DrGreene.com » Pregnancy Nutrition

You Are What You Eat & So Is Your Baby

Anna Getty — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:53:10 +0000

May is Pregnancy Awareness Month — a month of events and media that celebrate this special time in a woman’s life. The activities this year are being kicked off with the 6th Annual Signature Pregnancy Awareness Month™ Event on Sunday May 5th from noon to 4 p.m. in Santa Monica. Dr. Greene is on their board of advisors and will, once again, speak at the kick-off event.

In honor of this important month, we are re-publishing five posts by founder Anna Getty. Originally posted May 2009.

When it comes to food and pregnancy, it seems like it’s a topic always enshrouded in confusion. How much should one eat? What should one eat? What should be avoided etc. Here are a few key points that I have done my due diligence on.

We need only an additional 300 calories per day when pregnant and 600 more when lactating.
Avoid raw fish, raw meat like deli meat and unpasteurized soft cheeses. Some raw soft cheese like imported brie have been linked to a fetal harming bacteria called Listeria.
Increase protein intake up to 65-70 grams per day.
Skip caffeine, refined sugar and alcohol.
Try to eat every two hours (always including some protein) to keep blood sugar balance.
And stay hydrated (2-3 liters of water a day)

When it comes to pregnancy eating think about how you will want your child to eat when he is about 3-4 years old. Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, protein, fiber, and sure, every now again a treat. Everything you eat is helping your baby grow and develop, honor your cravings but do your best to help create a strong and healthy foundation for your child. Pick up Domenica Catelli’s wonderful cook book Mom-a-licious: Fresh, Fast, Family Food for the Hot Mama in You! You will use it for years.

Green Smoothies: A Pregnancy Must-Have to give Baby a Healthy Start

Aaliya Yaqub MD — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:57:09 +0000

Growing a baby is hard work, I can attest to that. Pregnancy is such a special time in a woman’s life, but it comes with a great deal of responsibility. As a first time expectant mom, I sometimes find myself struggling to ensure that I am eating a healthy, balanced diet full of the key nutrients necessary to grow a healthy, happy baby. I love the thought of a fun summer salad, but those deep leafy green salads don’t particularly excite me. In fact, I often find myself drenching them in calorie-rich dressing just to get those nutrients down. So, I had to find an alternative way to get my folic acid, iron and antioxidants. That’s when I started drinking green smoothies. I think fresh juices are great, but smoothies, which retain all of the fiber and goodness of your ingredients, are better!

And now that I’m in my third trimester, I feel like a green smoothie expert after much experimentation. And, lucky for you, I have found some simple ways to make green smoothies taste delicious because who wants a drink that just tastes like blending spinach or kale. I look forward to the extra boost of energy that comes from a green smoothie in the morning and I’m sure baby loves it too.

My favorite green smoothie recipe: The Tropical Green Smoothie

½-1 cup of organic apple juice (or white grape juice)
a handful of ice cubes
1-2 large leaves of kale
1-2 cups of spinach
1/3 cup chopped fresh pineapple
¼ small lime with peel removed

Optional additives:

chia seeds or flax seeds
avocado
flaxseed oil
protein powder

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth or according to your preferred texture. Makes 1 large serving or 2 medium servings. Then enjoy!

The great thing about blended smoothies is that you can substitute ingredients without sacrificing taste. For instance, try banana instead of pineapple or add some yogurt for a creamier texture. Everything is customizable and the options are limitless. And, since the blender does all of the hard work for you, your digestive system just gets to kick back and enjoy all of the amazing nutrients!

If making green smoothies doesn’t appeal to you, look for local vendors that sell green blended smoothies, but try to stick to fresh smoothies because often store bought varieties lose much of their nutritional content due to oxidation.

I’ve recently gotten hooked on busheljuices.com because they deliver right to your door in the San Francisco/Bay Area!

Do you have any green smoothie tips or recipes that you like? Have you found any good fresh smoothie vendors in your area?

A New Reason to Eat Your Greens During Pregnancy

Dr. Alan Greene — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:43:01 +0000

More good news for pregnant moms – a new study suggests that eating more veggies during pregnancy lowers the risk that your baby will develop type 1 diabetes.

