Food for pregnancy
The content in this post is my interpretation of the Love and Guts podcast by Lynda Griparic - a must listen to podcast if you're keen on understanding your gut health.
In this podcast, Lynda speaks with Lily Nichols, author of the book Real Food for Pregnancy. I've just purchased this book and eagerly waiting for it to arrive.
The first interesting point in this podcast is highlighting the fact that Pregnancy and Nutrition Guidelines are out of date. More recent, randomised, customised trials are saying something very different to what's being recommended. We need to follow more evidence based rules around nutrition and not just follow what we are told in mainstream media.
The other interesting thing I noticed is that eating for pregnancy isn't actually that different to just eating for optimal health and wellness. Over the years, working with my health coach, David O'Brien, personal learning through the CHEK Institute, fertility expert Angela Hywood, and the book by Lily Nichols, there's a common theme throughout:
Protein. Best taken from animals that are grass fed, free to roam and eating food they were born to eat, not man made grains. Pregnant women need to eat more protein than what's recommended (therefore less carbs and fat to balance things out).
Carbs. Best eaten through multicoloured vegetables. Limit starchy vegetables like potatoes, and avoid refined carbs like pasta. I hear there's serious carb craving in the first trimester. My take is that I'll listen to my body and eat more carbs if I feel like it - just avoid the junk type carbs as that's an emotional eating type thing over something I or my baby actually need!!
Fats. They are not the enemy! Checkout my post on this. But similar to meats QUALITY is important.
For pregnancy, boosting like vitamin B12, Choline, Omega 3 is beneficial. Foods rich in this are:
Egg yolks
Seafood
Organ meats
To a lesser degree, nuts, legumes, seeds.
I'm struggling with organ meats.
We had lambs brains the other day, we both nearly puked haha.
I've purchased liver, but it's in the freezer still waiting to be cooked! If anyone has any tips on how to cook a nice meal with liver or brains please reach out here in the comments or email me!
Other interesting points:
- Not advised to intermittent fast during pregnancy
- Gestational diabetes can be an issue and is usually indicative of the mothers health before they get pregnant
- Important to eat carbs with fats and protein in meals to better maintain blood sugar levels - again, this is a general rule, not just for us wannabe mamas!
- A small coffee each day is ok (200mg), unless it's worrying you by having it!
Rhoda
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