Please remember that the best changes are the ones that are doable for you and you family. Rather than viewing these lists as impossible, choose one thing that is possible. Pregnant women at levels of nutrition will read these lists. All will start from their own place and can all make one step forward together. In time, you can make the next step forward. For the rest of you life, you will be making small steps to achieve the health and vitality that you desire. Right now, your growing baby is the inspiration for your first step.
The A List
The most highly motivated pregnant moms start here:
“Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers,”
“Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers,”created by The Weston A Price Foundation (WestonAPrice.org):
Daily
-
- Cod Liver Oil-daily
- Whole Milk-preferably raw and grass-fed
- Butter-preferably from grass-fed cows
- Eggs-preferably from pastured chickens
- Egg Yolks
- Oily fish or Lard
- Beef or Lamb-always consumed with the fat
- Coconut Oil
Less Often
-
- Liver: 1-2 times per week
- Seafood: 2-4 times per week “particularly wild salmon, shellfish, and fish eggs”
Also
- Lacto-fermented Vegetables
- Bone Broths
- Soaked Whole Grains
- Fresh vegetables and Fruits
Avoid
- Trans fatty acids (hydrogenated oils)
- Junk foods
- Commercial fried foods
- White flour
- Soft drinks
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Cigarettes
- Drugs (even prescription drugs)
The B List
The following is a generally healthy list of foods that all pregnant moms should try to attain:
Eat these unprocessed foods liberally:
- Water-artesian well or filtered with a pinch of sea salt
- Sea Salt-unrefined, gray, moist
- Meats-grass-fed, hormone-free
- Poultry-free-range/access to bugs, hormone free
- Fish-wild Flounder, Haddock, Scallops, Shrimp
- Butter-hormone-free, from grass-fed animals
- Ghee-clarified butter
- Lard-fat drippings from bacon, organic, hormone-free
- Coconut Oil-organic
- Olive Oil-organic, unheated
- Milk-hormone free, from grass-fed animals
- Cheese-hormone free, from grass-fed animals
- Nuts & Seeds-organic, raw
- Eggs- hormone free, from grass-fed animals
- Legumes (beans, lentils, peas)-organic
- Vegetables-organic
- Fermented Vegetables-organic
- Fruits-organic
- Potatoes-organic
- Rice-organic, whole
- Corn-organic, whole
- Grains-(Quinoa, Millet, Amaranth, Buckwheat, Oats)-organic, whole, sprouted
- Bread-sprouted grain, organic
-
- Spices-organic
- Condiments-organic
The C List
This is a list of foods that many pregnant moms will find themselves eating now, and for which there are better alternatives. For any foods you are eating in this category, simply look to swap them with the foods presented in the A and B lists.
Swap these foods for better alternatives
- Unfiltered Water
- Juice-pasteurized
- Refined White Salt
- Meats-grain-fed, deli-meats, from conventional factories
- Poultry-grain fed, from conventional factories
- Fish-farm raised
Fish to avoid if pregnant (according to the Environmental Workings Group)-Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, Tilefish, Tuna, Sea Bass, Gulf Coast Oysters, Marlin, Halibut, Pike, Walleye, White Croaker, Largemouth Bass
- Vegetable oils-canola, safflower, sunflower, corn
- Milk-pasteurized
- Cheese-pasteurized
- Nuts & Seeds-roasted, conventional
- Eggs-from grain-fed animals, from caged animals
Legumes (beans, lentils, peas)-conventionally farmed with pesticides
Vegetables-conventionally farmed with pesticides
Fermented Vegetables-conventionally farmed with pesticides, pasteurized
Fruits-conventionally farmed with pesticides
Potatoes-conventionally farmed with pesticides
Rice-white, conventionally farmed with pesticides
Corn-conventionally farmed with pesticides
Grains-refined, conventionally farmed with pesticides
Spices-conventionally farmed with pesticides
Condiments-conventionally farmed with pesticides
The D List
These foods are usually so processed that they deserve their own special section. These foods, as they are sold in stores, are generally nowhere near how they are found in nature. They can be considered very highly processed non-foods that should be generally avoided during pregnancy.
Generally avoid these foods while nurturing a baby:
Soda
Soy milk
Coffee
Caffeine-“the developing fetus sustains higher levels of caffeine than his mother because of an immature metabolism,” writes Dr. Greene.
Pasta
Couscous
Bread-avoid all but sprouted, organic
Flour
Sugar
Breakfast cereal
Potato chips
French fries
Chocolate
Tofu
Artificial sweeteners
Artificial and Natural flavors
All chemical additives
The New Food Guide Pyramid
Considered a natural food guide pyramid, David Getoff’s Food Pyramid (Figure 1) is radically different than the one you know. David Getoff is a Naturopath and Clinical Nutritionist who says, “If you have been following the FDA food pyramid, then you are pushing your health in the wrong direction.”
Barry Sears, author of The Zone Diet, agrees, calling the USDA’s food guide pyramid, the “Feed Lot Pyramid.” He is referring to the likelihood that any who follow it grow in size.
David Getoff’s Food Pyramid makes a very different suggestion: eat plenty of vegetables, don’t overcook meats, and use fats liberally. Then you can add nuts, some whole grains, and some raw fruits. Toward the top of this pyramid, to be eaten minimally, we find processed grains. Yes, these are many of the same grains that the USDA’s food guide suggests first. David Getoff’s Pyramid says to use these grains “as infrequently as possible.” Climber further still, this ‘natural’ food guide suggests avoiding recreational drugs, sweets, caffeine, and alcohol. Most of us can agree why. Then, at the very tip top of the pyramid, we find a tiny triangle that includes the foods that are considered the absolute worst. These are the foods we are supposed to avoid even more than drugs, sugar, and alcohol. At the top of this natural food guide pyramid lies “standard soy foods—rarely if ever.” Soy will be covered in more detail in Chapter 55-When in Doubt, Leave Soy Out.
Figure 1: Nutritionist David Getoff’s Food Pyramid is radically different from the USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid. Getoff suggests eating: unprocessed vegetables and meats; plenty of fats and nuts; limiting grains, legumes, and fruits; and completely avoiding processed foods, sugars, drugs and soy.
Making Better Food Choices
Eating unprocessed true foods requires time and motivation. For most moms, it means dedicating time to the kitchen, rather than restaurants or boxed and canned products. It means being willing to change old habits for new habits, and embracing the change as fun and meaningful. There is no greater time or motivation to do so than for the sake of one’s unborn child.
Three important things to plan into your schedule each week:
- Time to call or research farms/co-ops/websites/health stores to find the foods you want initially
- Time to grocery shop once or twice each week, every week
- Time for food preparation about, perhaps every other day
The pregnant mom must consider that she will not jump to perfect eating in one day, let alone one pregnancy. Now that she knows the pinnacle of nutritional possibility, the goal is simply to improve.