How the heck to navigate nausea and hunger in pregnancy

by Emily Pomfrey Wells, MS - dietetic intern

As a mom of two children, I sometimes find myself watching my children coloring at the table with glitter crayons or kicking a bright yellow soccer ball around the yard and I think, “wow, I grew these two humans, my body did that - how amazing!” The same body I fought with for years by over exercising and undereating as it changed from high school to college and again after college supported, nourished and grew two babies. Pregnancy, birth and becoming a mom changed my relationship with my body and with food and, ultimately, it’s one of the pivotal life experiences that led me to pursue a graduate degree in nutrition and sparked my interest in all things Intuitive Eating. 

Hi! I’m Emily and I am an intern at Feed Your Zest and RD2Be. In this blog post I am going to share a little bit about my pregnancy experience with you and talk about the things I wish I had known earlier, while honoring the fact that everyone's experience in pregnancy is unique and hoping that you can find something helpful from my personal and educational experience.

I imagined a pregnancy filled with all sorts of food to support my growing baby, long walks, swimming and other fun activities.

With my perfectionist tendencies in tow, I was ready to be the “perfect” pregnant person. I began feeling and experiencing nausea and vomiting at around six weeks of pregnancy. Nausea and vomiting, especially in the first trimester, is really common and affects up to 80% of people during pregnancy, most commonly in the first trimester. I learned quickly that there is no such thing as a perfect pregnancy. As in life, perfection is a made up destination that doesn’t really exist.

I was so nauseated that I couldn’t go to the grocery store. Being around food made me feel even worse and thinking about food became a chore. There were a few things that I could eat, which included potato chips, egg sandwiches and beef stew. I ate so many egg sandwiches! Unlike most pregnant people, my nausea and vomiting continued throughout pregnancy.

Despite feeling nauseated, throwing up each day and existing mostly on egg sandwiches, during both pregnancies my babies continued to grow (yay!).

The reason for this is our bodies are really good about prioritizing babies' needs; this is great news for pregnancy and our precious little ones. On top of this, many foods that can be easier to stomach when feeling nauseated such as bread, breakfast cereals and juice have been fortified to include additional nutrients which can help you meet your nutritional needs and support the baby. A prenatal vitamin can help ensure your body has what it needs during this time also. Focus on the foods that you can eat, let go of guilt about the ones that you can’t eat, and ADD foods back as they can be tolerated. 

One of the principles of intuitive eating is honoring your hunger, meaning that when we are hungry we allow ourselves to eat. This idea is especially important during pregnancy to help mitigate nausea and to help our bodies get the nutrition they need. Waiting too long between meals and snacks can make nausea worse. It’s also normal to experience changes in your eating schedule. You can work on letting go of any preconceived notions or rules about when to eat and try to nourish your body with foods and fluids often throughout the day.

If you are so naustead that you don’t feel hungry, it’s still important to eat, and identifying a few foods that can be tolerated even without feeling hungry can be helpful.

For some people, foods such as cheese and crackers, waffles and peanut butter, bagels and cream cheese, plain pasta, chicken soup and of course egg sandwiches are foods that can be tolerated and (maybe) even enjoyed if you aren’t feeling hungry. There are other nutrition strategies to help mitigate pregnancy nausea. Try to honor feelings of hunger without judgment and bring snacks and fluids so you can stay hydrated throughout the day.

What does it mean to honor your feelings of hunger without judgment?

It seems like such a simple concept, but because it’s so easy to carry around messages of diet culture or food rules, we’ve heard from friends and family, many of us forget that when we are hungry - we can give ourselves unconditional permission to eat; this is true in pregnancy too. Honoring your hunger and removing judgment around food choices is an important way to practice respecting and nourishing your body during pregnancy.

Working on body image and nutrition before you conceive can help to alleviate stress around food and your changing body during pregnancy.

Need additional support? Feed Your Zest offers 1:1 individualized nutrition coaching for fertility, PCOS and disordered eating and a group program called Fully Nourished Pregnancy. Click on the links to learn more!