The Breakfast Food Giada De Laurentiis Ate To Combat Morning Sickness When Pregnant

Some women manage to dodge the miserable bullet that is morning sickness, but Giada De Laurentiis was not one of them. The acclaimed chef and Food Network personality recalls that, during the early days of her pregnancy with daughter Jade, "I had really bad morning sickness — I had to get up early and be in hair and makeup, and I had a hard time getting up and actually functioning," she explained in an interview published on First We Feast.

This misery was made even more difficult by the fact that the pregnancy was in its earliest stages, so no one at TODAY, where she was co-hosting and running food segments at the time, knew what she was going through. It quickly became clear to De Laurentiis that she had to figure something out, so she did what many expectant mothers do and turned to breakfast to get relief. Although it seems backwards that a nauseated person should put something in their stomach, it has proven to be an effective morning sickness remedy, notes Parents Magazine. However, the trick is finding the right foodstuff — and that's precisely what De Laurentiis did.

Turning to breakfast to solve the problem was an odd experience for Giada De Laurentiis. "I had never been a huge breakfast person, because breakfast, for Italians, is something really small, like a croissant or some toast," she said. But, in a moment of desperation, she scoured the kitchen for something that wouldn't totally turn her stomach. When her eyes landed on a pumpernickel bagel, she decided to give it a go — and it turned out to be a hugely successful decision. 

"I don't normally eat bagels, but every morning I would down half a pumpernickel bagel, and I felt like a rock star for the rest of the day," she recalled. The carb-laden food became a constant companion until three or four months into the pregnancy, at which time her symptoms eased. Pumpernickel bagels ended up being a pretty good choice health-wise, too. They are considered to be one of the better bagel options out there, compared with plain, or even wheat bagels, according to PhillyVoice.

However she had to get through it, De Laurentiis would definitely attest that daughter Jade Marie — born March 29, 2008 — was worth the effort (not to mention the extra calories).