from Sussex, with love

Protein in Pregnancy – Are you Getting Enough?

Something I have been really struggling to get into my system with this pregnancy is protein. It’s something that I usually struggle to get in to my diet anyway due to Mr Scissors being a vegetarian (and a fussy one at that) but whilst I’ve been pregnant especially the last thing I have wanted to do after a 12 hour day is cook from scratch and carefully plan meals that will get the maximum nutrients that me and the baby need. In fact it’s only been the last 2-3 weeks that I’ve been able to stomach food in the evenings at all. Egg would usually be the way that we get some protein into us but the very thought of egg at the moment is enough to have me running for the sick bucket.

The EFSA (The European Food Safety Authority) states that a normal adult needs around 1 g of protein per kg of body weight – therefore if you weight 60 kg you need about 60 g of protein. However a pregnant lady in her 2nd trimester needs an extra 9g per day on top of this, and in her 3rd trimester an extra 28 g per day is needed. With my current pregnant weight that means I need 85g of protein!! EIGHTY FIVE?? I’m telling you now I’m lucky if I usually get 5 in me let alone 85! I was obviously fairly concerned about the levels I was getting so when the guys at Upbeat got in touch and asked if I wanted to try their drinks I thought I’d give it a go.

Fruity drinks are a big win for me at the moment and I’ve been living off orange juice and sarsaparilla and lemonade for weeks. I just can’t get enough of the stuff, so when the Upbeat drinks arrived I was really pleased that they were all fruit flavoured! I had strawberry, blueberry and raspberry and mango and passionfruit to try out and I can tell you now that they were all lush! My favourite was strawberry (always been a sucker for a classic!).

Upbeat Drinks

The consistency surprised me – when I read that they were fruit flavoured milk drinks I was expecting a thick artificial yoghurt texture. Sort of like those awful protein shakes that weight lifters drink. We have a few of these beefy guys at the office and I always think the shakes look completely disgusting. Powdery residue clings to the bottom of their shake bottles and they have an awful grainy texture in your mouth that’s akin to getting mouthful of sand at the beach. My perception was very wrong though as the consistency was more fluid and like a semi-skimmed milk. They also use real fruit puree instead of artificial fruit so the flavour is fresh and “real”. There’s none of the weird grainy texture either which I was very grateful of!

I’ve been really impressed with the drinks both in terms of taste and because they include 20g of protein in each one – that makes getting closer to my 85g target much more doable and has meant I can focus on eating what my body wants instead of panicking that I’m not getting enough goodness for baby scissors. I’d absolutely recommend these drinks to anyone looking to get some extra protein into their diet – they’re a fab choice for breakfast alongside some fruit or cereal too.

My only complaint is that they run out too quickly! Mr Scissors does a very physical job for a living (forestry work) and protein is something that can be hugely beneficial after he’s had a long data t work to repair his body so he’s been pilfering them from the fridge – cheeky sod! As I said, he’s incredibly picky so it’s great to find  product that can both of us can enjoy that’s doing us the world of good!

How do you make sure you’re getting the right amount of protein in pregnancy? Do you think you’re having enough according toe the EFSA guidelines? I’d love to know.

Disclosure: These lovely drinks were sent to me by the guys at Upbeat but all opinions are entirely my own – these drinks are lush!

About 
Kelly is a twenty-something lover of all things nerdy. Cocktails and lie ins are her favorite things, neither of which she can enjoy since becoming a mum for the first time. She writes about everything she loves and loathes (with a little indifference thrown in for good measure!) She also blogs over on the BabyCentre about life as a new mum.

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