New Nutrition Focus
We’ve only taken two classes so far, and I’m really enjoying the Bradley Method classes. Not only does it gives me two dedicated hours of weeknight quality time with Tom [his schedule is so frantic during the week- mine is still busy, but more flexible], time to focus on the baby, a bonus massage at the end of class, but I’ve already learned a lot. I appreciate the fact that these classes focus on everything- not just the labor and birth, but many of the factors that go into a healthy pregnancy and post-partum experience, including exercise and nutrition.
[I’ve written more about the Bradley Method *here* and our first class *here*]
Last night we watched a video [which included some righteous mustaches and mullets] on pregnancy nutrition by Dr. Thomas Brewer. I knew I’d like the video because I’m always interested to hear experts speak about nutrition and I was blown away. I learned SO much in that quick video, including some myth busting.
What I took away from it:
-Research has shown that nutrition has a direct impact on the health of the pregnant woman and her baby. Yet, even though studies provide clear evidence of this, doctors are slow to change their ways and quick to intervene. As he said in the video “You have a choice to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.”
-It’s not about how much weight you gain, it’s about the quality of the food you’re eating. You can lose weight, or gain up to 60 lbs [depending on what your diet was like pre-pregnancy] and still have a healthy child. Focus on eating good, quality food.
-Adequate nutrition can prevent or treat various complications of pregnancy, including PIH (elevated blood pressure), edema (swelling), pre-eclampsia, eclampsia (toxemia), “gestational diabetes”, premature labor, anemias, abruption of the placenta, IUGR (intra-uterine growth retardation), and low birth weight (which can cause babies to be infection-prone). All of these problems have a common source–food deficiency and low blood volume
-Protein is incredibly important and pregnant women should aim for 80-100g per day.
-Other important focuses are salt intake, water, calcium and vitamin A, in addition to whole foods.
-Baby’s brain develops the most during the last two months of pregnancy, when many women are told they’ve gained “too much” and tend to restrict. This is extremely detrimental to the baby’s brain development.
-Severely swollen ankles and wrists (edema) can actually be helped by increasing salt intake, instead of decreasing it.
Here is a glimpse of the type of diet Dr. Brewer recommends, from this website:
You must have, every day, at least: *
1. Milk and milk products–4 choices
1 cup milk: whole, skim,1%, buttermilk
1/2 cup canned evaporated milk: whole or skim
1/3 cup powdered milk:whole or skim
1 cup yogurt
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cottage cheese: creamed, uncreamed, pot style
1 large slice cheese (1 1/4 oz): cheddar, Swiss, other hard cheese
1 cup ice milk
1 1/2 cup soy milk
1 piece tofu, 3″x3″x 1/2″ (4 oz)
2. Calcium replacements–as needed (2 per soy exchange from group 1)
36 almonds
1/3 cup bok choy, cooked
12 Brazil nuts
1 cup broccoli, cooked
1/3 cup collard greens
1/2 cup kale
2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses
4 oz black olives
1 oz sardines
3. Eggs–2 any style
4. Protein Combinations–6 to 8 choices**
1 oz lean beef, lamb, pork, liver, or kidney
1 oz chicken or turkey
1 oz fish or shell fish***
1/4 cup canned salmon or tuna
3 sardines
3 1/2 oz tofu
1/4 cup peanuts or peanut butter****
1/8 cup beans + 1/4 cup rice or wheat
(measured before cooking)
beans: soy beans, peas, black beans, kidney beans, garbanzos
rice: preferably brown
wheat: preferably bulgar
1/8 cup brewer’s yeast + 1/4 cup rice
1/8 cup sesame or sunflower seeds + 1/2 cup cup rice
1/4 cup rice + 1/3 cup milk
1/2 oz cheese + 2 slices whole wheat bread or 1/3 cup macaroni (dry) or noodles or 1/8 cup beans
1/8 cup beans + 1/2 cup cornmeal
1/8 cup beans + 1/6 cup seeds (sesame, sunflower)
1/2 large potato + 1/4 cups milk or 1/4 oz cheese
1 oz cheese: cheddar, Swiss, other hard cheese
1/4 cup cottage cheese: creamed, uncreamed, pot style
5. Fresh, dark green vegetables–2 choices
1 cup broccoli
1 cup brussels sprouts
2/3 cup spinach
2/3 cup greens
collard, turnip, beet, mustard, dandelion, kale
1/2 cup lettuce (preferable romaine)
1/2 cup endive
1/2 cup asparagus
1/2 cup sprouts: bean, alfalfa6. Whole grains–5 choices
1 waffle or pancake made from whole grain
1 slice bread
whole wheat, rye, bran, other whole grain
1/2 roll, muffin, or bagel made from whole grain
1 corn tortilla
1/2 cup oatmeal or Wheatena
1/2 cup brown rice or bulgar wheat
1 shredded wheat biscuit
1/2 cup bran flakes or granola
1/4 cup wheat germ
7. Vitamin C foods–2 choices
1/2 grapefruit
