Pregnancy nutrition - Pregnant and working
Even though you may have spent years grabbing a snack on the way to the bus-stop for breakfast and diving down to the local take-away for lunch, if you want to feel well enough to work through your pregnancy, what – and when - you eat is going to really matter. The good news is, with a little bit of pre-planning, some judicious shopping, perhaps access to a fridge at work and a stash of little air-tight plastic containers, you will be able to implement a new healthy-eating routine for work now, that will help you manage your nutrition really well. And as an added bonus – when you are bringing most of your food from home, you’ll save a fortune on lunches and snacks. Eating a healthy breakfastYou may not feel like eating much when you first get up – and you may not have time. But you will feel a lot better if you have a light nutritious breakfast before you go to work. Try setting your alarm half an hour earlier and having a small bowl of muesli or another cereal low in fat and sugar - freshly cooked porridge can be a tasty and filling breakfast on a cold winter morning. If you can’t face cereal, some fresh fruit, perhaps a small serve of yoghurt and even a hard-boiled egg will give you a good start before you head off to work. Even a piece of toast and a small glass of apple juice can stave off nausea for an hour or two. Shopping aheadWhen you’re in the supermarket, look out for healthy foods that can be divided up into little portions to bring to work. You might find little lunch-packs of tuna or cheese and crackers that appeal; or get a collection of small air-tight containers and make up your own snack-packs that include your favourite combinations. In pregnancy, the risk of listeria infection (from a to your baby is quite serious, so it’s important to beware of foods like soft cheeses (such as brie and camembert), raw or smoked seafood such as sushi or smoked oysters and pre-cooked meats Some suggestions for your shopping list:
Preparing aheadUse sandwich bags to separate a wholemeal loaf into a number of slices and freeze the loaf when it is fresh. If you take out a sandwich bag in the morning, it should have defrosted by lunch time and be ready to eat and relatively fresh. Take a few minutes to cut up slices of carrot, celery, cheese and apple to keep in air-tight containers. A splash of lemon juice will stop your apple slices from going brown. Grapes, cherry tomatoes and bananas make a handy snack that don’t need much preparation – just make sure that fresh fruit has been washed if you are going to eat the skin. Keeping a stash in the fridgeCheck out the office refrigerator. If foods tend to disappear, putting your stash in a plastic or cloth bag inside the fridge can be an effective way of dissuading the casual fridge-thief. You may want to keep some butter or margarine and bottles of drink to be stored over a few days. If the crockery and cutlery in your workplace are too grotty to contemplate, perhaps you could bring some disposable paper plates, napkins, cutlery and even disposable cups. If your workplace doesn’t have a safe place to store cold foods, it might be worth investing in a little esky or lunch-box that has room for a frozen package to keep your food cool when travelling. Keeping a stash in your handbagYou may want to make sure you have a handbag big enough to carry a stash of food around with you wherever you go to help you deal with pregnancy discomforts like reflux, nausea, hunger pangs and dizziness. Pop a small tetra pack of juice and one of skim milk in your bag along with a small bottle of water so that you can have a drink any time you’re thirsty. Add some little containers with plain biscuits and crispbreads, dried fruit and nuts and perhaps a few grapes and a mandarin. And snacking all day can be hazardous to healthy teeth, so perhaps bring a toothbrush for a quick clean after lunch. By Fran Molloy – journalist and mum of 4 |
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