Dealing with cravings and aversions to protein.

okay so i have put on about 3lbs so far. i'm only 10 week. I'm dealing with massive head hunger and reg. hunger. I have to force feed myself any kind of protein. i made a beautiful roast beef last night and swore if i had another bite (past 3) i would puke. I made turkey the other ay again 3 bites and it had sounded so good but then when it's there infront of me i want to have nothing to o with it. I'm craving mostly carbs with i'm hating. But i can get yogurt down and generally like it. well actually most milk products are okay. milk cheese yogurt.. I just need some ideas some support. how is everyone else getting through this.

The first trimester is a pickle aint it ? I am in my eigth week. I have developed a serious chicken and fish aversion. I crave steak (but the heart burn from this makes me stay the hell away). I am in the same boat as you with being able to do milk, yogurt and cheese. You know whats been a life saver. Dollar chill from Wendys. The turkey and beans in there are a good source of protein  

I've been told my protein is low so I have to increase it. I have added little bits I can handle. Egg for breakfast, nuts as snacks whenever I snack and then if you can't make the meat into a stew, or soup that you can make it small enough for you to stomach I say go back to basics and blend the meat into a soup so you can put more of the stuff you like with the veggies and pasta and a sauce you love and still get the protein. Then there is always the shakes you can add back into the mix if you haven't been supplementing with those yet. What about beans, they are an excellent source of protein as well. I hope some of this is useful to you.

You mentioned that you are craving carbs...if you haven't already, you might try some of the new pasta with protein added.  I believe the one that I've used was Barilla Plus.  It had a pretty high protein content for pasta, and I liked the taste.  I don't remember exactly, but I want to say around 15 grams per serving.  Eating pasta isn't ideal, but it might be an option if you're having trouble getting protein in other ways.  If you make it with a sauce with tiny bits of protein and some cheese, it would help even more and you might be able to stomach it.

Good luck!...Natalie 

actually i have added a little pasta since becomming pregnant. i make it with dreamfiels because there's only 5grams of digestable carbs per serving. i use ragu NSA sauce. put summer squash and zuchini in it and ground turkey. and top it with a little grated cheese that i can always handle fine. I'm always gassy now. and even more so this past week. every night i'm uncomfortable because of gas.  So I get hesitant about eating beans. Although i do have them here and there. thought about getting some chilli the other day. actually i've been craving the bison chilli from ted's montana grill (resturaunt in my area) so maybe it's time to make a trip it's pretty cheap. i coul get a couple of take out bowl and bring them home so that i have them to make up for lunches. bison is a leaner red meat so i supose with the beans and cheese it would help up the protein a bit!  I haven't been supplementing with protein drinks over the past 10 ankweeks i had one or two a week when i would miss a meal before. I forced one down today. I accidentally had ordered the sytrax nectar sweets vanilla bean instead of the choclate :( and the choclate is way better. so maybe it's time to just suck it up use it up so i can get more of the choclate.

thanks for all the ideas. Pregnancy can be hard in general but when your really trying to behave and do the right thing because you don't want to do the wrong thing and we should be carefull about our diets it's really hard. Thankfully I can handle most food easily pre pregnancy. salads and meats where fine. no lactose problems.The only thing now is trying to get my pregnant stomach to agree wtih my pre pregnant stomach.

try adding some ricotta into your pasta - that is a good dose of protein and since it is a milk product maybe you'll be OK with it. Also greek yogurt is a great source - 17 grams (+/-) protein per 7 oz cup! Cream cheese too has a fair amount of protein in it too - so if you have toast try it with cream cheese and jelly to get some protein, or peanut butter.

I am right there with you! Food is my aversion though! lol

I'm having trouble choking down protein, too. I do okay with dairy but the thought of meat is IIIIICCCKKKYY!!!! The only thing I've enjoyed is homemade chili. Everything else is just yuck. Food in general isn't appealing. I'd be happy if I could crave SOMETHING... anything... even if it was sweets. At least then there would be some way for me to get calories in without feeling nauseous. I live on cereal, sandwiches, pretzels, and other relatively dry carbs.

how about smashing up some meatballs with a little cheese on top?  7 grams a 1 oz. ball, buy a bag of frozens at Sam's or BJ's, they are suprisingly good and quick to defrost in the nuker.

I felt like crap from about 8 weeks until just the last few days.  I wasn't hungry for most food and all red meat made me gag.   I could eat some chicken, loved eggs (scrambled on an egg sandwich) and liked the dairy for protein (yogurt, cheese, milk, etc).   Now it's getting better, but I still have some food aversions and can't eat like I used to. 

I think this stage will pass in the next month for you and then you can get back to eating a little more normal.   Have you tried adding in a protein shake or bar here and there?  My doc says it's ok but to try and get it from actual food.   But when you don't feel like eating anything, the protein is best.   Or I'll just try and drink 3 six oz cups of milk a day (right there is 24 gms of protein!).  

For breakfast, I usually do 2 eggs with a slice of american cheese on top-on a piece of toast in the morning and that starts me off really well with protein with 18 gms!   Or I'll drink a cup of milk and then like 15 mins later do a bowl of Quaker Weight Control oatmeal with some splenda on top (maple brown sugar is the best flavor IMO).   That oatmeal has 7 gms of protein per serving and you can actually add milk to it to up the protein, but I prefer to make it with water.   I might add a little splash of milk to thin it out too, which adds to the protein count too.  So that breakfast (split up with the milk and then the oatmeal) is 15 gms, pretty good.  

My bariatric doc wants me to get 60 gms a day, but right now I fall short a little and get 40 and good days I can get 60.  It'll get better soon for you I bet, hang in there!

just wanna say thank you to everyone for your ideas and support i deeply appreciate it.