2/3 cup grapefruit juice
1 orange
1/2 cup orange juice
1 large tomato
1 cup tomato juice
1/2 cantaloupe
1 lemon or lime
1/2 cup papaya
1/2 cup strawberries
1 large green pepper
1 large potato, any style
8. Fats and oils–3 choices
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon mayonaise
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 avocado
1 tablespoon peanut butter++
9. Vitamin A foods–1 choice
3 apricots
1/2 cantaloupe
1/2 cup carrots (1 large)
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup winter squash
1 sweet potato
10. Liver–at least once a week (optional)
4 oz liver
beef, calf, chicken, pork, turkey, liverwurst
11. Salt and other sodium sources–unlimited
table salt, iodized–to taste
sea salt–to taste
kelp powder–to taste
soy sauce–to taste
12. Water–unlimited
Drink to quench thirst, but do not force fluids
Real juice or milk might make better use of limited stomach space.Adapted from Right from the Start, by Gail Brewer and Janice Presser Greene, from The Pregnancy After 30 Workbook, edited by Gail Brewer, and from The Brewer Medical Diet for Normal and High-Risk Pregnancy, by Gail Brewer and Tom Brewer, MD.
* Each food you eat may be counted for one group only (in other words, count 1/4 cup cottage cheese as either 1 milk choice or 1 protein combination choice, not both).
**Different Brewer sources recommend different numbers of servings for this food group. Each 1 oz. serving provides 7 grams of protein.
–What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know(1977)–2 servings (3 oz. each)
–The Pregnancy After 30 Workbook(1978)–2 servings
–Right from the Start(1981)–8 servings (1 oz. each)
–The Brewer Medical Diet for Normal and High Risk Pregnancy(1983)–6 servings (1 oz. each)
–The Very Important Pregnancy Program(1988)–6 servings (1 oz. each)
Even though I focus on eating quality, whole foods, my protein intake is still below where it should be. On my highest days last week, I only had about 70g, so my goal is increasing it this week and maintaining 80-100g until the little nugette makes her grand debut.
Also, more yolks! I have one yolk per day, but my instructor and Dr. Brewer were saying we need two, so this morning, it was a two-egg omelet.
I like the yolks, anyway 🙂
I was YouTubing to see if I could find a video of Dr. Brewer speaking, and while I couldn’t, I did learn his history in the process and was extremely impressed.
-He was a WWII veteran, wounded in battle, received the Purple Heart and Bronze star, and worked as an advocate for children impacted by the war. His medical resume is mind-blowing- you can read about everything he’s done *here*.
I did find this video of a Bradley Method birth while I was searching, too.
[This video is of an actual birth, so it’s graphic in nature, even though it doesn’t exploit certain body parts or anything like that]
While we’re not having a water birth, or a home birth –our baby will be delivered at a hospital- I thought this video was so beautiful and made me even more optimistic about the entire process. I love how caring the husband is to his wife during the birth and it’s obvious how much he loves her. I know that on “game day,” I’ll be able to count on Tom and the rest of my birth team in the same way.
<3
Just for fun:
–A Huffington Post article about what not to say to a pregnant woman [could also be titled “Things Gina Hears Every Day”]
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What an amazing video! I had tears!
Wow thank you for sharing all this information! I learned so much just by reading this recap! I had no idea a baby’s brain developed so late in the game! Or that so much protein is needed!
P.S. How’s Bella?
i’m glad you enjoyed it!
she’s great- sleeping, but totally fine. thanks for checking on her <3
I followed the Brewer diet pretty religiously through my pregnancy and really liked it. I hardly gained any weight, even with twins…of course, I spent the first 15-20 weeks puking my guts out haha After my premature membrane rupture, the doctors and nurses practically forced protein down my throat, they told me it helps the baby grow faster and I wanted my babies to grow as quickly as possible at that point!
Good info! Holy moly, though, I don’t know if I could eat that much every day! Of course, I’m still in my first trimester, so the thought of most food is not appealing :o) I’ll shoot for that when I’m feeling a little better.
I do not plan on a little nuggette anytime soon, but I really enjoy all of your pregnancy posts. I’m in training to become a CNM and I love when women are empowered to make their OWN choices. The only thing that struck me odd about this diet is only requiring 2 servings of vegetables. Do you have any thoughts as to why?
maybe because veggies are also listed under the vitamin c, vitamin a, and calcium requirements?
