Food Blog Log
Thursday, July 20, 2006

Each day, I'm going to try to list all the food I've eaten and its amount. I really want to have a healthy pregnany and I haven't done a very good job of losing weight over the last few months to prepare for conception.

I stumbled across mention of Dr. Tom Brewer's Pregnancy diet while browsing through some threads on the Mothering.Commune pregnancy discussion boards. It does seem like a healthy well-balanced diet, for the most part.

But I think some of it may conflict with the diet guidelines the midwife I plan on using gave me. It's really amazing how many different schools of thought there are on healthy pregnancy. It's confusing to know whose advice to follow.

Here are some of the guidelines the midwife gave me (keeping in mind that she is a vegan and I am not):

No Fish. The traces of mercury could be harmful for baby. Although a very limited amount of fish would probably be safe, it is just better to stay away from it altogether to be on the safe side.

No Pork. I kind of new this without her telling me. Pork is really one of the dirtiest meats one can eat. Pigs are scavenger animals, and although we have processing plants to get rid of (most of) the grossness, I still think there's a reason it was one of the meats God forbode the Hebrews to eat. (Don't get me wrong, I do eat bacon every now and then. I'm not bound by the Law, since we are not living in Old Testament times, and therefore my right-standing w/ God does not rely on what kinds of meat I do or don't eat. But I really believe that God's OT Law on meats were also health guidelines given to the Hebrews for their own benefit.

No Beef. She said that there is just stuff going on in the beef industry today that people don't know about. Sounds borderline conspiracy-theorist to me, but I don't eat that much beef anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

Eat ONLY free-range chicken, if you must eat meat.Woman, I'd love to eat only free-range chicken, but I really don't have the money to spend $12 or more on just one fryer chicken.

Supplement protein w/ powdered rice protein from the whole foods store. Mix it w/ fresh fruit juice and ice to make a smoothie. I already have a big container of egg white protein, so I asked her if that was comparable to the rice protein. She said it's not as good, but it'll do. I forgot at the time that she is vegan, so of course she is not going to be keen on egg products.

Eat 2-3 servings of red/orange/yellow veggies a day

Eat all the green veggies I can possibly stand and try to eat many of them raw.

Eat 3-5 servings of fruit per day

Drink 1/2 my weight in ounces of water. So, if you are 150 lbs, you need to drink 75 oz water per day.

Drink red raspberry leaf tea every day. Midwives have differing oppinions on what the exact benefits of red raspberry leaf tea are and the amount a pregnant woman should consume, but it is believed that it promotes uterine health by toning its muscles.

Take a good NATURAL prenatal vitamin. The best one for the money in her opinion is Nature's Plus "Source of Life" Prenatal Vitamins.

She didn't mention much about the intake of carbohydrates during our conversation, but she did ask me what my current diet consists of and I told her that I usually eat about 1/2 cup of brown rice at dinner (along w/ meat & veggies) or one slice of wheat bread. She seemed fine with that.

An example of a perfect breakfast is:
granola (didn't specify amount)
1 banana
handful of nuts and raisins
a bit of natural maple syrup
a splash of rice or soy milk

Sounds yummy to me, but I should have asked HOW MUCH granola to include in this concoction. I am the kind of person that needs boundaries. If you don't give me a specific limit, I'll likely fill up my mop bucket with granola and shovel it in with the biggest spoon I can find. It's good she limited the maple syrup to "a bit".....but that just leaves it open to my interpretation. Is a bit 1 teaspoon or 2 overflowing tablespoons? I would surely choose the latter.

I will add to the list as the day progresses, but so far I have eaten:

Breakfast:
1 egg cooked in a dab of olive oil
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 pieces wheat toast
2 bites of the sweetened oatmeal I was feeding the toddler I babysit
1 12 oz cup red raspberry leaf tea
1 8 oz cup coffee (trying to wean myself off of it by this weekend - yikes!)

Snack:
6 animal crackers (Doh! Dang that toddler snackie-food.)

Lunch:
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1 handful pecans
squirt of honey
1/2 apple
1/2 cup mixed veggies
4 slices turkey breast lunchmeat

Snack:
1 white flour tortilla w/
1 tbsp natural unsalted/unsweetened peanut butter

Dinner:
A big bowl of chili (made w/ organic pinto beans and crumble veggie burger)
1/2 cup brown rice
1/4 cup shredder cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green beans

Snack:
1 handful o' peanuts

Okay, I think what I've learned by looking at this day's meals is that I need to eat WAY more green veggies and no animal crackers.

Labels: food, health

posted by Unkempt Mommy @ 8:19 AM,

1 Comments:

At Thu Jul 20, 07:19:00 PM CDT, Wendy @ WMF said...: I followed the Brewer diet during my twin pregnancy. During my other pregnancies I pretty much followed the all food all the time diet.

I'm really enjoying your blog. My pregnancy days appear to be long gone, so it's a lot of fun for me to read about your adventures!