The Superhero Diet

Flip’s Vegan Pregnancy ‘Go-Suck-It-Old-School-Preggo-Books-And-Un-informed-Doctors’ Diet – Winter Edition

At 22 weeks I am finally winning at pregnancy. I totally thought I was going to be a whinging pain for nine months but I was only a whinging pain for three, now I’m annoyingly perky. (I’m keeping some whinging in the bank for late pregnancy, don’t worry).

My super sense of smell, which made me gag at everything not long ago, now makes me salivate at everything. And just like all good romances, being apart from good food has only strengthened my love for it.

Mostly my ‘pregnancy diet’ looks like my normal diet, it just has slightly more carbs in the form of wholegrains and I’m more aware of sneaking nuts, seeds and green leaves into everything. Below is an example of what I’ve been eating. If you would like the recipes to any of these dishes, just comment and I’ll knock some ingredients out of my memory-brain for you.

Mon Regime:

I start most days with lemon water and wholegrain toast with Vegemite, tahini, lemon juice and black pepper. Then a small coffee.

Every afternoon I drink either a fresh juice (usually ginger, apple, orange, carrot) or a smoothie (almond milk, goji berries, chia seeds, banana, mixed frozen berries).

I use around 90% organic ingredients, walk 20-30 mins every day and do pregnancy yoga every other day. Before you go thinking that I’m oh-so-fucking-virtuous, I also drink two coffees a day, one – two glasses of wine per week (70ml, not a ridiculous 250ml Kiwi pour) and I love salt (so cankles are likely to be in my near future).

In terms of ‘banned’ foods, I have stopped eating sprouts and leftover rice but I haven’t given up tahini. It’s one of my favourite foods and I figure if I use a good quality one and keep it fresh, it’s fine.

Here are some of my recent meals:

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad with Wilted Spinach, Pak Choy and Shiitake Mushrooms (this photo is a summer version of the salad with cucumber instead of green leaves).