I had a meeting with a nutritionist today because some prego-related blood work suggested my protein and iron levels were on the low side. Not worryingly low, but just a little low. My guess is that since we eat mostly a vegetarian diet here, which I've never done before, I'm not very good about balancing things.
The good news is, we don't have to change much - the two major things are to add a side dish of lentil or other legume to each meal and to add some moong or chick pea sprouts. I'm not really sure on what the sprout thing means, but Sarwary knew exactly what I was talking about, so I guess that's what counts. The harder part will be adding more leafy green veggies, since Greg is not a fan of those ... but perhaps Sarwary can just make a batch for me on the side.
The other main suggestion is the same as what all the books and websites and doctors in the US say: eat smaller meals every four hours or so to even out sugar and energy levels. We'll see how that can be incorporated into my work schedule (it was much easier when I was a student to do that!), but I can certainly try.
The embassy doctor from Delhi, my doctor here, and the nutritionist think I've gained about one kilo (2.2lbs) too much so far, but none of them are worried. It is reassuring when three different independent doctors all tell you the same thing, however!
I also learned that the main foods not recommended for pregnant women here are unripe papaya (causes miscarriage - but the fructose in ripe papaya apparently balances out the enzyme that causes miscarriage in unripened fruit) and coconut chutney. I'm not really sure why on the coconut, but I don't eat that much of it anyway, so it's not that big a deal.
1 comment:
I'm impressed that you were scheduled to confer with a nutritionist rather than just being given another pill.
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