I’ve always recognized a strong connection between what moms eat and the health (and later food preferences) of their infants, and many of these links are explained in my book, Feeding Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Program for Healthy, Safe Nutrition during Pregnancy, Childhood, and Beyond. This Swedish study, published online in the journal Pediatric Diabetes, studied 6,500 5-year-olds. Sweden has a high incidence of diabetes, and three percent of the kids in the study either had type 1 diabetes or the markers that indicate a risk of developing the disease. But the kids with moms who reported that they ate vegetables daily during their pregnancy had the lowest risk, and children with moms who said they rarely ate vegetables while pregnant had twice the risk of having a child with type 1 diabetes.

It’s also interesting that the consumption of other food groups didn’t show the same increase or decrease in risk, nor did socio-economic factors such as the mother’s education level. Vegetables have the all-important vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that pregnant women need to keep their bodies in tip-top shape for the miraculous changes that she and her baby will go through. As the study suggests, starting your pregnancy off with the right balance of nutrition can give your little one the best chance to live a happy, healthy life.

For more information about pregnancy and nutrition, you should check out my series: Eating for Two.

Babies are Built from Food

Dr. Alan Greene — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:39:40 +0000

Babies Are Built from Food

When a brand-new baby opens her eyes and, for the first time, settles her gaze on her parents with a spark of recognition, something very complex has taken place. The light in the room has focused through a tiny living lens to project an image on the canvas of tightly packed nerve cells in the back of her eyes. The postage-stamp- of tissue that we call the retina contains miraculous little rods or “black-and-white” receptors that photograph the ever-changing patterns of light and darkness before her eyes. They transform images from across the room into coherent neural signals that race along the optic nerve, through the optic chiasm, separating and rejoining until they reach the occipital lobe of her brain, a processing system of daunting speed, power, and complexity.

And all of this intricate, invisible complexity in her first glance has been built out of food.

The realization that babies are built from food is both liberating and inspiring. With a new baby, you have the ability to “get in on the ground floor” when you invest in your child by making healthy food choices.

During pregnancy, and in the months before, each healthy food choice has a bigger payoff than at any other time of life. Even a little change in the right direction can have big rewards. It can help you become even better soil in which your child grows.

As we’ll see, a mother’s body is designed-with its special cravings and aversions, with its changing sense of taste and smell-to help choose the best foods for her baby. And her baby is designed to make the best use of those foods, to learn from her mother about what foods to eat, how much to eat, and how to use those calories. It starts even before she is born.

Can You Be Vegetarian or Vegan while Pregnant?

Dr. Alan Greene — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 02:05:34 +0000

Being a vegetarian or a vegan can be an option for a pregnant woman, if you make informed choices. Here are four things to keep in mind:

Being sure to get plenty of Vitamin B12, typically found in animal foods (meat, dairy products, and eggs), is especially important for pregnant and nursing women (and for babies and children). Good sources of B12 for vegetarians are dairy products and eggs. Vegans should be sure their diet includes foods that are fortified with B12, like fortified breakfast cereals, fortified yeast extract, and fortified soy milk. Red Star Nutritional Yeast, Vegetarian Support Formula, for example, is one reliable vegan source of B12. It tastes great as a seasoning sprinkled on soups, salads, and even popcorn. And don’t forget, a prenatal vitamin is an important safety net for all women.

Read more from Can You Be Vegetarian or Vegan while Pregnant?

Part One – B12
Part Two – Calcium
Part Three – Variety and Organics

Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy – Part 13 – Eating for the Future

Dr. Alan Greene — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:17:36 +0000

Eating for the Future

With all that we know about tobacco, how can people still smoke?

It’s easy. They’re enticed by big business; they enjoy it; it’s cool; and it’s very, very habit forming. Now for the sobering truth – poor nutritional choices cause every bit as much cancer, death, disability, and chronic disease as cigarettes do. The modern American diet is public health threat number one to our children. With all that we know about junk food, how can people still eat it?

What an opportunity you have! For generations, many parents had no idea that they could start their children on the road to good nutrition before they were even born.

Just for perspective, you may want to watch an hour of children’s cartoons on television, or watch a group of kids in a fast food joint. You’ll be struck by the amount of unhealthy food powerfully, enticingly, seductively marketed to our kids with songs, toys, commercials, and characters.

