This week's food diary features a pop-up dinner in white on the Santa Monica Pier, vegan bites at the Variety Emmys party, and a healthy obsession with chia seed pudding.
I started my food diary series a few months ago as a way to not only track and monitor what I'm eating but to leave a record for the baby so he can look back and see what he was eating while in the womb! I used to think being pregnant meant a free-for-all daily buffet and that somehow my appetite was going to voraciously turn into the black hole. Not the case. I'm definitely eating more and paying more attention to nutrients like calcium and protein but for the most part, dramatic increases in food intake is extremely uncomfortable and unrealistic.
During the first trimester, I had zero morning sickness but also zero appetite and developed a serious aversion to sweets. Lucky, the aversion went away during the second trimester and my appetite picked up as I consumed more calories, carbs, and protein per meal than I ever did-nothing outrageous but definitely more than the 1,200 calories I was used to. But that golden period only lasted a few weeks as once the baby started growing, I started feeling ridiculously full and uncomfortable after every dinner, the way I'd feel after eating a buffet. So now, I've curbed the volume of each meal and am focused on consuming more calories and nutrients per bite.
{Monday} 12pm: Chia seed pudding with sesame seeds, sliced almonds, sliced banana, strawberries, blueberries, a scoop of Greek yogurt, and drizzled with honey. This is my favorite new breakfast.
5pm: Snacking on an organic apple hand picked during a weekend trip to a local apple farm.
7pm: Greek salad with spinach, chopped romaine, heirloom tomatoes, Persian cucumber, garbanzo beans, peppercini, and feta with a lemon and dijon mustard dressing. I've been obsessed with this salad for the past week and have made it three times already.
{Tuesday} 11am: Donut and an Americano from Alfred Coffee in Studio City. Being pregnant doesn't mean a carte blanche cease and desist from coffee and having one small cup a day is fine, especially during the later months. I usually get a small coffee and drink only half of it.
3pm: A small bowl of chia seed pudding with all my usual accoutrements
8pm: I make mapo tofu and broccoli for M while I stir fry frozen veggies and leftover Szechuan eggplant into a yummy rice bowl for myself.
10pm: A nectarine.
{Wednesday} 10am: A small bowl of chia seed pudding. 1pm: Lunch at La Scala Beverly Hills where I get and finish half of the tuna chopped salad.
