Pregnancy/childbirth on nt
I would love to hear about anyone’s experience with having a childwhile eating an [tag]NT[/tag] type of diet. I’m a few months pregnant with myfirst child and am so excited to be eating this way. I’ve readWeston Price’s book and Pottenger’s also, and know that nutritionduring [tag]pregnancy[/tag] can have a profound affect on the child’sdevelopment and the ease of the birth/recovery of the mother. I’dlove to hear other mother’s experiences…..
Also, I’m interested in knowing about any books out there that dealwith pregnancy/childbirth from an NT perspective. Or any books thatdiscuss how more primitive cultures experienced childbirth. One goodone I’ve found so far is Nature’s children, by Juliette de BairacliLevy. She talks about the Gypsies and the ease of their births andhow to raise children more naturally. Any other good books outthere??
June 9th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I’m coming out of lurkdom to take a crack at your question,although I’m sure others here will have better input, as I’ve nevereaten strictly NT (i.e. only foods from the “Nourishing TraditionalFoods” category :)). I learned about NT about 5 1/2 years ago, andstarting changing my diet before I ever got pregnant with my 3rdchild (mainly throwing all soy products and unhealthy fats, forstarters). I already ate pretty well–whole wheat, brown rice,organic meats/chicken, lots of vegetables, fruits, barleygreen, andcarrot/veg juice (so I wasn’t starting the NT diet from the S.A.D.). Anyway, during that pregnancy I ate lots of soaked-overnight-spelt/wheat-biscuits, pre-soaked oatmeal, sprouted wheat bread fromShiloh farms, took cod liver oil & evening primrose oil andbarleygreen, ate lots of salads & vegetables, butter, whole milkyogurt, high quality meats, etc…And for the most part felt reallygreat! The birth went really well (I had a homebirth), the midwiferemarked that she rarely saw a woman lose so little blood duringbirth, the baby was perfectly healthy, and in spite of having aNovember baby (when all the “bugs” are going around) and getting verylittle sleep for the first 2 months, I never got sick and recoveredreally well. So, this is just my personal experience, for whatever it’s worth!MelissaP.S. I do need to confess to the occasional donut from Shipley’s anda few late night chocolate ice cream binges (hey, it wasthe “howler’s” organic kind!!), and even in spite of those sporadicnutritional “dips”, everything went great!
June 9th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I’m planning a homebirth as well.
I’ve been feeling really good so far, especially if I eat my brewer’syeast and liver! Luckily lamb liver has not repulsed my pregnancytaste buds yet.
June 11th, 2007 at 2:03 am
Great to see that there are so many posts on this subject. I oftenbrowse through another “natural parenting” kind of forum, but while Ido glean a lot of useful info, my affinity with its members usuallystops once the topic of nutrition comes up…seems the most vocalnatural-living type of people there (and in general, I’vefound) “Don’t eat their friends, and animals are their friends” (Iquote from someones’s signature).
I plan to start trying to conceive this fall (my first), and amplanning for a homebirth.
I’m curious to know how exactly you consume your brewers yeast. Itried it in my oatmeal, but it’s very bitter, and ruined my meal…
Also, I’m thinking of not taking the folic acid supplements, andinstead being sure to consume chicken (and other) livers, brewersyeast, wheat germ, greens, etc.
Also, all the other great NT foods have been part of the repertoirefor some time now…raw milk, cream, butter, grass-fed meat, organic,free-range eggs (which are a brilliant orange these days, I lovesummer!), organic fruit & veg, the suggested spirulinasupplementation, cod liver oil, coconut oil…
(With that being said, I do partake in the occasional refinedcarb/ice cream-type indulgences…but not those made with fake fats!)
Anyone else skip the prenatal folic acid/multi-vit supplementation?
June 11th, 2007 at 9:18 am
I use debittered yeast made by Solgar. It doesn’t taste too bad, notat all bitter. I’ve put it in smoothies or just take straight,followed with water and food.
I had the same idea as you when I first got pregnant and that was toget all my nutrients from foods. Well, after much research, Idecided that there was too much at stake to be my own nutritionist,so I am taking a few good supplements. But I’m not taking any sortof typical prenatal multiple vitamin. What I am taking is this:Standard Process’ Catalyn and Folic Acid (crushed tablets), Acerolapowder for vit c, Wheat Germ oil for E or regular vit E caps, Codliver oil, Butter oil, Coral Legend and Dolomite for calcium/mag. ,Kelp for iodine and trace minerals, Floradix Iron, Brewer’s yeast,and a bit of raw liver almost every day. My nutritional needs havesoared compared to when I was not pregnant. If I slack up on thecalcium, I can feel it in my teeth. So, I think you would be verywise to utilize natural vitamins during pregnancy. I would use agood brand like Standard Process. And remember, you don’t knowexactly how much folic acid you are consuming if you just rely ongreens. The folic acid content of veggies is reduced by sitting atroom temp for a while as well as cooking the veggies.
I also include fresh vegetable juices in my diet almost every day foradditional nutrients.
I am a very strict adherant to NT and still feel the need tosupplement. There are so few minerals in our foods as compared tothe cultures Price looked at…
June 13th, 2007 at 6:56 am
Do you think you need a cal/mag supplement during pregnancy if you’redrinking a quart or more a day of raw milk? I’ve just found out I’mpregnant, fairly new NT follower of a few months. I have good rawmilk sources and regularly consume a quart or more a day. I was justwrestling with whether or not to supplement cal/mag so interested inwhat folks think.
Also, I do fermented milk, veggies and beverages but wondering thegroups’ thoughts on probiotic supplementation while on an NT dietwhether or not you’re pregnant?
One more quick question. How much CoQ10 survives cooking? I presumeit’s heat sensitive? We don’t do raw meat but will medium/mediumrare preserve this enzyme for us?
June 13th, 2007 at 7:57 am
From what I’ve researched, I felt like a supplement was necessary forme even though I’m consuming about a quart of raw milk daily also.
I didn’t mention it in my previous post, but Adele Davis has a greatbook on pregnancy called Lets Have Healthy Children.