Wow! That video made me cry! I don’t think I could ever do a home birth but I really admire women that make their own choice to do that! its empowering!
It’s so funny you posted this because I just read about this diet myself today and was thinking of printing out the checklist and seeing how my diet compares.
Also I really like how you mention the risk that women face when they are told they have gained too much and then start to restrict.
I’m over the recommended amount that I’m supposed to have gained, but I know I’m feeding my baby right. I don’t eat crap. I may eat MORE, but it’s more GOOD FOOD.
I’m not gonna lie, some days I want to focus on eating less, but then my belly rumbles and my little girl kicks, and I throw that negative voice out the window.
That video was beautiful. It just made the whole experience seem absolutely peaceful and wonderful and natural. All I’ve ever really seen about giving birth is what you see in the movies – screaming, freaking out, expressions of pain and disgust. I didn’t know that it could be such a beautiful thing. That is absolutely how I want things to be when I’m finally at the point in my life to have children.
Thank you for sharing!
Thats some interesting information! Didn’t know you need to consume that much in nutrients, I thought certain foods helped, but never would of guessed that much. Not sure if I would do a home birth, something about it kinda makes me get grossed out…like my house wouldn’t be clean enough or someone might bring in extra germs. Thats probably a weird reason, but thats just me 😉
Two of the funniest remarks I’ve heard-
In H.S. a pregnant teacher I hated told us she was going to the doctor to see if she had twins in there, but she wasn’t worried because “the good lord won’t give me more than I can handle”. A boy in class said, “You’ll probably have a half.”
There is an overweight and proud author and blogger who tells people who ask when she’s due (she’s not), that she’s pregnant with twins– Ben and Jerry.
hahah!!! i LOVE it
Wow, what an amazing video! I’m not pregnant and don’t plan on becoming pregnant anytime soon, but I would love to have a birth experience like that if I ever do have a child.
you and me both. i didn’t even know the baby had been pushed out and she was reaching into the water to grab it. amazing
I was a substitute “partner” for one of my friends when her husband had to travel during one of their Bradley classes, so I know what you mean about the hair, etc., in those videos! We were cracking up. Most of my friends have had natural childbirth and many of them have had homebirths, so that the SNL video is definitely something I’ve got to share with them. Thanks for posting!
I love your blog , I look forward to it everyday! It has been so fun to follow you on this amazing Journey.
thank you so much for reading, lisa!
Aww thanks so much for posting the video! Two years ago, I witnessed my sister give birth to one of my nephews at home in a birthing pool, and that was an amazing experience…but seeing this now that I’m 19 weeks pregnant I bawled the whole time. So sweet!
Awesome post and I love home and water births and videos showing how beautiful birth can be. It doesn’t have to be scary or medicalized or awful or anything like that…it can be a magical thing and thank you for showcasing that 🙂
And friends of mine who did the Bradley Method were really into their protein. I was pretty sure you’d be doing a protein highlights type post any day now..and here it is. I am so happy you guys have found a method and something that resonates with you and that you feel confident in and comfortable with!
Thank you for sharing this!! I’ll tweak my diet for this last month I have left!
There is no better feeling in the world, imo, than the one you have in the minutes after your baby is born. Relief and joy and overwhelming love for your husband and child, not to mention the realization that you are done with both pregnancy AND childbirth! It’s amazing, and without medication you can get cozy and generally feel like yourself right away. Wonderful stuff – I am excited for you!
Is it weird that I’m only 19 years old and the love and compassion that the husband had in that video for his wife having a natural birth brought me to tears? I hope to be capable of having a natural birth one day when I get older and ready 🙂
That looks like a healthful diet for anyone. I like it, all real food. And I agree with the egg yolks; they are SO good for us, packed with nutrients. Hopefully you can find grass- and insect-fed eggs, as they are best. 🙂
I’m not pregnant or anywhere remotely close, but I watched the whole video and it brought tears to my eyes. I just know the process will be just as sweet for you guys!
Okay..so I’ve posted a lot about everything you are saying when I was pregnant. I ate yolks when I was pregnant…lots of good nutrition in there. Actually…more and more studies show that farm fresh organic egg yolks are actually very healthy for you. The cholesterol in them is not as bad as previously thought.
And salt…yup….so many people are shocked when I tell them that but salt intake needs to be increased and I think it has something to do with the double blood volume and fluid volume?
