I know you want to eat well during your pregnancy to nourish your growing baby, but it can be hard when all you feel is hot chips.  In this blog, I’m going to share my top 7 dietitian-approved, best foods for morning sickness, that will simultaneously help you feel better AND nourish your baby.   

If you’re feeling nauseous, try these foods….

1. A glass of water with a squeeze of lemon

Dehydration can often make your morning sickness worse.  But, sometimes it can be difficult to drink enough… especially if you’re vomiting all the time. The strong sour smell of the lemon can reduce nausea, so be generous with the amount of lemon that you add. Furthermore, the lemon juice impacts the way that your body absorbs and retains water, so it’s often easier to drink more water when it is flavoured with lemon juice. And, if you’re really sick, and you can’t even stomach water, just try smelling the cut lemon first. Give it a go. I bet you’ll be glad that you did!

2. Green smoothie with ginger

Simply put your favourite green vegies into a blender…. I’d recommend some baby spinach, celery and mint with some citrus fruit, such as an orange, lemon or lime and ginger. The green vegies are for folate which is a very important nutrient during your first trimester of pregnancy when you’re also most likely to be struggling with morning sickness. Citrus fruits are also a good source of folate, and they contain some carbohydrate for energy. Carbohydrate has also been found to be helpful for relieving morning sickness, and then ginger as that has been found to be beneficial for relieving nausea too. Add as much ginger as you can tolerate. Drinks are often easier to stomach than food when your morning sickness is really bad, so you should find this helpful. 

3. Vegemite on toast

Vegemite contains vitamin B6 which has been found to improve nausea.  I’d recommend using either wholemeal, rye or white bread if you’re feeling really sick, instead of grainy bread or sourdough, which is what I’d usually recommend as a dietitian.  This is because you want a higher GI bread, so that the carbohydrates in the bread break down quickly and easily giving you a quick boost of energy.  Use as little butter as possible, as research shows that fat can make your nausea worse.

4. Miso soup

You can either buy this or make it yourself. You’ll find a recipe on my blog here. The tofu in miso soup will provide you with some protein which is essential for your growing baby, and even more important if you can’t stomach meat and chicken at the moment.  And the stock used to make miso is really good for rehydration. 

5. Popcorn

But, you need to be really careful about which popcorn you use. Remember I said that too much fat can make you feel even worse? So avoid buttered popcorn and pop your own. The carbohydrates and salt in this will help to make you feel heaps better, so nibble on this throughout the day.

6. Slices of apple

I often recommend leaving an apple and a knife next to your bed, and then peeling the apple and having a few slices before you get out of bed in the morning. This will help to optimise your blood sugar levels and hormones before you get out of bed, and can be a great help if you truly are experiencing MORNING sickness. Banana also works well.

7. Low fat yoghurt

The reason why this made my list is that it is rich in carbohydrates and protein which are good for morning sickness, and low in fat.  Furthermore, there’s some suggestion that the probiotics may also be helpful for morning sickness, especially if your morning sickness is caused by a bug called H pylori. Try to get a natural yoghurt without any additives.

If you’ve tried all this and are still vomiting three times or more per day, or have lost more than 3 kilograms or 6 pounds, make sure that you make an appointment to see a prenatal dietitian.

And, can I please ask you a favour? Let me know in the comments below, which of these you’re going to try first… and how you go!  I’d love to hear if it makes a difference for you.