Adrienne L. Simone - The New Rules of Pregnancy: What to Eat, Do, Think About, and Let Go Of While Your Body Is Making a Baby

The New Rules of Pregnancy

What to eat, do, think about, and let go of while your body is making a baby

Adrienne L. Simone, MD, Jaqueline Worth, MD, and Danielle Claro

Photographs by Winky Lewis

Artisan | New York

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. Please seek your doctors advice before making any decisions that may affect your health. The authors and publisher are not responsible for any loss, damage, or injury to any person or entity caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

Whats magical, sometimes, has deeper roots than reason.

Mary Oliver

Contents

Welcome to The New Rules of Pregnancy. The mission of this book is to guide and support you with medical expertise while your body does what it knows how to do. Which is be pregnant. As doctors who have been enthusiastically caring for women for a couple of decades, we know that pregnancy is a robust process; the job is to keep the body safe and let it be. One of our goals is to take anxiety out of the equation and restore some of the glow to pregnancy. In our work, weve often wished there were a positive, concise guide, containing the most important information, that we could give to our pregnant patients. Something clear and uncluttered that reflected our compassionate, demedicalized, natural approach and cultivated a sense of well-being. We couldnt find that book, so we wrote it. The New Rules of Pregnancy explains everything you can do on the outside to support whats happening inside your bodyand guides you through labor, delivery, and the beginning of motherhood. Our advice is frank and actionablewe get straight to the point, with evidence-based medicine that cuts a clear path. The idea is to help you take care of the things you can control and not make yourself crazy about those you cantto encourage you to prepare for whats ahead but also have faith in the process. One of the best things you can do for your pregnancy is relax. By bringing you the tools we feel you really need in a spirit of calm and joy, we hope we can help you do that.

For starters, we want to encourage you to look forward. Dreaming about the birth of your babyeven at the beginning of pregnancyhelps you figure out what you want. And thinking even further ahead to postpartum healing and life as parents can help you and your partner prepare for the phases youll go through together. Some people are really surprised (even shocked) by the life changes that come with pregnancy and recovery, but theres no reason you need to be. Just keep talking and anticipating whats next, staying on the same team. The adjustments we recommend in this book arent necessarily difficult, but theyre important. Were going to encourage you to slow down, to eat well, and in general to lean in to pregnancy. Theres no such thing as a perfect pregnancy or a perfect birth, so dont pressure yourself to experience this process a certain way. Just take careand take napsand take your time where maybe you used to rush. For this particular 280-day stretch, your body is making a human. Go with that.

Pregnancy offers a natural reset for health habits. Enjoy the opportunity, keep things simple, and dont stress. Its not hard to nourish yourself and get all that your body needs. The key is to lean on nutrient-dense fresh foods that give you the most benefits per biteorganic, hormone-free, antibiotic-free. Do what you can to avoid processed stuff (not just snacks from the vending machine but anything packagedfresh is best). If you have access to a farmers market, take advantagea rainbow assortment of vegetables and fruits is always a good thing. Cook meat and fish well. Take care where you buy prepared foodsstick with clean, reliable sources. Nutrition specs are on the next pages. Youll get a lot from your , but its only part of the story; nutrients from food are absorbed better, and eating well can also help you feel your best.

Protein makes babies grow. You want to build your pregnancy diet around it and aim to get somewhere between 60 and 70 grams a day. For reference, a chicken cutlet has about 25 grams of protein; a cup of lentils has 18. Two eggs deliver about 12 grams, and a half cup of tempeh is 15. A serving of salmon or steak has a whopping 40 grams of protein. If youre vegan by preference, consider eating eggs (and add Braggs nutritional yeast to soups, avocado toast, or smoothies). If youre on the fence about meat, now is a good time to opt in. Calciumalso essential in pregnancybuilds babies bones and teeth. Get 1,000 milligrams a day (a yogurt has 300 milligrams). Fiber is important for you, not the babyto keep your digestive system working well. Have 28 grams a day (a serving of broccoli has 5 grams; a cup of raspberries has 8). This plan not only keeps you nourished but also keeps you full, so youre less likely to reach for foods without benefits (you know: bagels, cupcakes). Dont worry too much about precisionthe amounts here are just guidelines. If you like, you can do an occasional check with an app like MyFitnessPal. Just type in what you ate that day to see how it all breaks down in terms of nutrients, then tweak as needed.

You only need to add about 400 calories a day to your diet, and those new calories should come from nutrient-dense foods. Wait till the second trimester to up your calories (if you start pregnancy underweight, your doctor might direct you to do it sooner). Think dairy, eggs, lean meat, dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and good fats like nuts and avocado. The omega-3 fatty acid DHA, which is found in fish, is especially important in pregnancy. You can get what you need by having two ser-vings a week of low-mercury fishsardines, salmon, trout, shrimp, pollack, canned light tuna (dont eat high-mercury fish: marlin, skate, shark, swordfish, tilefish, ahi tuna, king mackerel); if youre a vegetarian, youll get your DHA from your prenatal vitamin. Ideal weight gain in pregnancy is not the same for everyone. Your doctor will tell you how much shed like you to gain depending on your starting weight. For most people, its somewhere between 25 and 35 pounds. If you keep an eye on portion size, fill up on protein and fiber, and dont overdo the carbs, the weight should work out. This is important. Gaining too much is not just about having more weight to lose on the other end; it also raises your risk for certain complications, including gestational diabetes.