I ate so healthy while pregnant (with the occasional…let’s eat some cheesecake because I’m pregnant and I can)…amongst other treats in moderation. But I did what you said and focused on food for the nutrient content and what was best for baby and her brain development. I tried going vegan before I got pregnant then just did mostly plant based but added in fish and eggs and upped it a lot because my body was smart and craved it for the protein. I was just going to do another post baby body post talking about all the weight gain in the end. I never felt better about my body during pregnancy but the last 5 weeks I gained all my weight and just let my body do it’s thing. I was still exercising and actually craved more salads and fresh fruit and veggies but still packed it on. I was underweight, technically, not because I tried before pregnancy so I ended up gaining 44 pounds….but my body needed to gain that!
So glad you are enjoying the class! Birth videos ALWAYS make me lose it! Michael was getting choked up when they showed one in our class…such a miracle
note to self: don’t watch videos like this when your hormones first start going out of control. I was SOBBING haha. Does it get better in a few months?!
it didnt for me- i bawled my eyes out, too
Great info…I only wish I had known all this when I was preggers!! I think chocolate was a food group 😉
It is so awesome that you are learning so much, and getting to spend some QT with your man. All amazing things. I am so happy for you two!
I took the Bradley class too but when I told my midwife I was following the Bradley diet, she told me that recent studies showed that 80-100 grams of protein might actually be a little too much. Maybe it’s just when you get in the 100 range that is too much. I’m trying to hover around the 70 mark and I’m feeling good. It’s funny because our midwives require us to take a birthing class but then they contradict some of the info. Does your midwife support the Bradley research?
That was a beautiful birth to watch. I’m currently almost 15 weeks pregnant and dream of having one as natural as that. Constantly we just hear all the horror stories and women screaming in agony which only makes it more scary thinking about what we have to go through. I wish more videos like that would be shown, how it could be. Thank you
Thanks for this post, I can’t wait to learn more about this in the classes myself.
I know these were Brewer’s words, not yours, but I don’t really care for the phrase “you have a choice to have a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy”. There are a lot of women who, for one reason or another, don’t have these things despite their very best efforts. To say that it’s a choice kind of implies that women with sick babies or difficult pregnancies made the decision not to act in their baby’s best interest. Again, I know that it’s not what you meant, and I am the first to admit that I’m over-sensitive on this subject.
I had identical twins 14 months ago at 24 weeks gestation (one survived and one did not) after developing TTTS (which is a random problem that can only happen in identicals and is not related to maternal health at all). I was the picture of a healthy twin pregnancy up until 24 hours prior to delivery, and I still struggle in my heart with the feeling that I did something wrong, even though my brain tells me differently. An acquaintance of mine is going on month 2 in the Vanderbilt NICU with her baby boy who has a rare congential heart defect called Shones Complex that wasn’t discovered until his birth (after a 100% happy, healthy full-term pregnancy).
I hope that didn’t sound rant-ish. I just wanted to throw this out there for the moms who did everything by the book and didn’t get a story-book ending.
I didn’t make a choice for my second daughter to be born with a genetic disease that will make her life more difficult either, I could no more have made that choice than you could have caused the complication that ended the life of your child. I am afraid that in an effort to grab people’s attention the larger picture was missed in this case. There are things we can do as mothers to harm our unborn children but there are many more things that can happen against all our efforts that can cause far more harm. My heart goes out to you, I’ve been in that NICU, I’ve seen those deaths and there are no words for that kind of pain.
i totally agree with you. i think what he was really saying was that with a healthy diet, you have a better chance of preventing the things that are indeed proven to be preventable, not the unseen things that are impossible to detect or will happen regardless of what nutrition is like.
reading your comment shook me up… a lot. i can’t even begin to imagine how painful that is- sending love to you <3
Thank you <3
My surviving daughter has given us a lot to be thankful for and a lot of positive things to focus on. She is the poster child for 24 weekers… came home 2 weeks before her due date and is 100% healthy!
so what are you going to do with all the milk/dairy recommendations? I know you do raw cheese, that counts too- I don’t drink milk and don’t want my kids too either. When I mentioned this at work the other day jaws were dropping and people were like ‘what about at age 1??!’ and made me feel like a potential bad mom. I just don’t want my kids to have something so mucus forming, and homogenizing is terrible I would never give them whole milk where the fat particles are broken small enough that they can pass the blood barrier, and my endocrinologist said that the US has the highest milk/dairy intake and the highest osteoporosis rates- so all that milk= strong bones is really more for thickening the milk industries wallets.
Wow, that was lengthy, anyway, wondering your thoughts on milk and what you plan to do with your kids.
