When morning sickness hits, it can be hard to know what to eat. This helpful list of mostly healthy foods for morning sickness (with printable PDF) will give you some great ideas of things to eat that may even help you feel better.
Help for What to Eat When Pregnant and Sick
Do you feel sick and nauseous? Are you finding it hard to even enjoy your pregnancy? I’m so sorry, mama. I know exactly how you feel. I’m one of those people who is prone to nausea. Carsickness? Yep. Motion sickness on amusement park rides? You betcha. Morning sickness? For 6 months.
I love eating healthy most of the time (with the occasional treat thrown in here and there), but pregnancy makes it so tough for me to eat well. At a time when it seems like everybody else is eating better than they ever have, I’m over here eating squeeze cheese on Wheat Thins and whatever else I can keep down (ice cream, anyone?). My poor babies! Well, they’re starting to grow up now and they are all actually quite smart and healthy, so I guess I didn’t ruin them forever.
If you’ve read my post on ways to beat morning sickness ( and you DEFINITELY should!), you know I advise that you eat a combination of protein, fat, and carbohydrate every time you consume anything as a way to keep your blood sugar balanced and your nausea (hopefully) under control. This is definitely my top recommendation for foods for morning sickness.
However, there are some days (or weeks? or months?) when all you can do is eat what sounds good and hope it stays down. It might not be a combo of the good stuff that balances your blood sugar. It might not be “health food”. It might even be a little bit of processed food. I’m a big believer in becoming as informed as possible and then doing what you need to do to get through to the next thing.
Sure, you might “know” that it’s best to combine protein with carbs, but if all you can eat is a bowl of frozen grapes, then eat it! You might “know” that organic, whole food is healthiest, but if salt and vinegar chips are all you can keep down. Eat them! No judgment, no guilt.
Do what you need to do to get through what you need to get through!
This is a philosophy for morning sickness and the whole process of labor and birth.
Top Notch Nutrition Advice for Pregnancy (that actually improves your baby’s health FOR LIFE!)
Once you get through this horrible nausea, you’re going to want to eat as well as possible, right? And my friend Allie has just created a course that teaches pregnancy nutrition that you can’t get just anywhere.
To be honest, the pregnancy nutrition advice out in the mainstream has been not great for a while. In the last couple of years, I’ve seen a few more excellent resources for moms looking to eat well for their health and for baby’s health.
The only nutrition course that I recommend is Allie’s Perfect Pregnancy Plan. This short, but in-depth, course tells you what you need to eat to actually turn on the gene expression that will give your baby the best possible start in life! Amazing, right?! This course is, quite honestly, a steal at less than $50 and you can bundle it with a pregnancy fitness course for an even better deal.
If you want to know what the latest research is on what to eat for the best pregnancy health, grab this course right now and start putting it into practice as soon as you can eat again!
Ready for your huge list of foods to keep you and baby nourished and healthy? Keep reading. It’s next.
You may also like: How to find a doula OR The very best foods to eat in your first trimester
50+ Foods for Morning Sickness and Pregnancy Nausea of All Kinds
With that said, here is a huge list of things to eat to help you get through pregnancy nausea, either in early pregnancy or throughout all your trimesters. Your body is feeding a beautiful baby. I hope that some of these snacks and foods for morning sickness, über-healthy or not, will inspire you and help you find things to eat until you and your baby get through to the next phase:
Balancing Your Blood Sugar~Foods that Combine Protein, Fat, and Carbs
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- Peanut butter on whole grain toast or crackers
- Cheese sandwich on whole grain bread
- Tuna salad on whole grain bread or crackers
- Eggs and whole grain toast
- Granola and milk
- A banana with nut butter
- Nuts and raisins or trail mix of some sort
- Chicken and brown rice or quinoa
- Cottage cheese, yogurt, or ricotta and a piece of fruit
- Oatmeal with peanut butter (or another protein source)
- Loaded sweet potato (click here for great recipe options)
- Cheese and whole grain crackers ( I love these crackers!)
- Chicken noodle soup
- Fruit smoothie with Greek yogurt and/or nut butter for protein and fat
Simple Single Foods to Provide Nourishment and Quell Nausea
- Grilled or roasted chicken
- Larabars
- Crackers, the old standby (If you want to go easier on your blood sugar, try these almond flour crackers. So good!)
- Crystallized ginger
- A whole avocado
- Roasted, salted almonds
- Strawberries
- Jerky
- Baked potatoes
- Bland cookies like these arrowroot cookies
- String cheese
- Ginger cookies
- Chips, like salt and vinegar chips (You can get them on Amazon in individual bags for portion control! Always thinking….)
- Black bean brownies (Try this recipe for a great, gluten free brownie + more about why to eat more beans for morning sickness here.)
- Pomegranate seeds
- Frozen grapes
Meals that May Appeal Despite Morning Sickness
- Salad with steak on top
- Hummus with pita bread and olives
- Bean burritos and carrot sticks
- Beef stew
- Grilled cheese sandwich
- Peanut butter & banana toast
- Rotisserie chicken and side salad
- High protein (& gluten free) macaroni and cheese with broccoli
- Chuck roast with mashed potatoes and carrots
- Healthy Ramen Noodles like this recipe from Simple Healthy Kitchen
Drinks to Suppress Nausea while Pregnant
- Electrolyte drinks (Gatorade or a zero calorie, stevia sweetened electrolyte drink mix like this one that my whole family loves)
- Ginger ale or ginger beer (The stronger, the better!)
- Red raspberry leaf tea
- A sparkly flavored water like La Croix (Bonus: No sugar!) I love Pamplemousse (Grapefruit) or Cherry Lime.
- A sparkly juice drink made with hydrating coconut water like this Starbucks Black Cherry Limeade with Coconut Water. Yum!
- Pomegranate juice
- Switchel (Great for digestions! Wellness Mama has an easy recipe here.)
- Good Girl Moonshine (This is basically an apple cider vinegar and ginger drink like switchel that was popularized by the diet plan called Trim Healthy Mama. There are many versions online with wonderful flavor variations, like those below.)
- Strawberry Good Girl Moonshine by Gal on a Mission
- Lemonade Good Girl Moonshine by Mama Shire
- Strawberry Limeade Good Girl Moonshine by Mommy Octopus (my favorite version!)
- Cranberry Juice
- Bone broth (Did you know you can get this made with real bones in stores now?! Not cheap, but if you’re too sick to cook, this might be a great option for you.)
- Fresh squeezed lemonade (bonus if you toss a little ginger juice in!)
See anything that sounded good? Click here to pin on your pregnancy board for later!
Of course you should eat as well as you can, and I hope this list of foods for morning sickness helps at least a little bit with inspiring you to find foods that you can tolerate, whether you are are in your first or second trimester or one of those poor souls with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) or just plain sick your whole pregnancy!
Anything here sound good? Did I miss something? All of a sudden I feel like waffles (high protein, of course) should be on this list!
And don’t forget to grab Allie’s Perfect Pregnancy Plan for the absolute best in nutrition advice available right now. She has a ton of great recipes, including some morning sickness smoothies that should help you feel better ASAP. You can get it right here.
If you’re newly pregnant, you will absolutely love this list of super cute shirts to share your pregnancy with the world. Check it out!
[…] more food ideas? I put up a huge list of 50+ things to eat during morning sickness that should help you find some things to keep the nausea at […]