A Nutrition Primer for Pregnancy
By Danell Swim
February 13, 2008
by Danell Swim
My first pregnancy was a typical idiotic attempt at good nutrition. I stopped eating candy, drank caffeine free soda and included a few more vegetables into my diet. The midwives at the clinic I went to spent about 2 minutes going over these finer points in my diet. After a failed glucose tolerance test, with a barely passing 3 hour test, they gave me some invaluable information. “Stop eating dessert.” Nothing more, just cut out dessert. Well, yeah!
Needless to say, the pregnancy was not a happy one, and I developed pre-eclampsia in the end. Afterwards, I read that pre-eclampsia can be caused by a poor diet before, and during pregnancy. I hated to think that this is what caused it, because junk food was such a central part of my diet. But, I vowed to try another way with my next pregnancy.
Within two weeks of finding out I was pregnant again, I sought out a midwife whom I refer to as the “nutrition Nazi.” She was the one I wouldn’t go to with my first pregnancy, because I was told how hardcore she was about diet. And, after seeing how well that turned out for me, I decided it was time to turn things around and bite the bullet.
Our needs didn’t meet for her to be my midwife, but she did give me some information on nutrition. Her diet was simple, but life-changing.
I cut out white foods (potatoes, rice, pasta, flour, bread, sugar), processed foods, carbonated beverages, hydrogenated oil, fructose corn syrup, sweets (chocolate, candy, pastries) and caffeinated beverages.
Instead, I was to eat protein with every meal, fresh vegetables (kale, spinach, leaf lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli) and a salad every day. Lean meats were the focus, as were organic foods and fresh foods of all kinds. If I wanted something sweet, I could have a scoop of all natural ice cream occasionally.
This change of diet absolutely altered my life. It took a while to get the hang of it. In the beginning, trips to the grocery store took ages, because I would have to read every single label to see if it fit with my diet. After time, it was just habit. High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils were the worst. It seemed that they were in everything; from ketchup and salad dressings to hamburger buns and veggie burgers. I found that making salad dressing is easy, that hamburgers are just as good on whole wheat bread, and it is possible to find veggie burgers that are fairly healthy. Don’t ask me about ketchup, because I’m still trying to find a solution to that!
After several months on the diet, I found that processed foods, and ‘junk’ foods, just tasted bad. No longer could I eat the packaged donuts or the fast food burger, even if it was for a special treat. It just flat tasted bad!
Because I’m a fan of baked goods, and I love to bake, I decided that the only sweets I would eat would be the ones that I baked myself. And no, that does not mean getting a cake mix in aisle 3, or cutting the tube of cookie dough to bake. I made everything from scratch. I found new and interesting ways to include whole, nutritious foods into my baked goods too. I wanted every calorie to be beneficial. So I used only whole wheat flour, and also would add bran, flax seed and oats. I would use applesauce instead of oil. It became my challenge, to make things as healthy as possible without sacrificing flavor, and it worked!
And so, my pregnancy continued, and my belly got bigger. I gained weight, but the weight seemed to be mostly my baby’s weight. And unlike my prior pregnancy, with 9 months of fatigue, crankiness and utter misery, this time I felt great! I even opened a small business in my seventh month, hired 10 employees and trained them.
Labor was a 3 day marathon, which I don’t think would have gone nearly as easily if I hadn’t been in such good health. In fact, I don’t think anything in my pregnancy would have gone so well if I hadn’t followed this very strict diet.
After all of that, I was yearning for the day when I would again eat donuts for breakfast, followed by a cola and maybe some candy for a snack. But, the junk food still tastes like junk to me, and I feel so good that I just won’t bother.
Now, I try to tell every pregnant person that I know how they can feel better, because it’s happened to me before. I’ve felt the miserable pregnancy, and I’ve felt the energetic one. It is worth it to change eating habits to feel better.
I wish that more doctors and midwives were more forceful with the information on eating during pregnancy. It might save some women a lot of grief if they only knew HOW to eat, and what to cook, and which things to watch out for.
Eating good foods and cutting out the bad ones can literally change your life.
Don’t believe me? Try it and find out for yourself.
Comments
3 Responses to “A Nutrition Primer for Pregnancy”
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Thanks for the great article! I’ve been half-heartedly trying to improve my diet, and this gives me more inspiration to get serious and take charge of my own body and health.
Emily
For ketchup, you can buy tomato paste, add evaporated cane juice and sea salt and some water until it’s the right consistancy and taste, cooking it a little will dull the tomato tanginess if you like. I’ll bet the health food stores have ketchup with those kind of ingredients already made and packaged.
Low-glycemic index foods make everyone feel great, pregnant or not! Refined flour, sugar,etc. make me feel sluggish and sick.