I’m on pregnancy number five with the first one being vegetarian and the last four vegan. My kids have never had milk and have never suffered for the choice. i have to say that reading these eating recommendations made me cringe a little. Moms, especially first time Moms are so bombarded with information about what works and what doesn’t, what they should and should not do but in my experience very few of us are meeting anyone’s idea of perfect nutrition (even our own!). I say make the decisions you know are best for your family and let others do the same.
i think that’s amazing, but are definitely a lot of moms-to-be of different eating styles or newer vegetarians and vegans don’t know how to get in all of the nutrients they need. that’s why i’m thankful to have learned more about some gaps i may have had in my diet before. there’s definitely not a one-size-fits all plan when it comes to diet, but i like using his suggestions to make sure i’m getting more vitamin c, a and protein from the sources i enjoy
Love the video! Just wanted to throw a quick comment out there. With my last pregnancy I developed pre-eclampsia and then post-partum eclampsia and am now 22 weeks preggo with my 2nd. I talked to my perinatologist about the Brewer diet this time around because of all the stuff I heard about it on the internet – his view was it is actually unsafe for women who are already pre-eclamptic. I think something about too much protein for those women already spilling protein in urine – I’m not sure, honestly, after he told me that, I threw that idea out the window! I think its perfectly fine for those who have no complications, but it may be something to think about for those who already have the complications.
Sorry if you already knew about that, but one of the food with the highest protein content is hemp seeds… It’s dead easy to eat: put it in your smoothie, sprinkle it on your salad, in your soup, on your pasta. 😉
I really liked this post and was interested to hear about the course, because I read the Bradley Method book a few months ago and had really mixed feelings about it. Everyone in my family has been blessed with wholly natural birth experiences (and I absolutely respect that women can chose or even require interventions sometimes), so from that perspective, the book was great. What I didn’t love about Bradley’s approach is that it flip-flops between presenting the mother as a superstar athlete and an irrational child who needs “coaching”. I love the idea of involving the partner as much as possible and leaning on each other for support, but Bradley’s tone, at times, smacks of 1950’s paternalism. That said, I am really glad I read the book (reservations aside) and I have heard wonderful things about the classes. I would love to hear more about your experiences in this class. We are on the fence about whether or not to take it, but your posts are really insightful and great!
i just wanted to let you know that a lot of articles say that is not safe to eat liver when pregnant or trying for a baby, I saw it part of the list you published and just wanted to tell you, you can check this link as well:
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/nutrition/foodsafety/liverexpert/
i’m glad you posted that for others to see, but i myself would never eat liver.
I know you won’t 🙂 but like you said foe the others that may consider it 🙂
I was wondering, where tofu is mentioned as a source of calcium, did your Bradley instructor or your paperwork specify that it needs to be tofu that has been processed a certain way? Some tofu does not have calcium in it, but others are processed with calcium, and I just wanted to throw that out there (I am not a milk drinker, so I am very conscious of calcium sources in my diet!).
That SNL skit is HILARIOUS! I was laughing so hard!
thanks for this- I love your family posts in general, and this one is especially helpful. I’m on a TTC quest that has hit some potholes, and I haven’t yet found the kind of doctors that consider the role of nutrition in health. My plan is to give myself some nutrition rehab first before I go for any more drastic/traditional repro measures. I figure, if I eat to meet a growing baby’s needs right now, maybe that will help with conception too. Anyways, this post gives me some excellent ideas for pursuing my babymaking nutrition goals!
sending good wishes to you!
check out “making babies”, too- they have a lot of awesome preconception nutrition tips, based on your own fertility type
When i was preg i craved eggs like CRAZY! I had eggs everyday…sometimes twice a day. Unfortunately i was one of the mommies-to-be who gained 60 lbs with my youngest. Took me 2 years to get it all off.
Gina, you and Pilot HAVE to see this video on youtube. Its a Hip Hop Hustle class, the instructor is preg and her class got into “costume”….you have to see it. TOOO CUTE. when i saw it i thought of you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOnc0waJQFU&feature=player_embedded
i LOVEd that!
I did the Bradley Method for both of my boys, Our teacher had us keep a food log and it really helped me focus on getting lots of high-quality protein and plenty of veggies. I love eggs so I had no problem with the 2-yolk-a-day requirement!
You also touched on my favorite part of the class, which was the dedicated time each week DH and I could spend together and focus on each other and the pregnancy. It really is an awesome time, and it’s nice to spend time to appreciate it and learn what’s going on.
Thank you for sharing this video! It is so incredibly beautiful, and I love learning about other options when it comes to labor and birthing. I am not even anywhere close to getting pregnant, and I still was bawling while watching this video. So heart warming.