Does anyone have any advice for the pregnant vegetarian? Ive been veggie for about a year now and plan on continuing this obviously... But just wondering if any of you are or know someone who is Vegetarian and pregnant and if the doctors recommend anything specific?

Am not a vegetarain but l know that your have to mention this to your midwife or dr. they do provide you with what food would be best for the babys growth. you can also search online . but please talk to your dr.

I am a pregnant vegetarian and so far I am doing great with the eating as I am lacto-ovo and I do eat dairy. Are you eating dairy or are you vegan? The most worisome thing for me was that when we are not pregnant we only need 25 g of protein, but now with baby I need between 75-100g. There are supplements out there but you must watch out for those with vitamin A as too much vitamin A is harmful. Right now, my husband, who is a body builder, found me a protein supplement with no vitamin A and has 27 grams of carbs per day. I eat one of those, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, beans (black preferrably), milk and any other items that I can find protein in and I eat at much as possible.

Also, eat you fruits and veggies (no problem for us right) but you get so much from them that it's amazingly helpful. Believe it or not, we may have an easier time with a preggie diet than most because we veggies (usually) eat very healthy.

And of course, your prenatals.

I am a preggie veggie and one tip I can give you is this:


Vegetarian protein is harder to absorb, what helps is citrus. If you eat an orange with your protien or have some juice of squeeze a lemon on your... whatever your eating it helps your body take it in. My nutritionist taught me that!

Meg

Wow Meg, thanks for that tip. I had no idea!

Thanks for the helpful ideas to both of you. I usually eat healthy anyway, lots of beans and things such as that... but I might have to think about finding a protein supplement because I have to say I haven't been eating as many beans and things as I used to, but of course, i eat veggies like crazy.

I am just straight Veggie... I eat dairy and all of that stuff!

I am not a big milk drinker so I have been taking half of a calcium supplement each day. I had no idea about the citrus thing... thats so interesting. I have been eating the crap out of some oranges and apples lately!

What are some veggie meals you two make that are good? Im getting sick of the same ole same ole!

Uh oh, you got me started talking about veggie meals. My favorite to make right now is "chicken" enchiladas, made using the Morning Star Brand Meal Starter "chickn" Strips. It's a simplen recipe and is FABULOUS if you are wanting something mexican. I "brown" the strips in the pan with a small can of green chillis. Then cut up one stick of philly cream cheese and mix all that together with a spalsh of green chilli enchilada sauce and roll it in tortilla shells, lining them up CLOSE in the pan. Then dump the green chilli enchilada sauce over this pan of rolled up tortillas stuffed with your stuffing (and I mean drench them) and then sprinkle cheddar cheese over all this and bake for 40 minutes at 375. Not only do my veggie friends LOVE this dish, but my meat eaters go wild for it too.

Another good one...........spagetti noodles with black beans, artichoke hearts (marinated) black olives, tomatoes and green chillis is a favorite of my fiances.


Have you tried the meatless meatballs from Trader Joes or Whole Foods? AWESOME for making meatball subs with Mozarrella cheese or for justmaking the old favorite of spagetti and meatballs. I love it and all my non veggs love it too. It's easy to even sneak this one in and they don't know the difference with the right kind of marinara sauce. I prefer classico.

There's a start for you, anyone else have any ideas to share?

I tried those morning star chicken strips once... but i totally couldnt eat them because of the texture! weird, i know. I will have to check out those meatballs though, sometimes i crave the idea of meatball subs so ill have to see if I like them.

The pasta dish sounds great... Ive never thought of using black beans...but one suggestion I have that I found is awesome is cooking up sauce with mushrooms & broccoli!! Its delicious .

One meal I used to make that was really good is Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms. Its great.. if you get portobella mushrooms(the bigger sized ones) marinate them for about 30 minutes in italian dressing... while its marinating take sour cream combine it with pepperjack cheese, garlic, spinach and whatever else you can thinkk of that's good... spoon the mixture into the bella caps and bake in the oven on 350 for about 20-30 minutes... its totally delicious. The meal used to be a "spinach stuffed chicken" ... but when i stopped eating meat I found a way to alter it!

That sounds DELICIOUS...............I am definately going to have to try that one soon.

As for the chicken strips, I know what you mean about the texture, but in this it sort of masks that or changes it somehow. If you feel adventurous sometime then give it a second chance.

I will have to give it a try. Im a huge cream cheese fan