Jonny Bowden Ph.D. C.N.S. - The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy

The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About Foods You Should Be Eating During Pregnancy but Probably Arent

Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Allison Tannis, M.S., R.H.N.

Text 2009 by Jonny Bowden and Allison Tannis

First published in the USA in 2009 by
Fair Winds Press, a member of
Quayside Publishing Group
100 Cummings Center, Suite 406-L
Beverly, MA 01915

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN-13: 978-1-59233-400-1
ISBN-10: 1-59233-400-8

Digital edition: 978-1-61673-457-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bowden, Jonny.

100 healthiest foods for pregnancy : what, when, how, and why you should eat these fabulous foods for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy, happy baby / Jonny Bowden and Allison Tannis.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59233-400-1
ISBN-10: 1-59233-400-8
1. PregnancyNutritional aspectsPopular works. 2. Pregnant women Health and hygienePopular works. I. Tannis, Allison. II. Title. III. Title: One hundred healthiest foods for pregnancy.

RG559.B68 2009
618.2dc22

2009028322

Text by Jonny Bowden and Allison Tannis

Edited by Ellen Phillips

Book design by Rachel Fitzgibbon, studio rkf

Cover design by Mattie Reposa

Printed and bound in China

dedication

To everyone who strives to give their baby the healthiest possible start.

Jonny and Allison

For my little bundle of joymay this help you grow big and strong.

Allison

Years ago, I asked my friend Robert Crayhon, M.S., the great nutrition educator and director of the Boulderfest nutritional medicine conference, the following question:

If you could wave your hands and make one single dietary change that would benefit the world the most, what would it be?

Heres what he said: Id put every pregnant woman on fish oil supplements.

Now, whats interesting about this response is not just the fact that Crayhon picked fish oil as the most important supplement for pregnancy (which it may well be). Whats also interesting is the implication that a pregnant womans diet has such a profound effect on the health and well-being of her baby that multiplied many times over it might actually translate into betterment for the whole planet.

Thats how important your diet during pregnancy and postpartum really is.

Look, I know Im a guy and Ive never experienced it, but hundreds of women have told me that pregnancy and birth are the most life-altering, profound experiences theyve ever had. I believe profoundly that what you eat influences everything you do and everything you experience, and that is never more true than during pregnancy and postpartum. Birthing a baby runs the gamut from the intensity of the physical to the sublime of the spiritual, whether it is your first baby or your fifth, write my friends Dean Raffelock, D.C., L.Ac., C.C.N., DACBN, DIBAK, and Robert Rountree, M.D., authors of the terrific Natural Guide to Pregnancy and Postpartum Health. Your diet (and lifestyle) during pregnancy not only deeply affects your own experience but has a great influence on your babys health, vitality, and well-being.

Hence this book.

In a previous book, The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, I discussed the health and nutrition benefits of many foods thatnot surprisinglyare also in this book. After all, if a food benefits your health, it stands to reason its probably good for your baby as well. But during pregnancy, your needs for certain nutrients changeyour need for iron, for example, doubles during pregnancy, and that increased amount cant really be met by diet (which is why iron supplements are nearly always recommended during pregnancy). Your need for protein is higher, as is your need for vitamin E, vitamin C, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, B6, B12, magnesium, iodine, zinc and selenium, andmost especially folate (folic acid).

Bottom line: Some foods (and supplements) are even more important during pregnancy than they are at any other time of life.

Theres more. Pregnancy and birth may be a wonderful, exciting journey, but its probably going to have more than a few bumps along the road. (Okay, forget the probablyI was being gentle.) Morning sickness comes to mind, as does the possibility of postpartum depression. Weird food cravings are common, not to mention nausea.

To make matters worse, the amount of information about what to do about all these things is overwhelm-ingand while some of the information out there is high-quality stuff, much of it is not, some of it is really bad, and an awful lot of it is just plain confusing. Just for fun, I looked on the Internet and researched what advice was available on how to have a great pregnancy and a healthy baby. Even this trial run left me feeling overwhelmed, and Im not even pregnant! I can only imagine how overwhelming and confusing it might be to someone who really needs to act on the best information available but doesnt know how to separate the good stuff from the downright silly.

In The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy, weve broken it down for you into manageable chunks of information that you can actually use. Youll discover the right foods for a number of common problems, from morning sickness through postpartum depression. Youll discover whats happening to your baby at each stage of pregnancy and how your food choices can directly support his or her growth and development. Equally important, youll learn what foods to avoid and why.

One of the things Ive tried to do in all my writing is to cut through confusion and misinformation and put to bed common myths about food and nutrition that have actually hurt us more than theyve helped us (like the wholesale avoidance of fat, for example). And pregnancy and postpartum is an area ripe for what my grandmother used to call old wives tales. Perfect example: Youre eating for two! This advice has led more than a few mothers to consume twice the calories theyd normally consume. Actually, the truth is that you only need to eat about 300 extra calories a day to fuel your babys growth, and that isnt even till the second and third trimester! But choosing those calories wiselywhich is what this book is aboutis of critical importance. The payoff: a healthy mom, healthy baby, minimal weight gain, and easy postpregnancy weight loss!

Choosing foods wisely also affects your ability to conceive, so if youre reading this in anticipation of becoming pregnant, youve come to the right place! And choosing foods wisely can make a huge difference when its time to bounce back from pregnancy and delivery. Even understanding your cravings may help for example, as youll learn in the book, that pickles-and-ice-cream craving just might be your bodys way of telling you to get more calcium and sodium in your diet!

Speaking of cravings, one concept youll find in the book that many people have found particularly useful is the Art of the Nutrition Shift: healthy substitutions for commonly craved foods (well give you a ton of examples). Well also tell you the results of the most up-to-date research regarding such pregnancy dilemmas as how to get more omega-3s from fish in your diet while avoiding mercury. Or how to stay properly hydrated when youre feeling nauseous and cant face the thought of another glass of water (ice chips, anyone?). Well give you tips on how to choose, store, and prepare each food we discuss, as well as when and how much of it to eat!