Foods That Give You Energy While Pregnant
Did you know that your body is working 4,000 times harder, than a NON pregnant woman ROCK CLIMBING?
I know. I know… This pregnancy has you so tired, fatigued and exhausted.
I remember the days.
Usually, I am not a nap kinda person. However, during both my pregnancies, I remember feeling like I needed one.
The struggle is real, and it is also legit.
Your body is using up so much energy right now. The energy to build and grow the support system for your baby.
It’s insane! It is also the reason why you feel so fatigued.
Lucky for us, we are not a victim of that fatigue.
There are things we can do while pregnant, to fight off the fatigue.
Yes, this post may be about food, but I want you to know how much exercise, supplementation and sleep can help your fatigue. And also, give you so much more energy so that you can feel more like yourself…. get more done… and just feel better overall.
Exercise
Not all exercise will make you feel invigorated and give you more energy.
There are times when some types of exercise can make you feel drained. However, after working with over 250,000 moms, I can tell you that WEIGHT TRAINING will really give you a burst of energy.
Sleep
I know it’s hard to get enough sleep right now, because you may be uncomfortable, getting up 5 times to pee, or you may be getting to bed late and waking up early, but I do want to urge you to at least try to control the hours you do sleep.
Sleep is important, if not more, than exercise.
Not sleeping well or long enough can really increase your fatigue during the day.
What I did was, I gave myself a bedtime.
By 10pm I made myself go to bed.
I mean, I could be in mid scroll, mid show, conversing with my spouse or on the phone and I would just shut it down and close my eyes.
To this day, I continue to practice this habit, because SLEEP MATTERS.
Most of the time you can’t control the time you have to wake up. You may have different schedules based on work, kids, etc.
You should try to control your bedtime and try to sleep for 7-8 hours a night.
Supplementation
There are vitamins that will help increase your energy.
Vitamin B12 is a big one.
Your body is under stress during pregnancy, and it is using up your B vitamins much faster. Which is one of the reasons you feel so depleted.
There are other supplements that you should be taking especially during pregnancy, read more about it here.
Supplementing with a good quality Vitamin B12, will help you tons with energy.
If you are looking for an affordable, good quality, medical grade supplement, check this out: Vitamin B12
Protein shakes will also help you get extra protein during pregnancy. Which, you should be getting from the foods you eat.
Since it is hard to eat well and enough while pregnant, due to morning sickness or aversions.
Protein powders, shakes and smoothies are a great option.
Which leads us to the whole food thing.
There are 2 food groups I want to spend a little time on. They are the foods you will get most of your energy from.
- Carbohydrates
- Healthy Fats
Those are your body’s main sources of fuel.
Carbohydrates
These must be complex carbs not simple carbs which are foods high in sugar (including fruit).
Here are a few examples of complex carbohydrates:
- Oatmeal
- Quinoa
- Sweet Potatoes
- Brown Rice
- Beans
Most of these carbs are slow digesting. They can help stabilize sugar and increase energy production.
A lot of these foods are also high in B vitamins, which helps increase energy.
For example, beans are rich in iron, folate, zinc and manganese. These nutrients help break nutrients down which helps with cellular energy production.
I love adding them into chicken or turkey chilis and I love love love them in salads and salsas.
Some beans I love are:
- Lentils
- Garbanzo Beans
- Kidney Beans
- Black Beans
You can have them canned, just try to get low sodium and rinse and drain them really well which removes an extra 30% of sodium.
There are tons of ways to add these carbs to your meals.
Oatmeal is great and you can add cinnamon to it, which works to keep blood sugar levels stable. Therefore, stabilizing your energy levels.
Bonus! You can also blend some oatmeal into your mPower protein shake.
Healthy Fats
Fats are a great source of sustained energy. Your body uses it up slowly.
Here are some of my FAVE healthy fats:
- Avocados
- Nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts)
- Nut Butters
- Seeds (chia, flax, pumpkin, sesame)
- Oils (coconut, extra virgin olive, avocado)
- Fish-
- Salmon
- Tuna
- Trout
- Herring
- Sardines
- Mackerel
These are tons of options you can begin to add into your meals. Adding healthy fats to your diet will help increase your energy level and reduce fatigue. So, that you can feel better and be more productive.
Eating nutrient dense foods will help you control weight gain.
Eating a variety of foods is lucrative during pregnancy. Because in order for the baby to develop and grow properly; the baby needs so many different vitamins.
If there is ever a time to focus your energy on nutrition, it’s now…while pregnant.
I hope you will start adding more of these foods into your diet and I hope you will start to feel better and more energized.
Yes, I know it can be overwhelming to figure out what to eat. You want to give your baby the right nutrients, have energy and control weight gain.
If you don’t have the time to figure it out and just want a plan to follow, I did the work for you and the plan is filled with lots of fun and easy meal ideas.
I created my Pregnancy Diet Plan out of my own need to make sure I was getting all the right foods in.
I was overwhelmed daily trying to figure it out a healthy meal that I did all the research. I created a meal plan with tons of variety of foods and nutrients. Foods that would help me feel energized and help me control weight gain, which was a priority for me.
Now thousands of moms have used the Pregnancy Diet Plan to make their pregnancies less overwhelming and get all the nutrients their baby and pregnancy need.
If you want to check it out, it’s here:
Click here to see the MMF Pregnancy Diet Plan!
By the way, if you are planning to get the diet plan, the vitamin B supplement or protein, you can do all of that in the shop by just adding them all to the cart. Then, you can add the pregnancy diet plan from the shop tab.
The link above is so you can read up more on what’s included in the pregnancy diet plan, but if you don’t need any supplements, you can check out right on that page too.
Hope this helps!
Remember…. pregnancy is the best time to focus on your health.
What I want you to do sometime this week is, go to the grocery store, stock up on some of these foods and use them to cook your meals. You will see how it helps your energy.
Looking for healthy snacks inspo? Check out this video.
