Also seems much more comprehensive and thorough than the chapters on prenatal diet recommendations in Expecting Better, though that comes with a risk of being overwhelmed by too much information on how to optimize. Probably Expecting Better is a better fit if you need to reduce anxiety about all the no-nos that MDs issue.

Real Food for Pregnancy: The Science and Wisdom of Optimal Prenatal Real Food for Pregnancy: The Science and Wisdom of Optimal

This all-encompassing prenatal nutrition book based on scientific research teaches how to adopt a real-food approach when it comes to eating, ultimately setting up for a healthier pregnancy, a smoother recovery from birth, and an easier transition into motherhood. Nutrient-dense foods to “build a healthy baby” and which foods to avoid (including the latest evidence on fish and mercury, food safety and deli meat, etc.) If you don't have enough iron stores or get enough iron during pregnancy, you could develop iron deficiency anemia. You might develop headaches or become fatigued. Severe iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy also increases the risk of premature birth, having a low birth weight baby and postpartum depression.

An example I'm completely (but respectfully) in disagreement with is the consumption of shellfish such as oysters and other "filter feeders" like shrimp. I believe they should never ever be consumed from any source. Not wild, nor farmed. She did mention several times throughout the book that even if you can't eat organic, pasture-raised etc. That it is still more important to eat nutrient dense food than to avoid because of toxicity concerns. I think she could have said that more, as many women I think would give up because they don't have access to or can't afford to eat completely clean. Unfortunately as our oceans become more and more polluted, especially in coastal areas, we flee from coastal fishes and shellfish and seek the deep ocean creatures like tuna and swordfish only to find they're not clean as they once were. But coastal species and shellfish are horrendous.

Real Food for Pregnancy: The Science and Wisdom of Opti… Real Food for Pregnancy: The Science and Wisdom of Opti…

On the other hand, while this book draws from a wide spectrum of research, I think it struggles to consistently discern the quality of all that data and as such draw reasonable and relevant conclusions from it for its audience. I get the impression that whenever Nichols comes across studies that associate a particular food ingredient or toxin with the term, “elevated risk” she opts towards recommending avoidance instead of digging deeper to consider the validity of that association, data quality, and the degree of risk. The chapters on foods that don’t build a healthy baby, nutrients and toxins culminate in a punishing list of restrictions and scared the hell out of me at a time when I was already struggling with elevated fears. Suddenly, drinking tap water, eating out, using moisturizer, toothpaste, and so on felt like risks. I’m skeptical that the stress was worth it. Are you a dietitian who specializes in prenatal nutrition? Or are you looking for continuing education on prenatal nutrition? Look no further. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov. Accessed Jan. 19, 2022. Sugary foods and drinks are often high in calories, which can contribute to weight gain. Having sugary foods and drinks can also lead to tooth decay. It's best to get vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat, but when you're pregnant you need to take a folic acid supplement as well, to make sure you get everything you need.

There's also substantial scaremongering about vegetarianism and veganism (of which I'm neither, but for which I think there are significant and important nutritional and environmental justifications). There are contraindications for heavy consumption of red meat and animal fats, so even if it is the case that consuming these optimises prenatal nutrition, the discussion is not balanced. Fact sheet for health professionals: Calcium. National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-HealthProfessional/. Accessed Jan. 19, 2022. You also need to make sure that some foods, such as eggs, poultry, burgers, sausages and whole cuts of meat like lamb, beef and pork, are cooked very thoroughly until steaming all the way through.

Lily Nichols RDN Books - Lily Nichols RDN

Fact sheet for health professionals: Iron. National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/. Accessed Jan. 19, 2022. With over 930 citations, Real Food for Pregnancy is an evidence-based book that presents as the most comprehensive text on prenatal nutrition to date.

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For example, deficiencies in choline, vitamin B12, folate, iron, and iodine (among others) can impair brain development. On the flip side, adequate intake of these nutrients is protective. You want to be proactive about your health before, during, and after pregnancy, including understanding how nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, avoidance of toxins, stress management (and more) can help you and your baby thrive Eating healthily often means changing the amounts of different foods you eat, so that your diet is varied, rather than cutting out all your favourites. You can use the Eatwell Guide to get the balance of your diet right. It shows you how much of what you eat should come from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. Lily Nichols, Registered Dietitian, specialist in prenatal nutrition, and best-selling author of Real Food for Gestational Diabetes, has written this book to close the wide gap between current prenatal nutrition recommendations and the actual nutritional needs for optimal health in pregnancy and for a baby's development. With research both broad and deep, Nichols closely examines the most current scientific evidence and studies to determine optimal nutritional options for today's pregnant women.

Home - Lily Nichols RDN

Real Food for Pregnancy covers an astounding amount of research and makes it enjoyable to read, all while giving readers super practical steps to take to ensure their best pregnancies. I really enjoyed reading about the ancestral traditions surrounding pregnancy, and Lily masterfully ties them together with the most up-to-date research available on pregnancy nutrition. This goes way beyond the importance of folate… there are so many amazing science nuggets in here! Even the most up-to-date pregnancy science nerds are guaranteed to learn something (i.e. the uterus contains up to 800% more collagen at the end of pregnancy…woah!). This book is unique in how beautifully it bridges the gap from academia to real-life implementation. I am not aware of a more complete compendium of practical knowledge on pregnancy nutrition, toxin protection, and overall well-being. I’d recommend this book to all women in their childbearing years (and their practitioners). Getting this knowledge out there will lead to more healthy and happy pregnancies, and more happy and healthy mamas and babies! Madeleine Ruffa Fact sheet for health professionals: Vitamin D. National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/. Accessed Jan. 19, 2022. Misconceptions of conventional prenatal nutrition: optimal macronutrient intake vs. current recommendations (why the current high-carb, low-fat recommendations are doing more harm than good), why salt is an essential nutrient (and how a low-salt diet can be detrimental), etc. Eggs that have not been produced under the Lion Code are considered less safe, and pregnant women are advised to avoid eating them raw or partially cooked, including in mousse, mayonnaise and soufflé. These eggs should be cooked until the white and the yolk are hard. FAQs: Nutrition during pregnancy. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/nutrition-during-pregnancy. Accessed Jan. 19, 2022.

Additionally, the information in this book will just be completely inaccessible for so many. If you can't afford a diet of organic, local produce, and free range, grass fed meat and dairy, with a ton of pasture raised organic eggs, this book might just make you feel bad and not do much more. Further, a lot of the writing made me feel like my entire purpose in life is just to be a vessel to grow babies - where's the chapter on what if I want an occasional piece of cake? Instead, you are encouraged to frame everything you eat as will this grow a healthy baby? As a pregnant person I was looking for a book that would help me to optimise my nutrition, I am very disappointed with this book, which fails to deliver good information.