The Secret to Guilt-free Snacking
In an (unrealistic) ideal world we'd only ever eat brown rice and lentils, hummus and oatcakes and steamed salmon and spinach, generally not having much fun over our food. But actually enjoying your food is also important. In fact, it's vital - we digest our food more effectively when we take genuine sensory pleasure in seeing, smelling and eating it.
Isn’t that nuts?
Having said that, while the odd chocolate digestive or piece of cake now and then is not going to ruin your health forever, overall your body would like to be fed food that is nutritious, easy to digest, and gives it what it needs to keep going.
And in pregnancy and early motherhood, eating enough, good quality food is key to healing, recovery and building the energy and resilience you need to keep yourself and your baby going
Why snack?
In the last trimester of pregnancy, your calorie requirement increases by around 400 calories, depending on your activity levels. Your baby has a surge of growth in the third trimester, especially in his brain. At this point I always recommend clients to add a snack two to three hours after a meal, ensuring there is a portion of fat or protein in the snack. For example, an oatcake with tahini and honey would be a better option than honey alone as the tahini naturally contains fat and protein (it’s also a really great non-dairy source of calcium!).
Similarly, when breastfeeding, your body requires an extra 500 calories. Often new mums comment that they have never experienced hunger quite like what happens when breastfeeding! Continuing with the two snacks per day recommendation as above will help with this, although you might find that you need a snack in the middle of the night during the 2am feeding fest. I usually recommend mums prepare a snack box to take to bed with them so they have minimal disruption.
If you’re in your first or second trimester, you don’t have an official extra requirement for calories, but we’re all so individual. If you’re feeling hungry or low in energy or particularly tired, then eat! Be led by your hunger - your body is adjusting to the extra demand of growing an actual human being. This is particularly important in the first trimester, especially if you experience morning sickness or nausea - you may not feel like eating full meals, but you do need to ensure you eat something to keep your energy going.
Having said that, if you are feeling hungry immediately after a meal, or in the middle of the night when pregnant - i.e. if within an hour of eating a meal you find yourself thinking ‘Time for a snack!” then it’s likely that you didn’t eat enough fat and protein at that meal. If that’s the case, add an extra half portion to your meal. For example, rather than one salmon fillet, have one and a half salmon fillets. Keeping a food diary might help with this.
What to snack on
I promised guilt-free snacking. But I can’t promise that I’m not going to tell you to step away from the cake. In fact, I’m going to say it right now. Step away from the cake. And the biscuits.
Again, I’m not telling you to step away forever. I’m just telling you to steer clear most of the time. Especially shop-bought ones. Whilst delicious, they are often irresistible. Quite literally. As human beings ancestrally acclimatised to feast and famine, we are programmed to seek out fat and sugar. These are calorie dense and energy heavy - designed to give you a quick rush of energy. As a hunter-gatherer this would have been a lifeline.
As a modern keyboard warrior with little means (or desire) to burn it off in the next second? Not so much.
Why am I picky about shop-bought ones? Partly because they are designed to give you the exact ratio of fat and sugar to be absolutely irresistible. Partly because they will also contain other ingredients that you wouldn’t personally use in the kitchen. And partly because in you have to make your own cake from scratch every single time you fancied one, you would probably put it off. Or you might not - but going back to what I said in the beginning - the sensory experience of touching while mixing the batter, smelling the cake while it’s cooking and seeing it as it comes out the oven - helps to prime your body a little bit better for digestion. Ripping open a cardboard box while sitting at your desk and hardly noticing the cake before it goes in your mouth is a lot less sensory.
OK, just give me a list of what I can eat already!
Over the course of day, aim to have mostly savoury snacks, although the odd sweet snack, especially if it’s going to give you a little mood boost in the middle of a long working day is fine.
But to keep those blood sugars steady and to feel fuller for longer, focus on having some protein and/or fat at every snack. Eggs and nuts are great for this as they contain both protein and fat in one package. Dips, homemade energy bars and granola are also good ideas. Here are some of my favourite snacks during my pregnancy and throughout breastfeeding:
Oatcakes and hummus. I started off making oatcakes myself - they’re surprisingly easy to make and very satisfying - Nigel Slater’s recipe is good, but as my pregnancy progressed I started buying them in for ease. I like Nairn’s Superseeded ones as they have seeds in for a lovely crunch and toasty flavour, plus that helps up the protein and fat ratio!
Energy balls. These are ridiculously easy to make but surprisingly expensive to buy. You can vary the fruit and nuts and add spices or other flavorings like cocoa to vary the flavour according to your tastebuds. I generally press the mixture into a cake tin and cut them into squares - much easier than rolling balls individually! Be aware that the dried fruit are very high in sugar so ration them out at two at a time, and be sure to have enough nuts in to improve the fat/protein to sugar ratio.
Granola. I eat granola for breakfast and as a snack. Again, it’s very simple to make yourself and that way you know what’s going in it and how much. I find shop-bought granola is heavy on the oats (cheap ingredient!) and light on the nuts - and you really want a 1:1 ratio to make sure you’re getting the fat and protein from the nuts in there. It’s a much better option than shop-bought cereal, which is little more than refined carbohydrates and added sugar - any supposed added nutritional benefit is due to nutrients that were stripped out in the processing being added back in. It’s just marketing hype!
Stuffed dates. These are essentially a lazy version of Energy Balls, and are particularly good in late third trimester, as dates are apparently good for ripening the cervix (is my cervix a fruit?). Eating them with some nut butter keeps the sugar load down as it slows the digestion of the dates down. Top tip: Freeze the stuffed dates before eating them - it’s like toffee!
Smoked mackerel paté. Definitely make your own as shop-bought paté carries a risk of bacteria contamination; eat it as soon as it’s made and only keep in the fridge for a day. Mash up a mackerel fillet with some cream cheese and creme fraîche, some capers, lemon zest and salt and pepper; spread it on crackers or use it as a dip for carrot sticks. Mackerel is full of omega 3 which is vital for your baby’s brain and nervous system development, so this is an easy way to get the vital nutrient in while filling a gap between meals.