Are you feeling nauseous all the time? Are you puking here or there or constantly? Ugh, I am seriously so so sorry. Nobody can prepare you for the level of pain and discomfort you’re in. Unfortunately I’ve been there too. I survived to tell the tale, and though it may not feel this way right now, you will too.
I’ll spare you the details of my nausea journey, but suffice it to say that around seven weeks pregnant, I couldn’t keep food down for three days and so I called my doctor to see if there was anything over-the-counter I could take. Thankfully, there was. And actually I ended up taking a prescription as the OTC solutions didn’t quite cut it for me.
But cooking and eating and drinking was harder to experiment with. It took me a bit to manage that part of the equation. I really hate to see people suffer, so let me share the drinks and foods I found I could stomach, literally. I sincerely hope this helps you.
Carbs & Cheese
This is the tried and true recommendation that came from every friend.
“Put saltines by your bed and eat them the second you wake up.”
“Try all the crackers.”
“Try all the cheesy crackers - Cheez-itz, Goldfish, etc.”
“Try crackers with cheese on top of them - Cream cheese, cheddar cheese, etc.”
I mean, pizza is basically a cracker and cheese.
Personally, this food group worked here and there, but the crackers eventually started tasting like cardboard and I was feeling pretty sad, tbh. I am a generally healthy eater and I was feeling like a shell of myself. So I knew I had to find a way to introduce more nutritious foods into my diet, somehow, someway.
Temperature matters
This one didn’t come obvious to me, but almost all hot food bummed me out. Not to be dramatic but the smell of my husband grilling burgers or roasting any protein in the oven or god forbid, cooking fish, sent me over the edge. Same goes for veggies. (This was a nice treat over the Christmas holidays). As such, even if I could avoid being on the cooking floor of our house, when I came downstairs to eat dinner, I couldn’t get more than one or two bites in. I hated this because lean proteins are a staple in our household. And I do think they are one of the most effective ways to stave off nausea because of how filling they are. Ugh.
That’s when I had a lightbulb moment. Did I have the same aversion to cold food as I did hot? So I started experimenting with smoothies. Banana + blueberries + PB2 + vanilla protein powder + frozen spinach + Ripple milk + a dash of cinnamon + a handful of ice = morning sustenance. I went smoothie crazy and had them with different protein flavors, fruits, etc for lunch and dinner too.
Of course, like anything, you will get sick of smoothies. So I went back to experimenting with foods that weren’t cardboard garbage.
Nutrient dense foods
Here’s a quick list of all the foods I did find success with.
Cold:
Hot:
Liquids
Recipes
Phew, I hope some of these foods will help you. If you have any pro tips/foods/drinks/ANYTHING that helped you, please share them in comments!
I’ll spare you the details of my nausea journey, but suffice it to say that around seven weeks pregnant, I couldn’t keep food down for three days and so I called my doctor to see if there was anything over-the-counter I could take. Thankfully, there was. And actually I ended up taking a prescription as the OTC solutions didn’t quite cut it for me.
But cooking and eating and drinking was harder to experiment with. It took me a bit to manage that part of the equation. I really hate to see people suffer, so let me share the drinks and foods I found I could stomach, literally. I sincerely hope this helps you.
Carbs & Cheese
This is the tried and true recommendation that came from every friend.
“Put saltines by your bed and eat them the second you wake up.”
“Try all the crackers.”
“Try all the cheesy crackers - Cheez-itz, Goldfish, etc.”
“Try crackers with cheese on top of them - Cream cheese, cheddar cheese, etc.”
I mean, pizza is basically a cracker and cheese.
Personally, this food group worked here and there, but the crackers eventually started tasting like cardboard and I was feeling pretty sad, tbh. I am a generally healthy eater and I was feeling like a shell of myself. So I knew I had to find a way to introduce more nutritious foods into my diet, somehow, someway.
Temperature matters
This one didn’t come obvious to me, but almost all hot food bummed me out. Not to be dramatic but the smell of my husband grilling burgers or roasting any protein in the oven or god forbid, cooking fish, sent me over the edge. Same goes for veggies. (This was a nice treat over the Christmas holidays). As such, even if I could avoid being on the cooking floor of our house, when I came downstairs to eat dinner, I couldn’t get more than one or two bites in. I hated this because lean proteins are a staple in our household. And I do think they are one of the most effective ways to stave off nausea because of how filling they are. Ugh.
That’s when I had a lightbulb moment. Did I have the same aversion to cold food as I did hot? So I started experimenting with smoothies. Banana + blueberries + PB2 + vanilla protein powder + frozen spinach + Ripple milk + a dash of cinnamon + a handful of ice = morning sustenance. I went smoothie crazy and had them with different protein flavors, fruits, etc for lunch and dinner too.
Of course, like anything, you will get sick of smoothies. So I went back to experimenting with foods that weren’t cardboard garbage.
Nutrient dense foods
Here’s a quick list of all the foods I did find success with.
Cold:
- Multigrain Cheerios - these are gluten-free too!
- Any and all fruit - watermelon, pineapple, strawberries were my favorite
- Apples or carrots + scoop(s) of peanut/nut butter
- Avocado on rice cracker
Hot:
- Bone broth - make sure to get the brands with protein in them
- Banza noodles - packs in protein plus fiber too
- Banza rice
- Scrambled eggs
- Oatmeal
- Toast
- Eventually, I could stomach other kinds of soups (chicken noodle, chicken with wild rice, veggie). If you can sneak in protein to these soups, I recommend it. It will keep you fuller longer.
Liquids
- Nuun. If you are vomiting, the hydration support is needed
- Ripple chocolate milk. Your baby needs the extra calcium
- Sugar free ginger ale (and if they have sugar free ginger ale with lemonade near you, it is so good)
- Premade protein shakes. An easy way to get your belly full
- Iced green tea with a splash of lemonade
- Sparkling water: lime, lemon and ginger flavors
- Hot ginger tea (you will get sick of this eventually)
- Hot mint tea (you will get sick of this eventually too)
Recipes
- 2-ingredient banana pancakes (just bananas + eggs!) I add blueberries as my third ingredient.
- Applesauce oatmeal muffins
Phew, I hope some of these foods will help you. If you have any pro tips/foods/drinks/ANYTHING that helped you, please share them in comments!
Foods I could stomach during pregnancy “morning” sickness
let me find that