Third Trimester
Eating light
The principle
The last part of pregnancy isn't the easiest: it's difficult to move around easily and your digestive system is under pressure because the baby is growing every day. The stress about the birth starts, insomnia, lower back pain, water retention...but this is no time to crumble! Don't fall back into snacking, you need to keep eating well. The baby is nourished by everything you eat and gets used to the foods that are transmitted through the amniotic fluid.
Foods to aid digestion
Increase fibre: lentils, cannellini beans, peas, broad beans cabbage, wholemeal (whole-wheat) bread, prunes. Drink lots of water with lemon or mint leaves. Take advantage of peaches in summer, or else eat plums or apples and dates.
Foods to give you energy
Grains, dried fruit and nuts, fruit juice diluted with a little water (you can also mix half-glass of apple juice with a little soda water). Eat pasta or brown rice with cashews or any sort of nut.
Foods to combat stress
Magnesium-rih foods: chocooate, dried legumes, dried fruit and nuts, Brazil uts, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sunflower seeds, unblanched almonds, sea salt coriander seeds.
Iron rich foods
Black pudding, red meat, white meat, fish and eggs. Also lentils, cabbage, watercress, ginger, cinnamon and cumin seeds.
Omega-3 rich foods
Salmon, sardines, mackerel, walnuts and walnut oil, canola oil, hempseed oil, chia seeds.
Third Trimester
In the third trimester, focus on bibre and energy and give yourself little morale-boosting treats. Here are a few ideas if you want a quick and healthy breakfast.
Craving hot milk
As a change from a hot chocolate, which can be too heavy and sweet, try almond or rice milk. They are more digestible than cow's milk but just as creamy. Rice milk is high in silica for boosting calcium; almond milk is rich and delicious, it contains vitamins (A, B, and E), calcium, magnesium and iron. These milks can be flavoured like ordinary milk (gently heat the milk and dissolve the flavouring in it).
- rice milk + squares of chocolate + agave syrup
- almond milk + cardamom + sugar
- cow's milk + vanilla + cinnamon + a few drops of caramel sauce.
Craving fruit
Fruit you eat with a spoon is quick and full of vitamins.
- 1/2 grapefruit + raw (demerara) sugar
- 1 kiwifruit + mint
- 1/2 small melon + raspberry coulis
Craving a quick muesli
No time to toast nuts and grains but really craving a good muesli? Here are a few combinations to try for a full load of protein, carbohydraes and fiber.
- rolled oats + pepitas (pumpkin seeds) + hazelnuts + grapes
- puffed quinoa + flaked coconut + dried mango + roughly chopped Brazil nuts
- corn flakes + sesame seeds + roughly chopped macadamia nuts + honey
Special Fiber Breakfast
Whole and fiber-rich foods to regulate your digestive system.
Green smoothie
Fenne + Green Apple + Mint
Makes 2 Large Glasses
Preparation Time 10 Minutes
- 1/2 fennel bulb
- 2 green apples
- 10 mint leaves
- 150 ml (5 fl oz) water
- 1 tablespoon agave syrup
Blend the fennel with the green apples, mint, water and agave syrup until you have a semi-thick consistency (about 30-45). Serve immediately.
Pear bruschetta
With Almond Butter + Seeds
Makes 2 Generous Bruschetta
Preparation Time 10 Minutes
- 2 slices rye bread
- 2 teaspoons unblanched almond butter
- 1 pear, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon linseeds (flaxseeds)
- a drizzle of agave syrup (or honey)
Toast the slices of bread and spread them with almond butter. Cover with slices of pear and linseeds. Drizzle with a little agave syrup and put under the grill for a moment
Comforting Breakfast
Quick, simple, balanced.
Almond porridge
With Almond Milk + Raspberries
Makes 2 bowls
Preparation Time 10 Minutes
- 60 g (2 1/4 oz) rolled oats
- 1 50 ml (5fl oz) rice or almond milk
- 1 tablespoon agave syrup (or honey, or maple syrup)
- 1 teaspoon unblanched or blanched almond butter
- 1 tablespoon almonds
- Fresh or frozen raspberries (or coulis, accompanied by a fresh orange juice.
Place the rolled oats in a saucepan with the milk and heat for 3 minutes. Once the mixture has thickened, add the syrup and almond butter. Mix well and serve with the almonds, raspberries or coulis, accompanied by a fresh orange juice.
Variation: You can replace the raspberries with figs and the almonds with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and linseeds (flaxseeds).
Orange juice
Makes 2 glasses
Preparation Time 3 Minutes
Squeezed 5 well-chilled organic oranges. Mix in a shaker or briefly blend the juice in a food processor with 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) milk and serve immediately.
High-protein Breakfast
Protein, antioxidants, calcium
Sweet omelette
Lemon + Blueberries + Poppy Seeds + Fruit Yoghurt
Serves 2
Preparation Time 10 Minutes
Cooking Time 5 Minutes
- 2 free-range eggs
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup (or honey, or agave syrup) zest of 1/2 organic lemon
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil (or olive oil), for frying 60 g (2 1/4 oz/ 1/2 small tub) yoghurt, plain or fruit-flavoured
- 1 handful fresh blueberries
Whisk the eggs in a bowl until they are very frothy. Add the salt, syrup, lemon zest (kep some aside) and half the poppy seeds.
Heat the coconut oil in a small frying pan and sake sure it coats the whole base of the pan. Cook the omelette for 3 minutes on a medium heat, then turn over and cook for another minute. Serve the omelette with yoghurt, blueberries, the rest of the zest and poppy seeds
How Much Weight Should You Gain While Pregnant
Your pregnancy BMI (Body Mass Index) determines your weight gain recommendations. Your BMI is calculated by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing by your height in inches squared. Or you can download a BMI app and do the calculations. You can search "adult BMI calculator" at cdc.gov, or use the chart below.
Your Pregnancy Mood Swings
Expectant dads share a lot more than the birth of their bundle of joy with their partner. Long before that bundle arrives, you may share in many of the symptoms, including pregnancy mood slumps, which are surprisingly common for expectant dads. Fluctuations in your hormones can play a role, but feelings factor in as well. Almost every dad-to-be, just like most moms-to-be, experiences a host of conflicted feelings in the months leading up to life’s most major changes, from anxiety to fear to ambivalence to a crumbling of confidence.
If You Get Sick
Maybe you were expecting some of the usual pregnancy symptoms while you’re pregnant. Like morning sickness, heartburn, and fatigue. Maybe you weren’t expecting to come down with a cold. Since your normal suppression of your immune system (so your body doesn’t reject your baby as “foreign”), makes you an easier target for germs. Not to mention it can be twice as uncomfortable when you’re sick for two, and so many of your regular remedies may need to stay on the shelf for now.
Back-to-Back Pregnancies
Are you expanding your family a little sooner than expected? Having another pregnancy before you have fully recovered from the last pregnancy , can be hard enough without adding stress. Although closely spaced pregnancies can take a physical toll on a mom-to-be who has just became a mom, there are a lot of things you can do to help your body be up to the challenge of back-to back- pregnancies.