Expectant Mothers (somethin's in the oven)

Any expectant mother is subjected to an onslaught of unsolicited advice to add to the already present concerns and uncertainties surrounding her pregnancy. As a vegetarian expectant mother, be prepared for all of that and then some! The quote in the following sentence, from an otherwise wonderful book is demonstrative of how ingrained the supposed need for meat during pregnancy is: After suggesting that the expectant mother consume red meat as well as dark poultry meat, the book qualifies the recommendation with: "…need to be more concerned with supplying essential nutrients for both you and your developing fetus than with protecting yourself against future heart disease" Perhaps if there were no other sources of essential nutrients, advocating heart attack risk in exchange for a healthy baby would make sense! This is all so ironic - because most vegetarian mothers-to-be are in much better health to begin with and have a diet already rich in all the essentials necessary for a smooth pregnancy, (ie: vegetarian diet is naturally higher in Folic Acid, Vitamin B6, Fiber, etc…) compared to her carnivorous women-friends..

The proceeding will cover all the basics and some of the specifics to arm yourself with the knowledge necessary to ensure your confidence in the choice to be a vegetarian soon-to-be-Mamma.. Check out: The Essentials, The Avoid-at-All-Cost Stuff, Common Difficulties, To Supplement or Not to Supplement, and Exercise and Weight Gain. If, however you have very specific health/dietary concerns, consult a certified nutritionist or Naturopath who can tailor-make a nutritional plan of action for you and yours.

It's important to be well nourished prior to becoming pregnant, but let's face it - not every pregnancy is planned! It's never too late to start caring for the dietary needs of yourself and baby-to-be. The human body is incredible: it will draw nutrients form your reserves before ever letting your baby go without!

The Essentials

All nutrients can be provided by whole natural foods. Please see the General Nutrition section of this web site for common food sources of all your essential nutrients. Basically, if you are consuming a variety of whole vegetarian foods and meeting your caloric requirements, you'll be in pretty good shape. Caloric requirements increase with pregnancy and surprisingly increase even more during breast feeding. The following are the common nutrients associated with a healthy pregnancy.

Folic Acid: Vegetarians are likely to have substantially higher intakes of folic acid (instrumental in preventing neural tube defects; turning out white blood cells, and ensuring a well-oiled immune system), but a deficiency causes anemia - folic acid requirements double during pregnancy.

Iron: The benefit of being well nourished before you become pregnant is that your iron stores are likely to be higher and maternal blood volume increases by about 50% during pregnancy (1); your health care provider may recommend an iron supplement for the second and third trimesters of pregnancy (but for some, iron supplements can be produce stomach pain); consider instead or in conjunction: dried peaches, nuts, beans, asparagus, and oatmeal (taking vitamin C at the same time increases absorption). Some sources maintain that it can be difficult to fulfill iron requirements, while pregnant, from your food alone (If you decide to supplement:20 mg is plenty!)

Protein: The recommended daily protein intake is 52 grams per day for a (non pregnant) woman weighing 132 lbs (60 kg); it is recommended that an additional amount (from 5 grams to 24 grams) per day be ingested, as pregnancy progresses (2): Most vegetarians/vegans are already exceeding these levels of protein intake before they become pregnant: THERE REALLY IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!

Calcium: most recent calcium intake recommendations for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding are the same as for those who are not pregnant: 1,000mg of calcium per day for women over 19 and 1300 mg per day for pregnant teenagers (3): a woman's body supplies the baby's needs by absorbing a greater proportion of the calcium taken in. calcium must be partnered with vitamin D for your baby's bones and teeth to develop normally (think of vitamin D supplement); if you don't add enough calcium to your diet, your baby will take what he needs from your teeth and bones. Food sources of calcium include: sesame seeds, soybeans, tofu, walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried beans, green leafy vegetables, and almonds. Food sources of calcium are best, but if you decide to supplement, choose a calcium supplement in the form of Calcium Citrate (400 - 1000 milligrams each day [before bed is good-avoid blocking absorption of other key minerals]).

