What I'm eating in my third trimester.

Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, reporting for duty.

As someone who works in the nutrition/wellness space, I am borderline obsessed with what my peers are cooking and eating on a daily basis. Not in a “let me pick apart your diet and compare it to my own” kind of sense, but in a genuinely curious and open-to-ideas type of way. I love when influencers post their perfectly pristine smoothie bowls and pistachio cream lattes on social media, of course, but I also can’t get enough of the gals who share a sizzling whole chicken right out of the oven or a colorful crudités platter with hummus! It’s easy to fall into a food rut, and seeing others’ culinary creations gets me so stoked to experiment more in the kitchen. (If you follow @emilymariko on Instagram, you know what I’m talking about.)

It’s probably no surprise then that “What I Eat In a Day” posts are my favorite! I’ve always been tempted to create one myself, but every time I start photographing my meals, I can’t help but delete the photos 30 minutes later. (Making my bites presentable enough to produce a decent photo is not a priority for me. I couldn’t care less about eggs on toast looking pretty; I just want my food to taste good, and to eat it before my kids have the chance.) Another obstacle? I’m constantly grazing in pregnancy, which means I rarely take the extra minute to plate my snacks.¹

But then I figured, imperfection has never stopped me from sharing something before; realism can be just as interesting as the picturesque, IMO. And so that’s how the idea for this newsletter came to fruition! But instead of showing you exactly what I ate over the course of one day (because remembering to document every single thing I put in my mouth during a 24-hour period is tough), I captured as many meals and snacks as I could over a few days to provide a general glimpse into my everyday diet as a 30-week pregnant mom of two.

Before we begin, a couple things to consider: 1) How I eat in pregnancy is very similar to how I eat regularly,² so this newsletter is written for anyone who eats, not just women who are expecting a baby. 2) Don’t pay much attention to my portion sizes in the pictures, because nine times out of ten, I end up going back for seconds and even thirds. Girl’s gotta eat!

Breakfast Rotation

I try to start every morning with a hearty breakfast that prioritizes equal parts protein and carbs to feel my best. This usually includes some combination of eggs, fruit, and either fried potatoes, tortillas, or homemade sourdough toast. Applegate sausage links and bacon are breakfast staples in our house as well.

I feel like I’ve rarely craved scrambled eggs these days, but when I do, I add half a cup of cottage cheese to the mixture for extra protein and unbeatable creaminess.

On the weekends, we love blending up a batch of protein pancakes for everyone to share. We completely improvised the recipe, but for how nourishing these are, I think the taste is top notch. I’ll provide it below!

Protein Pancake Recipe

• 1 cup ricotta or cottage cheese

• 2 eggs

• 1 ripe banana

• 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 2 scoops protein powder (I use this one, but any protein powder will do!)

• 1 tbsp. sugar or honey (I’ve also been experimenting with allulose in baked goods lately, for those of you who are working on blood sugar management—tastes like sugar, and unlike stevia, comes with solid health benefits!)

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• dash of cinnamon

We blend everything together, butter a hot griddle, and throw some sweet toppings in the individual pancakes while they cook. (Me and Ayla like chocolate chips, Scott and Jude prefer fresh blueberries.) Drizzle a bit of maple syrup on top and you have delicious hotcakes that need not be paired with any other protein.

Every so often, I’ll have a yogurt parfait (seen below in the snacks section), but this doesn’t satiate me as much, and I typically need to refuel an hour or two later.

Morning Bevvies

My go-to caffeinated beverage is Chameleon or Bizzy cold brew (purchased from HEB) with a splash of cream, or if I’m feeling fancy, homemade cold foam—I simply froth a tablespoon or two of heavy cream with maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt. Yesterday, though, I treated myself to a Starbucks run for the free(!) brown sugar cold foam. Other days, I crave a matcha latte or a whole milk cappuccino. Either way, I never go without my daily caffeine fix.

I follow my coffee/tea up with an adrenal elixir to replenish electrolytes and hydrate with minerals. I’ve been low in iron this pregnancy, so I recently started including liquid chlorophyll to boost copper and blood volume. It’s not the best tasting supplement, but a splash of juice masks the grassy taste nicely.

Adrenal Elixir Recipe

• 1/2 cup coconut water (for potassium)

• 1/2 cup sparkling water (for taste)

• splash of orange, grapefruit, or lime juice (for taste)

• 1 tbsp. liquid chlorophyll (for copper/iron balance)

• 1/2 tsp. 40,000 Volts (for trace minerals)

• 1/4 tsp. vitamin C powder (for immune system support)

• 1/8 tsp. Maldon sea salt (for sodium)

Froth it all up and sip!

