TheHolisticParent.ORG Healthy Pregnancy Nutrition

Nutrition During Pregnancy

As simple as good nutrition is, there is an enormous amount of misinformation out
there. There is “conventional” nutrition, in which the typical food pyramid still dominates
mainstream thinking, and then there is true nutrition, that which actually produces
health. Make no mistake, they are quite different concepts. Then comes the topic of
pregnancy nutrition, which is a whole other playing field. There is so much information
out there, it is hard to know what to do. Eating during pregnancy is not all too different
than eating from normal life. My goal was to make this section as straightforward and
uncomplicated as possible.

What to Eat

So what kind of things should you be eating while you are pregnant? There is a “diet”
plan that many midwives use called The Brewer Diet. It has a lot of research behind it
and a great track record. While I have provided resources to better help understand this
“diet”, I will give simply a brief overview here.

Protein is very important during pregnancy. Protein is made up of amino acids, which
is basically the substance creating your baby. You need amino acids or protein to grow
new tissue. The Brewer Diet typically recommends a pregnant woman consume 100
grams of protein daily. My midwife, however, recommended to me to eat around 70-80
grams daily. 100 grams of protein a day will grow a pretty big baby!

Fruits and vegetables should be eaten as often as possible. There has been some
research showing fiber to be a contributing factor in decreasing the incidence of pre-
eclampsia. Fiber will also help with constipation, a common occurrence during
pregnancy, as well as ensure proper intact of nutrients.

Stay away from food additives, high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, sodas, white
flour, white sugar, diet foods, fat free foods, any foods chemically altered, and foods
stripped of their nutrient value. This is not so easy to do because it cuts out most of the
food offered at the grocery store as well as ALL fast food and almost all restaurant food.
It kind of blows your mind when you first learn this. Cheating occasionally will probably
not have any noticeable adverse outcomes on creating a healthy baby, but these types
of foods cannot produce health, so refraining as much as possible will contribute to a
higher level of health. The idea is to eat whole foods in their natural living state,
unaltered by man. Man cannot improve upon nature.

Organic

I am a firm believer in organic food. If it’s not organic, it has dangerous chemicals on it.
I feel it absolutely makes that big of a difference of health. You may be eating a healthy
piece of fruit, but if there are poisons on that fruit, you are poisoning your body. Just
think of Snow White. It would be all too easy to pretend like the chemicals are not on
there or can be washed off. The chemicals cannot always be washed off. Sometimes,
the chemicals are embedded throughout the entire piece of produce because of the
nature of how it grew as a seed. I know organic food is more expensive. It’s not
outrageous, but does cost more. This makes it easier to justify paying a little less for
nonorganic because you’d at least still be eating fruits and vegetables. I look at buying
organic food as an investment in my health. The more healthy food I buy, the less I will
have to spend of “sick” care. Healthy food is the best medicine.
It is even more important to eat organically when you’re pregnant. Everything you
choose to do affects the baby you’re carrying. What you eat, the baby eats. What you are
exposed to, the baby is exposed to. The less toxic things you give your baby, the
healthier that baby will be. Babies are also more sensitive to toxins as they are growing
and developing. I like to think of it even more so than development because ideally we
keep growing and developing our whole lives. The baby is being created in the womb. It
only gets one shot at being created correctly and normally. Give your baby the best
chance by minimizing the amount of poisons the baby is exposed to. That is why I
support organic food.

Water

In the Avoidance of Toxins section, I discuss the importance of pure uncontaminated
water. It is important to get enough water while you are pregnant. Water can play a very
important role in avoiding pregnancy complications. Low amniotic fluid and preterm
labor can be brought on from dehydration. Ideally, water should be very close to the only
fluid you are drinking. Some teas are okay during pregnancy. I also found that
sometimes drinks with electrolytes helped. It can be difficult for some women to drink
the proper amount of water that a pregnant women needs to consume. Don’t go for
Gatorade or whatever other junk is at a typical grocery store. Go to a health food store
and read the ingredients carefully. There are some that are a sports type drink that
doesn’t have harmful things in it.

A pregnant woman should be drinking around 3-4 quarts of water a day. This is 96-128
oz or 12-16 cups a day. Many people don’t even consume the proper amount of water
when they’re not pregnant, so this is something that is important to watch.
A good tea to drink when you’re pregnant is red raspberry leaf tea. It is a very good
uterine toner, which basically means it makes the uterus more efficient. There is some
confusion surrounding this tea. There are recommendations not to drink this tea until
later in the third trimester because it is thought this tea can increase the risk of spotting
during the first trimester or increase the incidence of miscarriage. My midwife
personally believed red raspberry leaf tea to be absolutely fine during my entire
pregnancy as do many other sources, and I personally did not experience any adverse
effects. It if concerns you, there is no problem with waiting until you are farther along.
But really do try some near the end of pregnancy because you doesn’t want a more
efficient uterus?

