Nutrition, fat, calories, etc., are a touchy subject for me in the first place. So I'm sure you can imagine that it is beyond infuriating for me (and you too probably) when this inconsistency thing happens regarding that. Whether it be on TV, in the magazines, or from the FDA or whoever.
Let's examine one of the helpless victims of this inconsistency crap: the Egg.
Poor little egg, just sitting there all by itself, with tons of nutritional value inside it that no one ever really paid attention to. Getting cracked open, cooked and eaten day after day, with very little recognition. Then professionals went, "Eggs are a great source of protein! The yolks contain iron! You should all eat eggs very often!" So people ate eggs all the time. (Remember the Incredible Edible Egg commercials?)
Well, then the professionals were like, "Oh wait, just kidding. Eggs contain cholesterol! Stop eating eggs! They give you heart disease!" Which is so not even true. Cholesterol contributes to heart disease, but that is very different than saying eggs cause it.
So then people started banishing eggs from their daily diet. After all, the professionals said............
So a few years later, people finally came to their senses and said, "Okay. Here's the real deal. Eggs are good for you. Just don't eat them all the time." Which is the same for like every single food! You don't want to eat too much of anything ever! Everything in moderation. Water. Oxygen. Sex. Food. Eggs. Get it?
So how does this pertain to me currently? It has nothing to do with eggs. But rather with nutrition. I went to a prenatal class on Wednesday, April 2nd. The nurse who ran it was really nice, although a little.... tangential. Anyway, she handed out like 8,000 papers to us, covering a plethora of topics. One of which was - you guessed it - nutrition for pregnant women!
This is what just drives me crazy. She handed us out 2 different papers on this topic. One paper said that pregnant women only really need about 300-400 more calories per day. The rough equivalent to one extra sandwich and fruit (depending on the type of sandwich, I add) per day, or else a few crackers with almond butter and a cup of milk, or a yogurt & granola parfait... you get the idea. THE OTHER PAPER she handed out said that 2,500-2,700 calories per day was recommended for pregnancy.
In what universe does the average woman eat between 2,200-2,400 calories per day (recommended)???? They don't, right? But that's the only way to reconcile those 2 papers. It just drives me nuts! The most I ever ate (as an anorexic person) per day was MAYBE 1,500 and that's only if I did a ton of Zumba that day or went to the gym for hours on end. You can all be sure don't do that much Zumba now, but I still eat about that much. So in the 2nd and 3rd trimester I'm supposed to eat about 1,800 calories, based on this. That sounds FINE. 2,500-2,700 sounds like torture. And unhealthy, too.
I think in this situation the thing I should do is go see a nutritionist who is experienced with people with EDs. Just because I honestly have no fucking idea what I'm doing.
In other news, my fetus is 7 weeks old today. It's apparently now the size of a blueberry. No more Yentil the Lentil! Interesting...... :)
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