This is a guest post by Celestia from Tree of Life Mothering Blog. Her posts always are interesting! Diet is important and we encourage all pregnant moms to learn more about a good diet. From many different sources, including your care provider!
She reviewed our book and loved it. Though she wished we had included information about the importance of a pregnant woman’s diet in it. I asked her to write a guest post for us about it! So here it is.
I am going to put an excerpt here, but I really suggest clicking over to her post on her blog, as she has lots of great videos I can’t seem to link over here.
Chances are, if you’ve ever been pregnant, you’ve heard the phrase, “You’re eating for two.” Many times it is given as a license for you to indulge in that next serving of pizza, brownie, or bowl of chips. OK, true confessions time, even I have used it myself as a license in my head to eat more of what is not necessarily the most nutrient dense foods. Unfortunately for me when I am pregnant and craving potato chips, there’s a lot more to pregnancy and nutrition then just eating more calories.
Actually, it is really fortunate when you look at it a way other than through tastebuds that crave junk food. Knowing that we women have power to create beautiful babies who are healthful, who will never get ear infections or glasses or cholesterol problems is a fortunate thing! As Chris Masterjohn says, HERE, “Good maternal nutrition during pregnancy can protect the offspring from diabetes, stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, and memory loss later in life.” Sadly, kidney disease has become increasingly common in people of all ages which is why taking nutrition seriously from the beginning is very important. Whilst the condition is manageable through means like dialysis. You may be wondering What is Dialysis Access Management if you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with kidney disease. Fortunately, plenty of information can be found online.
We all hear about how when you are pregnant, a mom should not smoke or drink. That’s because the mom has an organ that passes everything she takes in on to the baby. This organ, the placenta, is the first tree of life to the baby. It supports the baby until the baby is born with oxygen and nutrients. It literally looks like a tree as well. How many of us realize the power of this tree of life? We can use this tree of life to pass on positive things to the baby to increase the baby’s facial beauty, bone structure and density, brain and eye development, gut health (which affects all other health) and to make an overall strong constitution for life.
Not only that, but through proper nutrition, we can decrease and even eliminate the common pesky complaints and challenges of pregnancy that we as moms experience such as:
- Morning sickness
- Cramping in your feet and hands
- Cravings for junk foods
- Varicose veins
- Stretch marks
- Swelling and water retention
Unfortunately, some women may still suffer from these types of problems even after taking proper nutrition. This tends to be a common issue amongst women during pregnancy, so it isn’t anything out of the ordinary. It just depends on how your body reacts. Some of these problems may even last until after the pregnancy has ended, like stretch marks and varicose veins. But don’t worry, doctors similar to the ones that you will find at Abella Health will be able to treat your varicose veins and can help you to feel good about yourself again. If you want the best chance of being able to prevent all of these common pesky complaints and challenges, you may want to consider consuming proper nutrition from the beginning.
In addition, a holistic IBCLC, Jennifer Tow, over here, says that a mom’s diet can lead to all the common problems we hear about in modern America after someone has a baby. “…post-partum depression, food allergies, milk supply, PCOS, tongue-tie, reflux, ‘high-need’ infant behavior, slow growth, failure to thrive and numerous feeding difficulties may all find origins in the integrity and vitality of the mother’s internal terrain. In attending to the health of the maternal gut, while supporting the infant in his own healing, we may find that many breastfeeding problems are resolved both acutely and chronically.”
Wow, we moms have power to eliminate all these problems by changing our diets! This is good news!
Click here to read the rest of the post and see some great videos with more information!
I’m so glad Celestia took the time to put that post together. It is great information and so vital that we feed our bodies properly when pregnant (and otherwise).
The misinformation in this post should be accompanied by a disclaimer. It is irresponsible to encourage pregnant women to eat a diet high in saturated fat, which according to our best scientific knowledge is linked to a higher risk of heart disease. A recent study shows heart disease is the most common cause for obstetric admissions to the ICU (http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Abstract/2012/02000/Near_Miss_Maternal_Mortality__Cardiac_Dysfunction.8.aspx). And recommending raw milk is just dangerous. Pregnant women are at increased risk for Listeria (http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/types/milk/index.html).
The author of this post makes some astonishing claims. Regarding maternal diet, she says “Knowing that we women have power to create beautiful babies who are healthful, who will never get ear infections or glasses or cholesterol problems is a fortunate thing!” Really? So a woman with a nearsighted child did something wrong? Her source for this assertion is no less an expert than a lactation consultant. Wow. (And I defy you to find a baby who’s not beautiful, no matter what the mom’s diet was.)
“What the World Doesn’t Tell You”? Sorry, but the LDS Church is “of the world” on this subject. The Church’s Provident Living website teaches nutrition principles based on the preponderance of scientific evidence. It also links to legitimate sources, such as the USDA, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society. In other words, “Latter-day Saints believe in applying the best available scientific knowledge and techniques” (Dallin H. Oaks, http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/healing-the-sick?lang=eng&query).
I think that it is important for a pregnant mom to be aware that her diet can affect your pregnancy, birth and baby. So I was excited to share a guest post about it. Thanks for your feedback and a reminder that moms need to evaluate what they read and do research and make the best choices for them.
Thanks for the links for further research.
Thanks for publishing my somewhat ranty comment! I agree that women should learn about the importance of diet in pregnancy. Some sources are better than others, though. The YW and RS manuals have lessons on this subject. The Church provides information on so many of the issues discussed here. I’m puzzled as to why LDS women sometimes look beyond that mark when they start their research.
The Provident Living website (http://www.providentliving.org/bc/providentliving/content/english/self-reliance/health/pdf/nutrition-and-diet.pdf?lang=eng) offers scientifically sound nutrition information.
Consider these statements from Church magazines:
“Many fad diets promote the opposite of the Word of Wisdom, including diets high in meat and fat . . . research indicates that a diet following the recommendations outlined in section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants, consisting primarily of grains, fruits, and vegetables, is generally considered the healthiest way to eat” (http://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/07/cancer-nutrition-and-the-word-of-wisdom-one-doctors-observations?lang=eng).
“The diet contradicts what most trusted health professionals and groups say. Look for a diet that emphasizes a variety of foods, including whole grains, vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products” (http://www.lds.org/ensign/2006/09/random-sampler/six-tips-for-spotting-a-fad-diet?lang=eng).
From an article entitled, “Where can I find accurate information on nutrition that is not faddish or inconsistent with Word of Wisdom guidelines?” : “These people repeatedly make the mistake of accepting unproven health claims because they naively trust anecdotal stories or accept the conclusions of poorly conducted studies” (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1996/02/i-have-a-question/i-have-a-question?lang=eng).
I think it’s important for LDS women to have this information when making choices about diet.