Lunch Rotation

Lunches are almost always reheated dinner leftovers. I ain’t got the energy to plan and whip up three meals a day, so that’s what works best for us! When I’m not too hungry, or just crunched on time, a poor excuse for a charcuterie board will suffice (see below in snacks). Keep scrollin’ for a few of the lunches I ate this week.

Tip for toddler moms: Not sure what to feed the little ones for lunch? That’s where last minute charcuterie boards come in clutch. (Toss some meat/cheese, crackers/chips, and fruit/veggies onto a cutting board, and the whole thing will be gone before you know it!)

Snackable Bites

I am a snacker, y’all. Always have been, always will be. You can’t convince me that snacking is ever a bad idea. Sour mood? Munch on something. Tired? Grab some sustenance. Anxious or over-stimulated? It’s snack time. As long as it’s whole food based (read: not ultra-processed) and contains adequate protein, I am a snack stan. These are my current faves.

Dinner Rotation

Scott cooks most of our dinners—I only cook on average 1-2 nights a week—and for that, I am so grateful. (He is a much better chef than I am!) I help with meal planning, grocery shopping, and do 90% of the dishwashing/cleaning, an arrangement we’re both pretty happy with.

We try to vary our protein throughout the week so that we’re not eating beef or chicken every day, but—as all parents out there can relate—when you have picky eaters, choosing options that the whole family will enjoy is tough! For example, Jude and Ayla won’t touch shrimp or salmon, and will only eat chicken or steak if they can dip it in ketchup. *Enter eye roll here.* For this reason, we end up cooking ground beef enchiladas, wheat beer chili, and smash burgers on repeat.

On evenings that we do prepare fish/seafood, we give the kids one alternative choice, like leftovers from a previous day’s dinner. Otherwise, they eat what we eat or they don’t eat at all. (We used to be more lenient in this area, but we quickly figured out that our willingness to acquiesce to their requests for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or yogurt for dinner was only making them more particular around mealtimes.)

It’s common that we make either sourdough pizza or a weekly pasta dish, but we were all about the rice this week.

Sweet Treats

I mentioned in my latest pregnancy update that my sweet tooth has been WILD, but instead of depriving myself, I satisfy the craving and move on. Sometimes, this will look like a scoop of raw honey ice cream (this brand from Sprouts is to die for), but oftentimes, anything with a little dark chocolate hits the spot. My desserts lately:

You probably noticed that all of these foods, with the exception of my Starbucks cold brew, were cooked and eaten at home. That’s because, on a normal week, about 90% of my meals are. Occasionally, Scott and I will splurge on Fuzzy’s Tacos or a Chick-fil-A run with the kiddos to simplify our lives, but we mostly choose to reserve our budgeted “eating out” money for intentional dates at nice(r) restaurants. For instance, we’re planning on getting hibachi on Saturday evening to celebrate Mother’s Day as a family, and Scott ordered a bacon and egg quiche from my favorite patisserie down the road to share on Sunday morning before church. I really look forward to these weekly "indulgences,” and even though I can’t justify it more than once or twice, I think we’ve struck a good balance.

There you have it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this newsletter as much as I enjoy everyone else’s food reels. Anything I mentioned that you’d like the recipe for? Just comment below and I’ll send it on over.

New on the Blog: 28 Weeks Down

This pregnancy update (for subscribers only) details my second trimester, including my self-care rituals, a couple name preferences, and how I got out of taking the Glucose Tolerance Test. Not subscribed to the Candid Corner? It only costs a one-time fee of $5 to gain full access to my most personal posts and life updates.

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Limited Time Deals: Starbucks + Target

Quick PSA for my Starbucks/Target girlies: S’bucks is giving out FREE cold foam at any participating location from now until Mother’s Day (5/11). I tried their new brown sugar cold foam yesterday, and it was delish—but apparently, there’s now also a strawberry cold foam?! Yes, please. And until tomorrow (5/10), Target is offering 20% off on a new car seat, stroller, or home gear purchase when you trade in an old car seat. So you can bet that’s where I’ll be this afternoon. Happy Mother’s Day Weekend to all the mamas in the house!

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1. Usually, I’m plucking cheese and turkey right out of the fridge and sticking it in my mouth during a spare moment alone.

2. With a few exceptions: I don’t consume a lot of raw fish or veggies during pregnancy to prevent food poisoning, and I tend to opt for smaller, more frequent meals/snacks to support digestion and keep blood sugar balanced throughout the day.