Vitamin D: Actually a hormone produced by the body with exposure to sunlight: as Canadians a supplement may be necessary as our exposure is limited for the majority of the calendar year (or consider a fortified soy beverage containing Vitamin D)

Vitamin B12: Vegan women: make sure you eat reliable sources of vitamin B12 before, during, and after pregnancy (ie: Redstar nutritional yeast, fortified soy beverage, sprouted grains, miso [some], soy sauce [some]). This is absolutely crucial. You may want to consider supplementing if you feel you won't be diligent about attaining B12 through the aforementioned dietary sources.

The Avoid-at-All-Cost-Stuff:

Smoking: Hopefully this comes as no surprise - there is enough literature about smoking and pregnancy that "Don't do it!" is the extent of the coverage it will receive here!

Over-the-Counter and Prescription Drugs: Not unless absolutely necessary, and not at all during the first 3 months. Stay away from: antihistamines, aspirin, Tylenol, and Advil, sleeping pills; and pain-killers such as Darvon; avoid anti-nausea medicines; if you are prone to acne, beware of using Accutane (4)

Chlorinated Tap Water: do not drink chlorinated tap water - only bottled spring water or well water; one filter that does remove chlorine from tap water is the Brita filter. I read in a gardening book where one should never water one's plants with tap water unless the water has sat on the counter for at least 24 hours (so that the chlorine [a gas] can evaporate). I think we can pay ourselves and our children the same respect as our house plants (especially since chlorine stores nicely in body fat)!

Caffeine: It is best to eliminate it altogether (including coffee, tea, chocolate [try carob instead], and soft drinks that contain caffeine) Pregnancy makes your body 2/3 less able to metabolize caffeine. When you are pregnant, one cup of coffee is as potent as three (5)!!!!!!!!

All Soft Drinks: They contain sugar, an anti-nutrient, and no nutrients. No-cal soft drinks contain NutraSweet, or aspartame, which has been proven, in laboratory studies, to harm the brains of young animals (6). Studies suggest that one effect of aspartame may be to increase your own appetite for sugar-containing sweets - thus completely defeating their purpose and leading you to add more anti-nutrients to you diet (7). Most soft drinks also contain caffeine and all contain phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid blocks the absorption of calcium and magnesium by your intestines!

Hydrogenated oils: This is the one time that an animal product (butter) would be advised (although neither are healthful) before a non-animal source 9hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil).. Hydrogenated oil: in most margarine, shortenings, commercial cookies and crackers is essentially a once unsaturated fat that has been chemically altered to be saturated (insertion of hydrogen atom); has a shelf life of around 40 years and creates free-radicals in the body. For safe and healthy alternatives visit "Dips and Spreads" found in the Recipe section of this web site!

Sodium: avoid table salt altogether: your body only needs 2000 milligrams of sodium a day. Pregnancy increases that to 3000 milligrams. But it is estimated that the average American consumes 7000 milligrams of sodium. The salt that is naturally contained in a balanced diet is all you need, even during pregnancy. Packaged and prepared foods: a single can or package of soup may contain as much as 800 to 900 milligrams, almost 1/3 of the salt a pregnant woman should consume in an entire day (8).

Junk Foods: Otherwise known as empty calories, nutrient displacers, anti-nutrients. Simply: the more one fills up on junk food, the less room there is for nutrient dense foods and the harder the body has to work to compensate for the partial-food consumption - OUCH: double-whammy!

All 3 of the proceeding conditions of pregnancy: morning sickness, hypoglycemia, and hyperglycemia, may actually be relieved by consuming a six-minimal-a-day pattern. Morning sickness, if not relieved by mini-meal, high bread/grain diet may be due to a nutritional deficiency (although rare in vegetarian/vegan women - see Supplement section further down the page) .

Morning Sickness: Aaargh!
Eat small, frequent meals or snacks; eat foods that are easy to digest: fruits, toast, cereal, bagels, and other foods high in carbohydrate (take less time to digest [but aren't' devoid of nutrients]). Are three meals a day enough? Probably not; change your eating pattern to 6 small, low-fat, high-carbohydrate meals: Fats will make your nausea worse. Whole wheat bread or oatmeal, salt-free crackers, rice, vegetables are good choices. Meat, nuts, fruit, and dairy products may contribute to nausea.

Hypoglycemia: Not enough glucose gets to the brain - can also cause hormonal swings, when your blood sugar is low, your developing infant's blood sugar is low, too.

