by Gabrielle Grode
Ever since I became pregnant a few months ago, my family has been pushing food on me at every meal and even every few hours between meals.
“You’re eating for two,” they say.
Which is true in a sense… But the second person for whom I’m eating is currently the size of a mango and hardly has the caloric needs which would require, for example, a chicken salad sandwich, French fries and mashed potatoes, a meal my mother recently presented to me.
Another family member told me that my pediatrician would be very angry if he could see the way I was eating (too little in his mind), which at the time, was an afternoon snack of grapefruit juice and Triscuits.
With all these comments, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was doing something wrong. I checked my pregnancy book and it turns out that a pregnant woman’s caloric needs only require an extra 300 calories a day. That's a handful of almonds and a yogurt! A piece of whole wheat bread with peanut butter!
Plus, healthcare providers seem more concerned with one gaining too much weight during pregnancy rather than too little. The IOM writes in 2009, “[w]omen today are heavier; a greater percentage of them are entering pregnancy overweight or obese, and many are gaining too much weight during pregnancy.” Excessive weight gain in pregnancy, which for a normal weight woman is beyond 35 lbs, is associated with gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and increased difficulty in losing weight post delivery. It has even been linked to having a baby that becomes an overweight child.
So, it seems I’m doing just fine. But if my family, who is well educated, believes that one should literally translate the eating for two adage, many others must think the same thing.
Perhaps people are taking this eating for two idea too far.
by Gabrielle Grode
Ever since I became pregnant a few months ago, my family has been pushing food on me at every meal and even every few hours between meals.
“You’re eating for two,” they say.
Which is true in a sense… But the second person for whom I’m eating is currently the size of a mango and hardly has the caloric needs which would require, for example, a chicken salad sandwich, French fries and mashed potatoes, a meal my mother recently presented to me.Another family member told me that my pediatrician would be very angry if he could see the way I was eating (too little in his mind), which at the time, was an afternoon snack of grapefruit juice and Triscuits.
With all these comments, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was doing something wrong. I checked my pregnancy book and it turns out that a pregnant woman’s caloric needs only require an extra 300 calories a day. That's a handful of almonds and a yogurt! A piece of whole wheat bread with peanut butter!Plus, healthcare providers seem more concerned with one gaining too much weight during pregnancy rather than too little. The IOM writes in 2009, “[w]omen today are heavier; a greater percentage of them are entering pregnancy overweight or obese, and many are gaining too much weight during pregnancy.” Excessive weight gain in pregnancy, which for a normal weight woman is beyond 35 lbs, is associated with gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and increased difficulty in losing weight post delivery. It has even been linked to having a baby that becomes an overweight child.
So, it seems I’m doing just fine. But if my family, who is well educated, believes that one should literally translate the eating for two adage, many others must think the same thing.
Perhaps people are taking this eating for two idea too far.