How much better to have a tradition of good nutrition before they meet that onslaught! How much better to support their enjoyment of delicious healthy foods when solid foods are first introduced!

And now is an even more special opportunity. In the womb, your baby’s eyes are shielded from the seduction of commercials, from the kid’s meal toys, and from the group-think of peer pressure. She tastes and remembers what you eat! All she knows is what you feed her in quiet, and what her dad feeds you. She loves what she eats, grows from it now, and develops tastes for the future.

The prenatal vitamin is an important way to fill in the nutrient gaps, but babies were designed to thrive from what mothers ate long before these and other supplements were invented.

When I was growing up, my father grew tomatoes in our backyard. These vine-ripened tomatoes were absolutely delicious – far better than any others I can remember having. As plants grow, the new growth is built from materials taken from the soil. Nothing can be incorporated into plants unless it is present in the soil. Plants grown in depleted soils are just not the same. But plants do the best they can with whatever materials are available. They can do a lot with a little.

You are your baby’s soil.

When you first meet your baby face to face, you’ll be looking at cheeks and toes built from the food you have eaten.

What an opportunity!

Read More from: Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy

Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy – Part 12 – Chocolate

Dr. Alan Greene — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:09:45 +0000

Chocolate

One of the most commonly used pregnancy handouts suggests that women reduce or eliminate chocolate from their diets while pregnant. But chocolate is high on the list of very most desired foods by many pregnant American women. Extremely so. Interestingly, pregnancy chocolate love seems to be less strong in Europe and in many other countries. What’s the story here?

Recent research into dark chocolate has uncovered a variety of health benefits, including lowering blood pressure and raising levels of antioxidants that seem to protect against heart disease, aging, and some cancers. Some research suggests that it can lower “bad” cholesterol, lower weight, and improve the mood.

Perhaps pregnant European women don’t desire chocolate as much because their diets are already higher in beneficial flavenoids and other polyphenols. These compounds are also present in many fruits, vegetables, teas, and red wine (but no wine now!).

Apart from the health benefits of chocolate, what are the concerns?

Caffeine – We know that too much caffeine is not healthy for mom or baby, and can lead to increased risk for miscarriage and preterm labor. Some studies have detected a possible increase in SIDS risk with as little as four cups of coffee a day during pregnancy. Research suggests, though, that low-to-moderate caffeine intake is probably fine. What is a moderate amount of caffeine? The March of Dimes (“When a baby cries, we answer it with research.”) has set their safe level at less than 300 mg per day. A cup of coffee might have 120 mg or so (depending on how it is brewed). A 12-ounce can of Diet Pepsi has 36 mg, Pepsi One has 55.5 mg. A cup of green tea has about 15 mg; hot cocoa has 14 mg; and an ounce of milk chocolate has a caffeine equivalent of about 6 mg. A Hershey bar is 1.55 ounce. Chocolate lovers, do the math.

Heartburn – We know that chocolate contains theobromines, substances that relax the stomach “lid” sphincter that, when tight, helps stop acid from sloshing up to cause heartburn. Later in pregnancy, heartburn is common. Mothers plagued by this may want to do everything they can to tighten that sphincter, even eliminating chocolate. But from my perspective as a pediatrician, they can decide how to balance their own pleasure and pain.

Fetal Growth – One study from Poland, published in the Polish Journal of Veterinary Science in 2003, looked at the effects of feeding large amounts of chocolate to pregnant mice. These happy mice each ate the mouse-equivalent of 4 ½ Hershey-sized, 1.55 ounce chocolate bars every day. The leg lengths of the baby mice of the chocolate gorged mothers were shorter than those of their peers.

But wait? Perhaps you have heard that chocolate, though healthy for humans, can be toxic to dogs and to some other pets. This is true. Dogs are not able to deal well with the theobromines in chocolate. Cats do a much better job, but can’t take chocolate as well as humans. How do mice compare to humans when it comes to chocolates? Current evidence is scant and somewhat contradictory. Some websites even suggest leaving M&M’s as mouse poison (where the dog can’t reach). But, to be safe, let’s assume chocolate is healthy for mice. I think it probably is.

