Dear Mama-to-Be
Everyone is ready to tell you exactly what you should eat (or should not) during your pregnancy. In fact, does it seem like everyone knows the perfect pregnancy diet – except you?
Do you feel confused about how to get “balanced” prenatal nutrition? What foods should you eat? What should you avoid? How many extra calories do you need? What's the deal with protein? And how do you juggle all this while still gaining the “right” number of pounds?
And what do you do if you crave the things you know you shouldn't have – and when even glancing at healthy things makes you want to run for the nearest bathroom?
Which foods are best during pregnancy? Are there really pregnancy “super foods” that help your baby? Can food make a difference in your labor and birth? How does what you eat during pregnancy impact breastfeeding?
Do these questions sound familiar? If so, you're definitely not alone! These are questions that I've asked throughout all of my pregnancies, and they're questions I hear literally over and over again as mamas visit my website and take my pregnancy and birthing classes.
Food is on every mama-to-be's mind… and it goes way beyond pickles and ice cream!!
I believe that, as an intelligent woman and as “mama bear” mom, you have an intuitive sense that good nutrition goes a long way towards making a vibrantly healthy baby – and a safer, even easier, birthing. But information about nutrition is wildly conflicting and all over the place. You've probably heard:
- 300 extra calories a day is all you need
- Baby can take what s/he needs from your stores
- If you started pregnancy “overweight” you shouldn't gain as much (or any!!!)
- You can just take a supplement instead of eating XYZ
- Lowering salt intake will reduce your swelling
- Eating fewer calories can control gestational diabetes
- Controlling your weight gain is a top priority
- If you eat lots of vegetables, you're all set for a healthy baby
Your Baby Deserves the Truth
The problem with all of those statements?
They're all false.
Not only that, many of them are also extremely dangerous to you, your baby, and even your own health.
Most doctors and obstetricians get very little training in nutrition, and when they do, it's focused on the current weight control paranoia of modern culture. I'm not saying we need to ignore obesity or weight issues – but pregnancy is not the time to focus on those things.
In fact, doing that can absolutely sabotage your baby's chances for maintaining a healthy lifelong weight.
I know that's a bold statement to make, but it's backed up by science. The startling (and rather scary) evidence shows that when moms eat poorly or try to “limit” nutrition (even for the sake of controlling weight gain) during pregnancy…
…babies are genetically “programmed” to store and hoard energy. In other words, their bodies are programmed that they live in a world where food and nutrients are scarce, and they need to hoard fat… it's programming our children for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and more.
That's not a gift any mother wants to give, and it's why every mother should know that pregnancy nutrition matters.
A Passion for the Plate!
I've been interested prenatal nutrition since my first pregnancy, when my midwife told me that what I ate would make a big difference for my baby and my birth. I feel so blessed that I had a midwife who felt passionately about the importance of food – and who ignited a lifelong passion in me to serve pregnant women š I've read everything I could get my hands on in the 15 (!!!) years since those first prenatal appointments – and I keep on reading.
In fact, I was researching for a class on supplements recently when I realized that I really needed to do a new, updated prenatal nutrition class.
Like I shared above, the misinformation about diet in pregnancy is widespread, even (maybe especially) in doctor's offices. And a lot of midwives and nurses don't know much about nutrition, either. In today's world of drugs and “magic pills,” nobody really wants to read the research on the incredible difference diet can make for a baby – or a pregnant woman.
The truth is, your body changes astoundingly during pregnancy. In fact, that adorable baby bump is literally just a baby step on the long list of changes. Every major body system changes: your cardiovascular system (blood supply increases by 60%!), respiratory system (you breathe in more air with each breath), endocrine system (hormones surge by 1000x!!), urinary & waste processing system (you clear everything for you and your baby) – not to mention the shifts in balance and relaxation of ligaments and joints, plus your mental and emotional well-being adaptations… There is a lot going on in your pregnant body.
Good nutrition is the foundation that supports the incredible work your body is doing. Your body already knows how to do everything – you just need to give it the raw materials.
What to Eat, When to Eat, and How to Eat It!
Ideally we'd all have a personal chef delivering nutritionally optimized meals and snacks to us every day of our pregnancy. Oh, and he'd of course make sure it tasted delicious!
I honestly believe that's what every pregnant woman deserves š
But, well, most of us don't have a personal chef at our beck and call! You've got to get this figured out on your own, and prepared on your own.
That's where this class comes in. I'm calling it Perfect Prenatal Nutrition because every mama wants a healthy baby – and every mama wants to eat well for her baby.
This class will cover not just the what and why, but also the how – as in how to make good pregnancy diet simple. You'll discover:
- The key to a healthy pregnancy (so you skip the pregnancy and birth complications and go straight to a healthy baby)
- Doing this during pregnancy is proven to help your child excel in school & in making mental connections
- The “Five Finger Formula” to help you decide if a food is okay to eat or not
- Exactly why modern prenatal nutrition advice is wrong (and how it actually hurts mothers and babies)
- The pregnancy protein myth – this will change the way you think about your pregnancy diet!
- Forget the “my plate” and “food pyramids” – use this little 3-legged stool to remember what to eat every day
- Why counting calories can increase pregnancy complications and damaged babies (even if you have gestational diabetes or other “complications”)
- When “You're Eating for Two” is true – and when it's not
Plus you'll understand…
- What's a healthy amount to gain during pregnancy? What's too much? Is there such a thing as “too little?”
- How to plan for weight gain if you started pregnancy above your ideal weight
- What science really says about salt restriction for pregnancy (plus what to do if you have swelling)
- Real examples of day-to-day pregnancy diets
- Why what you eat in the 1st trimester looks different than the 2nd and 3rd (and why that's OK)
- Which foods are “pregnancy super foods” and how often you should eat them
- How to adapt a healthy pregnancy diet when you have food allergies or intolerances
- Making your “comfort foods” or ethnic foods work for your pregnancy
- What you need to know if you're vegetarian, vegan, or following any special diets
- How much to drink during your pregnancy (plus some super sippers you'll love!)
- Practical, day-to-day advice on making pregnancy nutrition simple
It's important to make sure that good pregnancy advice is always up-to-date – and that's the good news about good food! Evidence supports sensible, practical pregnancy diets… but you're probably not hearing the evidence in a 5-minute doctor's appointment. Today I want to help you shift your focus from the scale to your baby… because you're eating to build a babe, not live in fear of that climbing little arrow!
We'll cover all of these issues and more…. Again, I can't deliver a gourmet chef to your doorstep, but I can tell you exactly how to eat for a healthy pregnancy – and how to pull it off in real life š
My normal consultation rate is $300 an hour, but since Iām offering this as an open class, Iām able to give the class rate of $197. In all honesty, however, I want as many mamas as possible to get this information…
Your pregnancy nutrition is literally the biggest way you impact your baby's lifelong health.
So Iām offering this class for just $47. Click below to register now!
