low-carbing with morning sickness
 

i know there's another thread discussing morning sickness on here, and the one person that asked the same question i'm asking didn't get a response, so i thought a new thread might kick up some interest.

8 years ago when i had my twins, i gave up low-carbing entirely because i didn't think it would be compatible with pregnancy. i swore to myself i would only gain 20lbs, that's it, no more. and by the first 18 weeks, i had gained about 8lbs. that's when the doctors realized i was having twins, that's when everyone freaked out and said "you're not even on the chart yet for weight gain." they kept a VERY close eye on me and the babies, checking my blood chemistry and their growth rate, and never said a word to me about how much weight i was gaining. over the next 20 weeks, i gained 70lbs. the lizards were born perfectly healthy, 6lbs 10oz and 6lbs 5oz, and if you list off every possible complication that can accompany a multiple pregnancy, i didn't have any of them.

this time around, things are a little different. i'm much heavier now than i was when i got pregnant with the lizards, so my intent is to keep my weight as steady as possible while still making sure this one has enough of whatever it needs to grow and develop. i'd told myself i was going to stick to low-carb this time around, if not OWL levels, then at least maintenance and call it "controlled carb".

and of course, morning sickness is kicking in with a vengeance. the only thing that seems to not annoy my stomach even more, much less make it feel any better, has been high-carb foods... graham crackers, sugar cookies, animal crackers, bagels. the best thing i've eaten in the last 2 weeks has been a grilled cheese sandwich.

so has anyone managed to survive morning sickness while sticking to low-carb? and how did you do it? or did you just throw everything to the wind and say "low-carb can come back when my stomach can handle it again"?

I sympathize! My wife went through this and it was miserable. We were never very low-carb until after our third child was born, though, so I don't have much concrete information about what works.

You might check out the forums at this website:

http://www.hyperemesis.org/

My wife (jschwab) got a pretty good book on hyperemesis and I think it was somewhat low-carb friendly. I can't remember what it was called but maybe she'll drop by. She also had a book called "Motherfood" by Hilary Jacobson - it was more for breastfeeeding but it did have good information about eating during pregnancy and it was fat-friendly.

I might suggest that you try avoiding gluten but not restricting carbs otherwise. If carbs are the only thing that don't make you nauseous I don't know how much point there is in fighting it. Stock up on plain potato chips! Does sour cream sound like a good topping to you? Ice cream may not be perfect, but it's pretty easy to get gluten-free and it has plenty of good stuff along with the sugar.

If you have someone taking care of you, maybe they could make some chicken stock for you, that is, if the idea sounds appealing. Stock is a pretty digestible form of protein and it might go down easier than others. If at all possible, find someone who can make it at home, but not YOUR home - then the cooking smells won't bother you!

I was lucky, I never did have any real morning sickness. A little nausea here and there, but nothing too bad... I did, however, have some pretty strong protein aversions and had a hard time eating beef, chicken, fish, etc. and I tried SO hard to fight it and would force down protein, but it would only make me miserable and feel sick. Honestly, I don't think there's any point in fighting it. By all means, eat the healthiest foods that you can stomach. But if you're seriously so nauseous that the only thing you can keep down without puking are some graham crackers, then so be it. It'll pass soon enough and you can get on with the healthy eating then. Do make sure you're taking your prenatal multivitamin, though!

Good luck and I hope your morning sickness passes quickly!!

That reminds me, the VITAMIN used to make my wife puke! We had to break it into pieces and hope for the best...

Just posting to let you know, I understand the struggle.
I don't have any answers for you, unfortunately.
If you read my sig, you'll see I gave up the LC way with each pregnancy because I hit exactly the same trouble you did. I did NOT have any way around the morning sickness. I could not stomache anything non-carb.
By the time morning sickness went away, the smell of cooking beef/chicken/pork/fish made me nautious.

If you do find a solution, please post it! I'm sure others would love to hear it. And I would, too, if I ever get pregnant again! I never wanted to give up LCing.

that happened to me the first time around too... they made me so sick on top of the morning sickness that i finally begged my doctor to put me on something else. she said that if they were making me that sick, just take a flintstones chewable... at that point, anything was better than nothing.

this time, i'm terrified to take any standard prenatal, so i've been taking individual folic acid, super b-complex, e, and flax oil. i was taking calcium with d but that was guaranteed to make me gag each time. my first appointment is friday so i'll see what she says then.

i think right now, mozzarella cheese, turkey slices, and brussels sprouts seem to be on the safe list. maybe i can just survive on those.

Sounds perfect. If you can stomach flax oil, you're doing pretty well!

Have you tried caramelized brussels sprouts? Fry them in butter till they turn brown and just slightly crispy on the outside.... mmm mmm!

I'm on my fourth pregnancy, and though I've never tried to do LC in the first trimester, I sympathize with the sickness! Here are some things that have always agreed with me, even at the worst times:

black tea with lemon
beans with melted cheese
avocados
oranges

If you feel like you need the carbs, IMO that's okay... just try to stay away from junk. I allowed myself to eat "whatever" with my first child, and the first trimester was a disaster. Other than the beans and cheese, about the healthiest thing I ate were those jumbo ice cream bars from Costco. The worst were the strawberry Charleston Chews (which I've never eaten before or since, but I just couldn't get enough of them at the time :o ).

Fortunately, things sorted themselves out by 16 weeks, and I was able to eat meat, seafood, and other "real food" again... but I really regret giving in to eating all that garbage.

now my world seems to have turned itself upside down... the days my stomach is refusing even the thought of any food, no matter what, the only thing that actually makes it happy is a chocolate caramel macadamia nut turtle. second to that are gardettos and cheetos... i know they're not the best choices, but they seem benign enough for basic digestion and still let me have something with flavor.

i'm trying to ease myself back into a low-carb regimen, albeit with a hefty dose of fruit thrown in. so far, no weight gain, so maybe i can survive this after all.

Good luck! Hope it gets better soon.

They make some pretty tasty calcium chews. All sorts of different flavors like chocolate and vanilla. They come in a purple container, but I can't remember the name, you can find it in any store.
On iherb.com, I was searching for a vit. D supplement, they make chewables in sour orange and lemon flavor. Reviewers say it tastes like a lemon drop. I'm gonna have to try some myself. Mmmmm!

I had terrible morning sickness.. and I mean TERRIBLE. I was sick all the way through my pregnancy and my midwife constantly adviced protein instead of Carbs to help with that but saltines and potato chips was all I could handle for a while. Protein is really important during pregnancy.

I bought some ginger gum also from the health store and drunk peppermint tea. Stay away from greasy fatty foods as they made me puke even more.

I dont know if you get heartburn at all, Mine was terrible and I took almonds instead of tums, a handful of raw almonds works just as well as a couple of tums... healthier too! :-)

I haven't heard anyone mention Milk Thistle, found in most natural food stores. I had a friend who was dealing with an extreme case, she found a few drops of a Milk Thistle tincture a few times a day completely ridded here of the nausea. I hope it helps :)