This week I'll be doing a series of posts on my pregnancy; and first on the list is my twin pregnancy diet. In retrospect, I now see that my diet was really good and I wish I could have continued with it. This is a list of the components of my twin pregnancy diet toolbox
- When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads
This book is a must read for anyone pregnant with twins. I used it as a foundation for planning my diet. Sometimes the tone came off as alarmist, but honestly it's got one of the best advice out there on nutrition while pregnant with twins. I couldn't follow the recommendation for calorie consumption or weight gain, but I still applied the concepts I learnt from reading it. - Warm fluids- For my first trimester, I ditched the ice and sodas and stuck with hot caffeine-free tea (african rooibus). I got this tip from a friend who was more familiar with alternative medicine and it made sense to me to keep the uterus area nice and warm for the developing baby
- One thing that the book in #1 and a lot of experts recommended was eating an additional 300 calories per baby and minimum 20g of protein daily. I was able to track my consumption using the Calorie Counter app on my phone
- Water, water, water. With this pregnancy, I learnt that water is an elixir
- KFC chicken. I know fast food usually has a bad rap, but not in the case of a twin pregnancy. A 2-piece meal was one of the easiest ways for me to get a boost of my daily protein ration and calories.
- Almonds. For fiber, calcium and iron. This was a super snack to have around
- Calcium-added drinks. In the second semester especially, additional calcium for babies' growing bones was important. I tried to get my required daily calcium by buying foods that had added calcium like Simply Orange Juice. Additionally, the tums I used for heartburn helped bring up the calcium consumption
- Greek yoghurt. Why? Because it has double the protein content of normal yoghurt and in the second trimester with twin pregnancy, protein is king. PS: Skip the YoPlait brand. My favorite was fage and I would recommend most of the organic brands
- Instant breakfast drink. I had a combination of losing my appetite and shrinking stomach space. A breakfast drink was a good way to get a bunch of nutrients and calories in a glass. Nestle Carnation Instant Breakfast Essentials
was my favorite. I bought the sachets and just carried it around for breakfast on the go.
- Water. Yes I can't say that enough and can't say it too much. On the nightstand, in the car, in my handbag; I always had a bottle of water.
Happy Tuesday peeps
