickness without medications if at all possible. Keep a snack of fruit juice and crackers beside your bed. When you wake up in the morning, eat the snack and lay back down in bed for five or ten minutes before getting up. This will allow your blood sugar to stabilize a bit before you get out of bed.
When you get up, don’t run to the shower. Get yourself to the kitchen and have a good old fashioned breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. You need fat, protein, and carbohydrates. This is not the time to avoid carbs in your diet. I recommended a little breakfast before your big breakfast, another snack mid morning about 10 o’clock, and another snack in the afternoon about 3 o’clock and at bed time. Do not skip meals!
If you really can’t look at a breakfast of bacon and eggs in the morning, try oatmeal with some butter and sugar and for protein, a small piece of cheese. This is the time to avoid the cold cereal breakfast even if it’s easy and fast. You are trying to get your blood sugar stabilized.
Often time is short in the morning, especially if you are working. It seems there is a need to leave enough time between breakfast and driving to avoid car sickness. I recommend at least half an hour between eating and driving. Above all, do not eat when you are driving.
In my experience with my patients, most morning sickness can be controlled with diet.
Give it a try!
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