Need food suggestions. High calorie, low sodium, low sugar

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eatingforspawn
eatingforspawn Posts: 34 Member
edited February 2015 in Food and Nutrition
I am obese at the moment and pregnant. I am, with my doctor's blessing, losing weight during my pregnancy, however, I feel I may be losing a little too fast.

My BMR for my current weight (while NOT pregnant) is about 2500 cals per day. Now, I know that while pregnant you are supposed to eat a couple hundred extra calories, typically, but me being obese makes that fact obsolete. Still, while eating my current healthy diet, I can only manage to consume between about1800 to 2100 cals per day, and I am losing weight at a rate of about 5 to 8 pounds a month.

The main problem I am having with fitting in another couple hundred calories, is sodium. I am also trying to keep my sodium intake in the 2300 range, which I manage on most days, though I am often a little over, say 100 to 200.

So, I would love some advice on low to no sodium foods, that are also low in sugar, that can give me another few hundred cals a day. I already eat half to one full avocado a day. I have considered just putting lots of olive oil on my veggies, and I guess that is one possibility, but 200-500 cals worth of oil? I'm not sure that is a good idea, even though olive oil is healthy.

I hate nuts btw and they hurt my teeth so they are not an option.

Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Add the olive oil or any other oil. That is a good and easy way to add the extra calories.
    Also high calorie/ low sugar / low salt are these: eggs and meats. Make a hamburger or add a larger portion to whatever you are cooking during the day.
    (The only way to be low sodium is to cook at home as far as I know)
  • stif9
    stif9 Posts: 33 Member
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    Eggs and meats obviously, also brown rice fits your needs. Or you can make some pancakes using grinded quaker oats, an egg, a touch of milk, some walnuts, cinnamon and a bit of stevia.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
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    natural peanut butter. They make unsalted ones. Not sure if you include that under "hate nuts".

    Full fat yogurt or whole milk.
  • eatingforspawn
    eatingforspawn Posts: 34 Member
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    Eggs actually have a lot of sodium in them. I eat two poached each morning and that gives me about 300 mg sodium. Meats do have some, though not a terrible amount, though I do already eat meat and by adding more I will be adding more sodium, when I am already at my limit. I guess it is looking like lots of oil is the best option so far. I just don't know how on some days, I will manage a quarter cup or so. That is a lot of oil!

    Brown rice is a good one. Maybe I can incorporate that in here and there. As far as natural salt free peanut butter. I don't know that does sound kind of gross lol, and i have no idea how I would eat it. Can't add any bread to my diet as that is sodium city. I do eat apples on some days and I guess I could dip them and just try to ignore the taste. Or just eat disgusting spoonfuls lol.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
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    If you would eat bread, how about something like pasta? Also potatoes, which have the added benefit of potassium.
  • chellzpike
    chellzpike Posts: 1 Member
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    ... Hmm I love black bean brownies sweetened with stevia instead of sugar ... And a friend of mine makes them with avocado icing. Avocado is a great way to add calories because it is a fat but it's also very nutritious. That said on a healthy safe diet are you sure loosing 8lbs a month is a bad thing. I might be mistaking but I thought with a healthy sufficient diet many women who are obese loose fat sometimes very rapidly while pregnant. It sounds to me like you are making great life choices for your health.. Check with your obstetrician or a nutritionist before changing your eating... And if not check out some recipies that incorporate avocado, coconut oil, sweet potato, beans, or maybe some unsalted mixed nuts, as all those foods are both calorie dense with the added benefit of being nutritious. Be careful not to over indulge in foods rich in vitamin A however because it can hurt the developing fetus.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
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    eatingforspawn wrote: »
    Eggs actually have a lot of sodium in them. I eat two poached each morning and that gives me about 300 mg sodium. Meats do have some, though not a terrible amount, though I do already eat meat and by adding more I will be adding more sodium, when I am already at my limit. I guess it is looking like lots of oil is the best option so far. I just don't know how on some days, I will manage a quarter cup or so. That is a lot of oil!

