I am sure anyone who has spent any time with pregnant Danica is literal LOLing at this. “Danica? Eat Healthy? While Pregnant? lOLOLOLOLOLOL” and to be fair they have every reason to laugh. I don’t deprive myself while I’m pregnant. Deep down I truly believe that most of the pregnancy discomfort/pain is incurable, and if food helps you feel a teeny tiny bit better about it – you go for it. Treat yo’ self.

That being said, when I asked about pregnancy blog topics that people would be interested in a friend suggested how to eat healthy even when  you don’t want to and I thought “YES.” I learned a lot about my body and diet and nutrition and general health since my last pregnancy. I YOLOed wayyyyy more last time, and while I don’t really regret it or take it back, I was much more committed to conscious eating this time around. Here are a couple of my Pregnancy Food Truths:

• You do not need to weigh yourself at all if you don’t want. Tell your doc to just let you know if it’s becoming an issue.
• You do not need to deprive yourself of foods and things that make you happy (unless of course you have gestational diabetes or the foods you love cause apocalyptic heartburn, in which cases you’ll be happier & healthier with a little deprivation).
• Take a prenatal vitamin. If you’re struggling with it because of nausea there are other options, but PLEASE take one daily for your baby!
• Healthy foods really do make you feel better.
• Junk-y foods often make you feel worse.
• Sometimes a huge helping of your favorite food can make all the sciatica and contractions and insomnia seem totally manageable.
• You WILL have raging, random hunger and probably often
• You WILL feel too tired to cook probably often
• Bad sleep —> bad eating. Almost always. I’m not saying you can control the bad sleep or that it’s your fault. I’m just saying I have found strong correlation in my own life.

So yeah, do I go fill up my refillable movie popcorn bucket 2x a week? Yes. Do I hit McDonald’s often? Also yes. Have I stayed under my goal weight for this pregnancy? No. But I actually did eat ~fairly healthy for the majority of this pregnancy and I’ve gained much less despite working out hardly at all. These may not work for you, but these 5 tips definitely helped this time around. Several are super no-brainers, but sometimes pregnancy brain is a no-brain situation so….

5 Ways to Eat Healthy While Pregnant – Especially When You Don’t Want To

1. “Healthy” Fast Food Options. Lol that this is my #1 but honestly it’s the very best tip I have for you! Come up with a list of fast food/takeout options that are *relatively* healthy. Because let’s be real – at some point you’re gonna be out running errands and find yourself RAVENOUS, or your husband will call on his way home from work and you’re like “yeah I’m not making anything so…” Having an actual list of fast food options can help you to make slightly better decisions without feeling bad, not to mention give you some variety. I kept one in my notes section on my phone! It’s something like this (“healthy” for me is lower carb/lower sugar, but make yours work for you):
   • Snacks – Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Parfait or Oatmeal from McDs, Bubble Tea from Swig, *just* fries and a Diet Coke from McDs
   • Drive Through – Zaxby’s Grilled Cobb Salad, burrito bowls or salads from Del Taco or Taco Bell, Protein Style burger from In-n-Out, Subway 6 inch with lots of veggies, Grilled Nuggets from Chik-fil-A (the normal nuggets really aren’t that bad either!), Kneader’s salad/soup/sandwiches (depending on what you get, still better than most fast food options)
   • Takeout – Bowls or Salads from Chipotle/Cafe Rio/Costa Vida, Papa Murphy’s pizza (for some reason these feel healthier and less greasy, get them with some veggies)
   • Treats – “Mini” Concrete Mixer from Culvers, “Mini” Blizzard from DQ, soft serve kiddie cone from McDs, basically any small milkshake/ice cream option makes me feel like I’m being ~smarter about my treat lol.
2. Eat Breakfast. This is so hard for me, because I’ve never been a breakfast person. I don’t generally wake up hungry and I don’t love typical breakfast foods. But I will tell you, eating breakfast curbed that 2 pm cracker addiction. It helped me to get home from running errands and realize I wasn’t tempted to stop at a drive-through. I know morning sickness and heartburn can be big issues in pregnancy, so you may have to figure out what “breakfast” looks like to you. But moral of the story – eat something soon after waking up each day and you’ll be more likely to avoid eating junk later. Bonus points for it being a protein shake, fruit, yogurt, eggs, etc., but even a decent cereal, bagel, or PopTart can prevent worse overeating later on.
3. Carry Water EVERYWHERE. Obviously this is just a generic health tip, but for some reason I take it so much more seriously when I’m pregnant and notice it’s effects more strongly. I actually bought an extra plastic tumbler so I could have one in my bathroom while I get ready morning and night. If you drink a lot of water you curb a lot of cravings and dehydration hunger signals. The trick is to just have it everywhere, always within reach. “It’s called the Joe Biden. Just be there. Wherever he is, be there.” Lol. But seriously. Gonna drive to work? Drink a tumbler of water on the way. Putting on your makeup? Fill up a glass of water and sip between steps. Throw a water bottle in your bag wherever you’re going.
4. Don’t Deprive – Snack. Last time I was pregnant I would do this thing where the random pregnancy hunger would hit and I’d go straight for a #3 at McDonald’s or eat 3 slices of leftover pizza or an entire bag of candy. This time I tried to be more aware of my hunger and feed it snacks first. Even if I ate 20 minutes ago, I try not to ignore the hunger – I’ll eat a snack right then. The trick is to limit yourself to a snack, and keep it healthy, if you can. String cheese and apples are my go to this round. Granola or protein bars are excellent options. If I want crackers I’ll pour a small serving into a cereal bowl instead of taking the box to the couch or desk with me. If I am gonna go to McDs, I don’t have to get a huge value meal! I can share a large fry with Reese instead. Don’t ignore your hunger. Feed it! But limit yourself to snack first. If after 20 minutes you’re ~still hungry, go for something else!
5. Meal Prep. The biggest threat to my healthy eating was AND IS laziness. Not even laziness. I don’t think you can call pregnant people lazy. Our bodies are constantly working to support a little pre-person!!!!! We’re exhausted with reason. The last thing you want to do is cook a big healthy meal. Meal prepping makes it easier. I got really into meal prepping last spring/summer and wow has it made a difference in this pregnancy. If you can meal prep healthy meals and snacks, most of the time you’ll be too lazy to seek out anything else! Life hack! Find some great meal prep recipes on pinterest, online order & pickup your groceries, then take advantage of a spurt of energy to get them all done in an hour or two. Crock pot freezer meals are easy and awesome – not just for after baby comes! Make a huge batch of egg cups for breakfast and snacks. Bake a healthy banana muffin or “cookie.” Prep individual smoothie bags. Make your own “lunchable” snack pouches of cheese, crackers, and lunchmeat or jerky or nuts for protein. Separate berries or veggies with ranch into tupperware or baggies for a quick grab-n-go when you need it. My latest thing is overnight oats! I made a batch two weeks ago and it wasn’t ~great but I’m trying again this week with a few adjustments. When you have easily accessible food you’re wayyyyy more likely to eat it, so make sure you have some healthy breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner options prepped and ready to go when you need them.

The payoff of trying to eat healthy while pregnant is huge, even if you fail a lot of the time. Don’t give up and don’t YOLO. Treat yo self when you need to. Don’t obsess over your weight gain. Love your body for the amazing things it can do! And try to treat it right with as much healthy food as you can. Then don’t beat yourself up when you end up with a large #3 with a Diet Coke in the McDonald’s drive through at 10 am, because it’s really not that big a deal.