The Bumpy Truth About Nutrition

You Are What You Eat: It’s a cliche, But it’s so Right!

The hard truth of that phrase is often too much to comprehend. Ignorance is bliss, for a while anyway. Now that you are eating for two, it is imperative to learn more about how foods affect you and your unborn child.

Allow me to be transparent. Those who have known me since childhood will call me out immediately about my weakness for pizza rolls. After school they were my go to snack. Not just a few of them, I typically maxed out at 20-25 pizza rolls. Every day. With RANCH! Holy COW y’all! And that’s after my lunch of cheese fries or even better, gravy fries and a fountain drink. Only the Lord remembers what I had for breakfast, but I can tell you it was NOT a green smoothie or avocado toast.

You can imagine my excitement when I found organic pizza rolls for my girls. JACKPOT! These are not healthy by any means, but I am all about balance and at least they are a healthier version of my favorite childhood snack.
Mr. Wonderful is quick to remind me about the spoonfuls of cookie dough I wolfed down when we first met. Seriously, who doesn’t love cookie dough?

Then there’s my love affair with the National Drink of Texas – Dr Pepper! My mother would pop one into the freezer to make it a slushy! Oh, heavens! DELISH! But OMG the excessive sugar!

My point:

I was a fast-food-eating, sugar-addicted, soda-drinking lady, doing the best I knew based on the knowledge I had. It was the norm and I fell right in line.
The thought of changing your diet now can be overwhelming and with all the other emotions you are feeling it can be exhausting.
My tip: Small changes with big impacts. Start by drop kicking sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages. This most likely will not be easy.
Have you ever thought about why cokes are so good? So addicting? Check out this short video:
I want to highlight the valid reasons for drop kicking soda, ESPECIALLY while you are pregnant:

  • High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
    • High-fructose corn syrup can easily lead to excessive fat gain. This is because of its high fructose content, which is metabolized differently than other carbs.
    • The fructose in HFCS is not to be confused with the fructose in fruit which, in moderation, is healthy.
    • Excessive amounts of HFCS can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is a problem because HFCS is used in so many things. Think sauces (ketchup, mustard, dressings etc), drinks, and other processed foods. It is cheaper for companies to use HFCS than real sugar and we are consuming it in every meal of every day. TOXIC OVERLOAD. Our liver’s purpose is to detoxify the body and it cannot complete its task if it is not healthy.
    • HFCS is directly linked to hyperactivity in children. I mean, this is not rocket science. Over consumption of sugar makes everyone a little jittery. HFCS is a child’s nightmare if he is suffering from ADD or ADHD.

Did you know?…

Research suggests that sugar is more addictive than cocaine and it’s intentionally in everything we consume.
Do not let the marketing teams fool you. They actually have taste tests to see how much sugar is needed to hook you and cause you to want more of their product. More product sales = more money for them and poorer health for you and your baby.
My challenge to you is to kick the sugary-sweetened beverages to the curb for good. If not for your health, than at least for your sweet baby. It will help you feel better while you’re pregnant and help increase your odds of not having a baby addicted to sugar upon birth!

Small steps lead to big changes. When you know better, you do better!
~KB~
Here are more links if you want more information regarding this growing epidemic:

This list could go on forever. Sugar is the devil and fake sugar is even worse. So don’t turn to the “sugar-free or diet drinks because they are more harmful than the original stuff and you deserve better.