Their are equally convincing studies arguing for the necessity of supplementation and the supremacy of food sources of nutrients. If you decide that you don't want to rely on food alone, there are some important facts to keep in mind. Vitamin pills and mineral supplements: the wrong combinations can do more harm than good - supplements and drugs that are perfectly safe at other times have the potential to do damage to a developing fetus. Supplements: when you take one vitamin or mineral you could be interfering with your own - or your unborn baby's - ability to use some other vital nutrient. Some vitamins and minerals block the absorption of others and some enhance the absorption; for this reason multivitamin and multi mineral supplements don't always make sense!. The following is a basic guide of safe prenatal supplementation (revised from Super immunity for Kids by Leo Galland, MD) Supplement guide:

Supplementation for morning sickness: Poor nutrition and hormonal changes produce deficiencies of Vitamin B-6 and Vitamin K, which interfere with the activity of key enzymes that regulate the function of the nausea center in the brain If food alone doesn't clear up the nausea [try first!!!!!]: 100 to 200 mg of B-6 and 10 mg of Vitamin K a day (9) is. recommended (Vitamin K takes somewhat longer to produce results - about ten days [be patient] Supplements to avoid: Choline, sometimes classified as a B vitamin, should not be taken in pregnancy, nor should lecithin supplements, which are a common source of choline it is likely that other natural substances used by the body to make other neurotransmitters may also be toxic to the developing brain(10): Individual amino acids, such as tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and glutamine (part of toxic effect of aspartame - amino acids phenylalanine and glutamic acid)

multimineral and multivitamin?: many combinations of minerals, and of vitamins and minerals, that should not be taken at the same time. calcium can block the body's ability to absorb zinc. Iron, and copper. Zinc interferes with the absorption of iron, and vice versa. High doses of vitamin C and /or zinc will block absorption of selenium. And too much zinc can deplete the body's copper and manganese levels. The combination of B-1 , B-12, vitamin C and copper may produce a substance known as a vitamin B-12 analogue (blocks the action of B-12 I the body). Bioflavonoids are included in some vitamin C supplements: the bioflavonoid rutin can be converted in the intestine into another bioflavanoid, quercetin, that can damage chromosomes - leading to potential genetic damage in a developing fetus (11). You'd be smart to avoid bioflavanoids during pregnancy (they are, however, beneficial when they occur naturally in whole foods).

Exercise & Weight Gain: Staying physically active will help you maintain muscle tone and strength, and will help to promote normal bowel movements, during a time when many women experience problems with constipation and hemorrhoids. Plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, and plenty of fiber (already as a vegetarian you get plenty of fiber) also promote normal elimination and diminish problems with constipation and hemorrhoids. Desirable weight gain varies between individuals - now is the time to trust your bodily signals. Do not feel pressured to 'eat for two'; a modest increase in dietary intake will suffice. Now is also a BAD time to diet/restrict calories. Eat when you're hungry; stop when you're full. Snack when you can. Simply put: you don't have to eat different foods from the ones you normally eat - you just need a little more and heed your cravings. Your caloric needs actually increase most when you're breast-feeding. Remember, if you're body conscious: the weight you gain represents your baby, the placenta, the amniotic fluid and your expanded breasts and blood volume. THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL TIME - RELAX AND ENJOY THE PROCESS!

References:
(1) Cronish, Nettie, Barbara Selley, RD and Suzanne Haval, RD, CIG Being Vegetarian in Canada, Pearson Education Canada, 2000
(2) CIG Being Vegetarian in Canada
(3) CIG Being Vegetarian in Canada
(4) Galland, Leo, MD with Dian Dincin Buchman, PhD, Superimmunity for Kids, Copestone Press, Inc, 1988
(5) Superimmunity for Kids
(6) Superimmunity for Kids
(7) Superimmunity for Kids
(8) Superimmunity for Kids
(9) Superimmunity for Kids
(10) Superimmunity for Kids
(11) Superimmunity for Kids

Secondary Sources:
(1) Miscampbell, Danielle, RHN, Nutritional Symptomatology, Metagenics, Inc., 1997
(2) Ballentine, Rudolph, MD, Diet & Nutrition - A Holistic Approach, The Himalayan International Institute, 1978