Weight Gain During Pregnancy: When To Be Concerned
I love – and live – to eat. My biggest weakness? Snacks and desserts. Unfortunately, when I decided to cut back on snacking, I was determined not to go at this alone, and nagged my husband and daughter to eat healthy along with me. The truth was, I had “played cheat” on my diet and on them by going on secret “binge-dates” with my first loves: Chocolate, potato chips and cookies!

I have always been a little on the meaty side, but after my first pregnancy, when I became borderline diabetic and tipped the scales into the slightly obese, I decided to pass on eating food items that had simple sugars. And I am glad to say I managed to stick to this self-enforced diet for four years!

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woman eating healthy snack of almond nuts
What I was not so proud of was this – I coerced my family to join me on my diet out of food envy! Being such a snacks and sweets lover, I felt unhappy that Kenny* and four-year-old Selena* could eat anything they wanted, while I had to look on as an irritated wife and mum during our family meals. As they say, misery needs company, and so I made a selfish judgment call early last year that, they too, needed to eat healthy.

Out of love, Kenny and Selena agreed to accompany me.

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The Best And Worst Things To Eat During Christmas Dinner
Luckily my daughter didn’t inherit my sweet tooth – and so, within a few months, we reduced our intake of snacks and desserts to a once-a-week Sunday tea-time outing where we ordered bite-sized pastries. Until last Christmas, that is.

All kinds of sweet temptations abound during the festive season, and normally, we would refuse any kind of food gift, but one such present made it through the family gates: Kenny’s mum baked an upside down pineapple cake and brought it across from Malaysia especially for us. We couldn’t say no…

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On Boxing Day night, I committed my first sin. As though the confectionery called out to me, I suddenly awoke in the middle of the night and decided to have myself a taste of the home-made baked goodie. By the time I returned to bed, I had wolfed down three slices! In the next couple of days, out of guilt, I brought the forbidden fruit (cake) to the office for my colleagues.

That one moment of weakness rekindled my love affair with snacks and desserts. After work-day lunches, I would indulge in a scoop of yoghurt – on some days, even a double scoop of gelato… with extra toppings. On my way home from office, I would stop by bakeries just to grab a smallish pack of pre-dinner cookies.

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5 Preservatives To Watch Out For In Foods_Potato Chips
On Saturdays, when Kenny took Selena out to cycle, I would pop open a hidden-away bag of potato chips and consume it all in one sitting while watching a rom-com alone (in my defence, the chips were trans-fat- and gluten-free, and unsalted!). I justified that these cheat-day treats were my way to deal with stress.

While I secretly binged, I would still play the health warrior in the family, insisting that we eat our greens and not the “sweet sins”. To keep up the act, I would purposely eat less during our Sunday tea-times, confiscate any hidden snacks of Selena’s and even Kenny’s favourite chocolate chip cookies, but secretly had them for myself. On hindsight, it felt like I was over-compensating for my own failings by strictly enforcing what they ate.

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How To Ease Those Pregnancy Aches and Cramps
My day of reckoning came when I went for my health check-up for my second pregnancy a few months ago. The obstetrician told me that I was gaining weight rapidly, and had developed gestational diabetes. I immediately broke down, thinking that I had put my baby at risk with my snack obsession.

The doctor consoled me saying it was in no way my fault and that it could be managed easily. Later, Kenny consoled me too when I broke the news to him, but all I really felt that day – and the few weeks following after – was guilt.

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That was five months ago. With the help of my real health warriors, Kenny and Selena, who both keep a daily watch on my food intake, I have gained renewed confidence at not succumbing to any kind of unhealthy food (which includes fried food now!). Even if they knew that I had cheated on my diet, they showed none of it, only the love and concern for this recovering snack-and- dessert addict, and soon-to-be healthy mum of two.

*Names changed to protect privacy.

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