non-vegan pregnancy

I haven't written about any vegan diet-related topics lately. Have you noticed? At first it was because I just didn't feel very well and was too tired to blog much at all. But then, it was because I ended up veering away from my vegan diet at some point in the first trimester. It felt like a setback. It bothered me at first, and it still does a little but I've accepted that it's the way things are for now.

Let me explain what happened. But first, I want to make clear that I did not purposefully end my vegan diet because a vegan diet isn't right for pregnant women, or because I "needed" certain animal products. It really bothers me when people think that vegan women are harming their babies by foregoing animal products. Ridiculous and ignorant, and I've even heard dieticians (who should know better!) badmouth the vegan diet. Any type of diet can be full of nutrients, or lacking in them. Any pregnant woman needs to eat healthfully, no matter what kind of diet she eats. I fully intended to have a vegan pregnancy and I was excited about that. In fact, after eating vegan for several months my first trimester blood work provided proof that I was healthier than ever. Things like iron, which are supposedly so lacking in vegan diets? Sky high in my blood work. My midwife specifically commented on how great my iron level was.

The problem arose when my morning sickness started. You know how when you feel nauseous, there are certain things you can't even consider eating? And how there may be a small number of things that are, inexplicably, the only things you can stomach? That's what happened. Suddenly all the healthy foods I'd been eating were no longer options. The dark leafy greens I got all that iron from? Untouchable. Essentially, the vegan foods I relied on for a healthy and varied diet were things I couldn't stomach. The things I could stomach were random and sometimes not vegan. And because I had to eat something, if cheese crackers were the only thing that would settle my stomach that's what I ate. I was so tired all the time that I also wasn't in a position to research and find new vegan foods that I would want. My theory is that when you don't feel well, you tend to want reliable, safe, comfort-type foods that have been familiar to you all your life. Since I had only been vegan for a short time before I got pregnant, I don't think I had built up that trust in new comfort foods. Also, I worried that since I couldn't stomach many of the things I normally ate, I would have trouble getting all the nutrients I needed. Again, not because vegan diets are inadequate for pregnancy, but just because my morning sickness prevented me from eating the healthy foods I needed.

Anyway, now that I'm feeling better I hope to return (even if it's gradual) to eating vegan. There are certain key foods that I need to work on eating again. For example, many vegetables still don't appeal to me at all but it may be time to force them on myself :). I think I'll be more able to eat vegetables as summer arrives and everything is more fresh and available. This is kinda cool- My midwife put in a request for vegan meals for my hospital stay, so at least I know I'll be eating vegan immediately after having the baby. I can't imagine what vegan hospital food will be like...