As I’ve said before, I am very conscious about what I eat. Weight Watchers trained me to pay attention to what and how much food I eat. Since I’ve had to entirely change my eating habits since learning I was pregnant, I purchased some books that will hopefully help guide me toward good pregnancy foods during this process.

The first book I bought is called, “The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About Foods You Should Be Eating During Pregnancy But Probably Aren’t.”

Sounds pretty straightforward, and it is. It starts with some basic information about certain nutrients you especially need to make sure you are getting while pregnant (iron, calcium, Vitamin D, folate, etc.) and explains why you need them.

The rest of the book basically breaks your pregnancy down into trimesters, then tells you which foods are best for you during each trimester and why you should be eating them (how they benefit you and baby). The one thing I found a little silly with this book was a couple foods were a little ridiculous. I mean, I understand that many people in their first trimester (including myself) suffer from morning sickness, but seriously? Ice chips made the first trimester list? Come on, people. Ice chips are water, not food.

The book also contains information about what to eat while you are breastfeeding, as well as foods that can help with postpartum depression, but I have not yet read those chapters as they don’t currently apply to me.

This is the first of the four book reviews I’ll be doing (at least in regards to nutrition). Let me know if you’ve read any of the books I mention and if you found them useful, or if you have other nutrition resources you think I should check out.

Recipe: Chocolate-y Vegan Overnight Oats with Chocolate Banana Softserve Topping

Courtesy of Liz at www.iheartvegetables.com

This is one of the best breakfast recipes I have found so far, and the best part is that it is incredibly easy! The hard part for me is making everything the night before because I tend to forget about it, but believe me, this recipe is worth trying (even my husband loves it). Plus, most of the ingredients (oats, chia seeds, bananas) are found in the Top 100 Foods book, so you know baby will like it too.

Overnight Oats Ingredients
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup soymilk (I used vanilla almond milk)
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp cocoa powder
6 drops vanilla stevia (I used half a packet of stevia)

Topping ingredients
1/2 frozen banana
4 cubes frozen soymilk + splash of non-frozen soymilk
2 packets of Truvia (I used my remaining stevia from the oats)
1 tbsp cocoa

Directions
Whisk all oats ingredients together and put in the fridge (covered) overnight. In the morning, blend the topping ingredients together in your blender or food processor until smooth. Pour on top of your oats and enjoy the chocolate-y deliciousness!