The Protein Deal

The New Deal was a momentous historial feat that helped reverse the Great Depression.

The Deal a pregnant woman makes between herself and her daily intake of protein is none the less challenging. I mention in my new book The Green Pregnancy Diet that we (the universal pregnant woman) have to increase our intake of protein DAILY from 46 to 71 grams. That's an additional 25 grams of protein a day! And, honestly ladies, who of us (seriously) keeps a calculator on hand to crunch the numbers throughout the day in attempt to keep track of the protein in every meal? Um, no one I know. I do, however, try to estimate how much protein I'm getting then do a quick mental tally by evening snack time.

Case in point my protein count on Thursday, which proved to be more of a challenge than usual because I ate a bagel and low-fat cream cheese (approx 10 grams) for breakfast instead of the usual high protein, sugar-free cereal with soymilk, and a salad with feta cheese for lunch (approx 12-15 grams) rather than my trusted, protein-packed cheese sandwich on whole wheat.

By afternoon snack time I figured that I eaten a mere 25 grams of protein, and that was a generous rounding of the estimates. I had another 46 to go - as much as one would otherwise eat in an entire day - and I only had one meal left!

How did I do it? I may not have. I chowed on a bunch of nuts as a snack (8 grams), then had a Gardenburger Chickin' veggie burger for dinner - a true protein bailout in a pinch with 15 grams in the burger alone, plus another 8 or so more between the whole grain bun and organic, low-fat cheese added in. Plus, I had some steamed veggies (a good 4 grams) then had a glass of soy milk (8 grams) and a few strawberries (1 or 2 grams?) as an evening snack. My total protein count for the day: 71 grams give or take 5 grams based on serving sizes and momory-based estimates. I guess I did make the deal that day-barely.

Can every mom to be really be expected to check their dietary reference handbooks for the exact grams of each and every item they eat, calculate serving sizes, then determine to the penny how many grams she's getting daily?

Surely not. The best we can do are focus on the high protein foods, and do those educated guesses and memory-based estimates at the end of each and every busy day.