Milk Fallacy

I’ll be honest exactly what my stance on milk is: I hate the stuff. Cow milk is for baby
cows and that’s all. This is my belief. I don’t put that junk into my body. There’s this
horrible little rumor that humans need to drink this cow milk stuff to get our calcium. It
really is silly, but no less, we believe this. I won’t go into the conspiracies of the dairy
industry here, but further research about milk reveals some interesting facts. The very
crazy part is that we cannot get the calcium from the cow’s milk because it is wrapped
up in a protein that our bodies cannot digest: casein. So while it may have tons of
calcium in it, we can’t utilize it! Quite an important fact overlooked by the dairy industry.
There’s a whole host of problems and reactions to milk experienced by milk drinking
humans. There is also major issues of how the dairy cows are treated, how the milk is
obtained, what is in the milk such as hormones and antibiotics, and the processes
milk goes through such as homogenization and pasteurization. If you want to read
more about this, get the book: Milk The Deadly Poison by Robert Cohen. Fascinating
reading. Sadly, pregnant women are even more targeted to drink milk. There are many
that believe you can’t have a healthy pregnancy without it. Wouldn’t it be nice if people
actually did their research before spewing inaccuracies? The truth is that pregnant
women can get plenty of calcium without ever needing to drink milk; we all can. Get a
well rounded balance of fruits and veggies, and you’ll be fine. If you do experience
some effects of low calcium, you can always take it in a liquid form.

Vegetarianism

Yes, you can easily be a vegetarian if you are pregnant. You still need the same amount
of protein, but there are many excellent sources other than meat to consume. Meat is
very hard for our bodies to digest. It’s actually a fairly poor source of protein as well. I
know this is hard to believe. Animal protein cannot be used in its direct form by our
bodies. Our bodies have to break down the animal protein into amino acids, and then
create protein our body can recognize from the amino acids. It’s a hefty process for the
body. Our bodies are not designed to actually consume meat contrary to popular
thinking. Other sources of protein are nuts, sprouts, seeds, beans, lentils, and even
some fruits and veggies.

Other Ways of Eating

Vegetarianism is not the only way of eating that is different than mainstream. Below I
cover a few of them.

Fruitarian- This is an eater of mainly fruits, which also includes some non sweet fruits
such as avocados, tomatoes, and cucumbers. There are also some vegetables
included in the diet as well as nuts and seeds. Nothing is cooked. This diet is extreme
if compared to the Standard American Diet (SAD), in which we eat anything that we can
possibly consume. I feel this diet would be hard to adhere completely to during
pregnancy unless one is extremely used to this way of eating. I do know there are some
women who wholeheartedly stood behind this way of eating while they were pregnant. I
feel there is not enough research into this diet during pregnancy for me to make a
recommendation either way. The only issue to watch out for with this diet would be
consuming enough protein.

Vegan- Essentially, this is vegetarianism with a little more added. Vegans eat no
animal products whatsoever. This means no dairy, cheese, cutter, or other animal
products. I personally feel this diet is fine during pregnancy.

Raw Foods- This diet is basically as it sounds. Raw foodists eat foods that are not
cooked. There are some people who consider themselves raw foodists, but still add
some cooked foods such as soups in the winter. It is sometimes considered okay for
raw foodists to dehydrate their food as well. The main consideration with this diet
during pregnancy would again be the intact of protein. If you’re not going to cook
anything, then just watch your protein intact carefully. It is still possible to get enough
protein, however, if you pay attention. I feel this would be a difficult diet for most
pregnant women to follow. I would only recommend not making any drastic diet lifestyle
changes while pregnant. These changes are typically made slowly over time.

Prenatal Vitamins

Prenatal vitamins are difficult for the body to utilize. Of course, there is no doubt that the
body needs the appropriate amount of vitamins during pregnancy as well as anytime,
but the food you eat should supply the nutrients if you’re eating the proper food. Of
course, it is not always easy to get all the nutrients since the Standard American diet is
so depleted of them. Vitamins are still not going to necessarily do the trick, however.
I have found something I swear by during pregnancy; Juice Plus. This is a whole food
supplement. This means that not simply one vitamin is isolated and taken, but whole
foods with all of their nutritional value are utilized in this supplement. I have taken Juice
Plus for both of my pregnancies. I found it difficult, especially at the beginning of my
most recent pregnancy, to eat enough veggies. I felt nauseous, and there was just no
way. This is where Juice Plus can be very helpful when you’re pregnant. They have
gummies, which are chewy and taste good, or they have normal capsules. I really
believe in this product and have used it in my pregnancies as a substitute during
pregnancy.

Another thing I believe is important during pregnancy is fish oil supplements. There is a
lot of research in this area that there are many benefits to the baby’s brain
development. The brand I personally use is Nordic Naturals. There can be
contaminates (toxins) in the fish oil, so it is important to only take supplements from a
reputable company, otherwise, you’re going to be taking junk. Nordic Naturals have a
third party monitor their quality to ensure maximum efficiency guidelines. I feel this is an
important supplement to take.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is important all the time, but even more so when you are pregnant. You must
get out in the sun! This is where vitamin D comes from. Most people are deficient in
vitamin D, and it causes a lot of problems that often times aren’t even attributed to the
lack of vitamin D. I know we’re trained to believe in the U.S. that the sun is scary, but it is
actually life giving. Don’t slap a bunch of sunscreen on either. The point is to absorb the
sun. Most sunscreen is also toxic. Build up your tolerance slowly. There’s no need to
get burned. Ideally, you should have at least 15 minutes of sun daily. This is of great
importance. If it is winter and too cold for the outdoors, consider a supplement. This is
one area to be certain you’re not deficient in.

Empowering Parents to Make Holistic Choices For The Benefit of Their Children

Advertise
With Us
Click Here

Calling All
Birth Stories!
Click Here
To Submit
Yours!

Visit our
Book Review
Blog
Click Here

Download
our FREE
GIFT! The
best money
saving tool
ever.
CLICK HERE

The Holistic Parent.ORG