Pregnant vegetarian?

orchidsrpretty

I'm not looking for any medical advice as I have spoken to my gp about this.
I have been a veggie for the last 20-25 years. I don't have the best diet going but it's ok and I'm healthy enough. I do struggle to eat enough protein though as not a huge fan of eggs and I don't drink milk and would very rarely eat yogurts. I do eat beans etc but it can get boring eating them for every meal. I was eating quorn but my body has decided it doesn't like it anymore so haven't had any in quite a few weeks.

Now I have been told by quite a few people that I am being pretty selfish for not eating meat during my pregnancy. That I am going to damage to my babies... Ofc I don't want to do any damage to my babies but I can't see myself tucking into a steak either. I know protein requirement for a twin pregnancy is well over 100g per day and apart from loading up on protein shakes I don't know how I could possibly achieve that.

I've also been reading that omega 3 is very important and as I don't eat fish I'm not sure where I can get that from?

Any advice or tasty protein ideas would be much appreciated.

loveisdivine

Ugh I hate that argument! Its not at all selfish to be vegetarian while pregnant. The feotus doesn't know that the majority of people eat meat, so how is it selfish? It has no comprehension of societal norms!

With that logic, anything you eat while pregnant could be considered selfish as you are choosing what both you and your baby eat. :rolleyes:

Edit - ref omegas, heres an excert from www.adaptt.org

Açaí (fruit), beans, black currant seed oil, blue-green algae, borage seed oil, cabbage, canola oil, flax (oil/seeds), chlorella, corn, green vegetables (leafy), hemp (oil/seed/powder/milk), pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, soy, sprouts (all), squash, vegetable oils, walnuts and wheat all contain omega fatty acids

--LOS--

Congratulations!

Just did a quick search, some good reading for you....

Pregnancy, infants and children

Real vegan children

Maybe some books worth checking out....


The everything vegan pregnancy book

Vegan pregnancy survival guide

Vegan for life - a good book on health in all stages of life including pregnancy.

You might be familiar with Alicia Silverstone? She had a baby a while back and also has a book out on the subject....

The Kind Mama


These links might be vegan focused but since you don't seem to consume much eggs/milk/yoghurts etc probably most of the same stuff still applies. If you're not consuming much dairy right now you might also want to look into b12, maybe have a test done.

As for omega 3, I find opti-3 to be the best supplement. We had a bit of a discussion here on omega 3 before. To summarise......

plant sources contain only ALA which may be converted to ELA/DHA through consumption but so poorly that the amount of ELA/DHA obtained through this method is negligible, so taking flaxseed etc is pointless as a substitute to fish oils which contain hardly any ALA. Marine sources like ones derived from algae are really the only veggie/vegan alternative worth considering.

As for protein, I find info-graphics a lot clearer....



Btw something to bear in mind, I find people associate meat with 100% protein, this is not true, meat often contains less, sometimes much less protein than the sources in those pictures.

Quinoa is an excellent source of protein because it is a 'complete protein'. All kinds of beans, pulses and grains are the most obvious sources. Less familiar sources would be tofu, tempeh and seitan. Of course vegetables also contain protein. There's no reason to struggle to get your protein. Maybe try to build your meals like this..... mix of veg + beans/tofu/seitan/tempeh in a sauce and add an extra protein source easily by accompanying that with quinoa/bulgar/lentils/cous cous/brown pasta instead of potatoes/white rice.

--LOS--

I just copped you are having twins! I'm also a twin

and I noticed google has a very cool thing too. Type in (source eg lentils) and protein into google search and it shows you how much protein per 100g, very cool! I mentioned pasta up there, I shouldn't have, cooked pasta has way less protein than dried pasta so I'm wrong on that.

orchidsrpretty

Thanks so much LOS, there is lots of good reading to get me on the right track there.

SmokeyEyes

I'm 34 weeks pregnant and vegetarian and I've had no issues, iron levels perfect, baby great, everything has been going really well!

The links above are a great way to make sure you're getting the right food in but honestly don't stress over it, I think people need to pay a bit more attention to the pregnant women smoking outside the Rotunda than people who choose not to eat meat!

--LOS--

SmokeyEyes wrote: »

I'm 34 weeks pregnant and vegetarian and I've had no issues, iron levels perfect, baby great, everything has been going really well!

The links above are a great way to make sure you're getting the right food in but honestly don't stress over it, I think people need to pay a bit more attention to the pregnant women smoking outside the Rotunda than people who choose not to eat meat!

Congratulations, here's hoping you have a beautiful happy baby. Ye I agree, meat-eaters should be the ones stressing, I know it's hard maybe not to be stressed when everyone around you is stressing about it. But don't mind them. Are you guys also planning to raise the kids veggie besides being veggie yourself during pregnancy? sorry if that's too nosey

SmokeyEyes

--LOS-- wrote: »

Congratulations, here's hoping you have a beautiful happy baby. Ye I agree, meat-eaters should be the ones stressing, I know it's hard maybe not to be stressed when everyone around you is stressing about it. But don't mind them. Are you guys also planning to raise the kids veggie besides being veggie yourself during pregnancy? sorry if that's too nosey

I've been veggie since I was 12 and my fiance turned veggie (genuinely without me pushing him into it) when we'd been together a few years and has been veggie for a good few years now but we're going to give our baby a mix. So yes he'll eat some meat at the start because if it's important for his health and growth we're not going to force our own views on a newborn but he'll also get veggie stuff and then as he gets bigger we'll work it from there!

No set plan as such but he won't be denied anything but he'll also get an understanding and love of animals from us and will hopefully want to be veggie eventually too:)

orchidsrpretty

My bf is a meat eater but would only eat it when we go out for dinner or go to his parents house, never at home. We do plan on raising the kids veggie but as I have seen from the grandparents with there other grandchildren they are not the best at sticking to the rules! I'm not going to over stress if they have a burger or whatever but they won't be eating any meat in my house until they can go to the shops buy and cook it themselves