    Brown rice is a good one. Maybe I can incorporate that in here and there. As far as natural salt free peanut butter. I don't know that does sound kind of gross lol, and i have no idea how I would eat it. Can't add any bread to my diet as that is sodium city. I do eat apples on some days and I guess I could dip them and just try to ignore the taste. Or just eat disgusting spoonfuls lol.
    Natural peanut butter is 90 calories per table spoon which is why I mentioned it...an easy way to add calories without eating a large volume of food.I haven't tried the unsalted, but do eat the natural peanut butter that does add salt and I like that much more than regular pb. That being said...salt makes everything taste better so you could be right. LOL!

    Btw, if you do try it, I don't eat bread so I usually have it with an apple or banana or mix some into plain yogurt...that's actually very good. I also occasionally have a spoonful with a few bites of some 72% cocoa dark chocolate and basically replicate a Reeses cup with less sugar and much better chocolate. But yeah...no salt could change the experience a bit.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    a mere ounce of almonds is around 160 calories.
  • eatingforspawn
    eatingforspawn Posts: 34 Member
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    chellzpike wrote: »
    ... Hmm I love black bean brownies sweetened with stevia instead of sugar ... And a friend of mine makes them with avocado icing. Avocado is a great way to add calories because it is a fat but it's also very nutritious. That said on a healthy safe diet are you sure loosing 8lbs a month is a bad thing. I might be mistaking but I thought with a healthy sufficient diet many women who are obese loose fat sometimes very rapidly while pregnant. It sounds to me like you are making great life choices for your health.. Check with your obstetrician or a nutritionist before changing your eating... And if not check out some recipies that incorporate avocado, coconut oil, sweet potato, beans, or maybe some unsalted mixed nuts, as all those foods are both calorie dense with the added benefit of being nutritious. Be careful not to over indulge in foods rich in vitamin A however because it can hurt the developing fetus.


    I am not really interested in fancy recipes like black bean brownies or stuff like that that tries to mimic tasty stuff. I have no trouble avoiding processed foods with the way I do things, but if I try to incorporate "Fake" versions of yummy stuff, I fear it will make me crave the real thing. I also won't eat sugar substitutes, be they "natural" or not. I just don't trust them. I just try to keep things as simple as possible. Also I do eat avocados every day already. I have sweet potato about every other day. I could try adding more beans, but without salt they are kind of nasty. I used to eat them a lot but I added salt. Can't eat nuts.

    About the 8 pounds a month. I just don't know. My doc is very hard to communicate with. One minute things are fine with her the next minute it isn't. I really don't think she knows much about nutrition. She gives really strange and often conflicting advice sometimes. Anyway, if it is healthy, I am happy to maintain my current diet and weight loss, but as I get further into the second trimester, and the baby starts growing more rapidly, I am getting paranoid about not feeding it enough. I would feel safer only having a calorie deficit of 200 to 300 a day instead of 400 to 700.

    Thanks.
  • eatingforspawn
    eatingforspawn Posts: 34 Member
    edited February 2015
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    MoiAussi93 wrote: »
    Natural peanut butter is 90 calories per table spoon which is why I mentioned it...an easy way to add calories without eating a large volume of food.I haven't tried the unsalted, but do eat the natural peanut butter that does add salt and I like that much more than regular pb. That being said...salt makes everything taste better so you could be right. LOL!

    Btw, if you do try it, I don't eat bread so I usually have it with an apple or banana or mix some into plain yogurt...that's actually very good. I also occasionally have a spoonful with a few bites of some 72% cocoa dark chocolate and basically replicate a Reeses cup with less sugar and much better chocolate. But yeah...no salt could change the experience a bit.

    At Costco today I noticed the Kirkland natural peanut butter. No salt, no sugar, and absolutely ZERO mgs of sodium. 200 cals per serving. I figured it was worth a try. So I just made myself a little half pb&j sammich with homemade, no sugar added blueberry jam, and it was definitely edible. So I think I can definitely incorporate this into my diet on some days to lower my sodium and up my cals a bit. It is a perfect solution. Until now I was just using more avocado and olive oil. I love both but don't need to be having quite so much of it every day. Thanks for the suggestion, even though I was not too excited about it at first.



  • kayeiam
    kayeiam Posts: 215 Member
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    Blue diamond lightly salted roasted almonds have 170 calories with only 40 sodium per serving (approx 28 almonds). I also saw today at Walmart (don't remember the brand, but black colored bag) of pistacio nuts that were salt free.

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