By now, you’ve learned Vinnie’s acronym NSNG to mean NO SUGAR NO GRAINS. We also have plenty of other acronyms to use when discussing our lifestyle. One commonly used acronym came from Vinnie’s closing on all of his podcasts. If you haven’t yet become a listener, he closes with the phrase “Put life into living and do it with enthusiasm”. So we adopted LIL to mean putting life into living = NON-NSNG (we don’t like to say ‘cheat’ day because we don’t want it to be a day of LIL necessarily). Being on a strict NSNG lifestyle, you would be NLIL… You get it!
I had preferred a late Summer/early Fall labor, August-October, so I wouldn’t have to wear bundles of clothing when I’m at my largest. But we were able to conceive on the first attempt causing the due date to fall in late July, AND meaning I had to endure 1st trimester cravings during the most tempting food time of the year: Christmas!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I LIL’d…. Pie, cake, petit four, potato chips, I even had a biscuit with butter. And I gained weight FAST! But I’ll defer to another one of Vinnie’s famous phrases: It doesn’t matter what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s, it only matters what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas…
Now in January, past the holiday season finally, and settled in at home, I’ve gotten back on track (for the most part… I had a MASSIVE craving for potato chips again…) and cooking my NSNG meals at home. The aversions to some of my meals has caused another problem! I used to grill chicken thighs weekly and now have no desire for the meat. I made an Italian Meatball soup from the Pioneer Woman and used a homemade turkey broth. After eating two small bowls of it as soon as it was ready, I now can’t stand the smell of it! And the fatigue… I can sometimes barely gather the energy to boil water to make a pitcher of unsweet tea. I’m getting nauseous if I don’t eat every 2-3 hours and again if I eat too much.
I’ve made some key adjustments to help my 1st trimester symptoms:
*Keep healthy snacks close by and stocked up if I go too long without eating to curb the nausea such as nuts, berries, pickles, pickled okra, sliced veggies (celery, carrots, cucumber) and homemade ranch or hummus.
*If I get sweet cravings, I’ve reintroduced one of my favorite fruits back into my lifestyle: grapefruit. Normally this would not be good for strict NSNG due to the glycemic index, but quelling a sweet craving with that seems better than running out for ice cream or cake.
*A little sweet that is acceptable with NSNG is dark chocolate. We typically look for 85% cacao or higher (but not the 99% baking version). Check labels! Make sure there’s no added sugar (Ghirardelli) and that it is not processed with alkali (Hershey’s) which is a dutching process, including chemicals, that kills the nutritional value of the chocolate. Some of our favorite brands are Alter Eco, Theo, and Endangered Species.
*I keep a ton of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and avocados in stock to cut up into yummy Villa Cappelli olive oil (save 10% here!), apple cider vinegar, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley. It is a filling, healthy meal full of vitamins and healthy fats, and it tastes AMAZING!
Post your own tips in the comments that you’ve used to help the cravings, nausea, and aversions!