This would suggest that too much of a good thing is no longer good. Consider, 4 ½ of these chocolate bars daily (200 grams of milk chocolate) would also be more than a 1000 calories from chocolate daily – not much contributing to a balanced and varied diet.

Dark chocolate is richer in beneficial nutrients, but also richer in the bioactive compounds that raise concerns. Our family’s practice is to have a large bar of Organic Dark Chocolate in the house, and to break off two or three squares a day to satisfy chocolate cravings, sample the health benefits, but stay within an amount that is safe and sane.

Three satisfying squares add up to less than 18 grams of fine dark chocolate, about 78 calories, and a luscious treat.

Chocolate during nursing will add another chapter to this tale.

Read More from: Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy

Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy – Part 11 – Liver

Dr. Alan Greene — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:02:40 +0000

Liver

We’re getting close to the part on chocolate, but first a word about liver. You’ll have noticed that many of the vitamins and elements needed in larger proportions during pregnancy are present in liver. Liver is loaded with iron and folate, the two nutrients at the top of the increased-need-in-pregnancy list. Does this make liver a great choice for pregnancy? The glory of the gestational gourmet?

I think not.

Here’s one good reason. Liver is also loaded with vitamin A. While vitamins are necessary for life, too much of a good thing can be toxic. This is especially true of the fat soluble vitamins, E, A, D, and K. The requirements for E, D, and K do not go up at all during pregnancy. Slightly more vitamin A is needed – but not as much as the increase in calories. The diet can be proportionally lower in vitamin A during pregnancy.

The recommended daily amount of vitamin A is 770 micrograms (compared to 700 micrograms before pregnancy). This is 2567 IU (international units). Prenatal vitamins usually contain about 2700 IU, covering the pregnancy needs.

One study found that pregnant women given more than 10,000 IU a day had double the risks of birth defects. Other studies suggest that up to 25,000 IU may be safe. But all agree that too much vitamin A is toxic. The official upper limit recommended during pregnancy is 10,000 IU per day, including that obtained in food and supplements combined. You are unlikely to get too much from a prenatal vitamin coupled with a normal balanced diet – with one exception.

A single 3-ounce serving of liver can contain up to 30,000 IU of vitamin A! There is no proof that eating liver causes birth defects, but I can’t recommend eating liver regularly during pregnancy. (Nor can I recommend taking extra supplements of the vitamins or minerals found in your prenatal vitamins.) Of course, many pregnant women can’t stomach the sight or smell of liver, no matter how it is prepared.

Chocolate, though, is another story.

Read More from: Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy

Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy – Part 10 – Calories

Dr. Alan Greene — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:55:33 +0000

Calories

“Eating for two” is an oft-repeated phrase during pregnancy. But when it comes to the additional amount that women need to eat, it is more like eating for 1.1! Okay, for some women, perhaps a bit more – but generally not as high as eating for 1.2. If you would have had a 10 ounce glass of orange juice, now you would want an 11 or maybe 12 ounce glass – not two glasses!

You need an extra 300 calories per day, more or less, to support all of the growth and changes in both mother’s and baby’s bodies. This isn’t much! (An apple has about 120 calories.) And you want these extra calories to be packed with nutrients.

Putting It Together

A prenatal vitamin is a wonderful safety net, containing most of the vitamins and minerals that we have learned mother and baby need. It can let you relax and enjoy eating, but I wouldn’t let it steer you away from the general type of diet pregnant women are designed to eat.

You can achieve optimum nutrition for mother and baby with a delicious and balanced diet of a variety of organic whole foods. Be sure to enjoy a balance that includes plenty of fruits and vegetable, grains and legumes, as well as lean protein and calcium sources.

This will also leave room for some yummy desserts, and for following some of those intense cravings. If the cravings persist, rescan the list of nutrients in this series, to see if any insight “pops” as to what your baby and your body might be trying to say.

You’ll notice some of the things not found on the list of foods needed in pregnancy: partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, processed white flour, artificial flavors, artificial colors, and chemical preservatives. These are all common in highly processed food products, and have become staples of the modern diet.

Some of these may be fine for the baby. But by choosing meals of organic whole foods, or by choosing food products with short ingredient lists that don’t sound like chemistry sets, you will avoid experimenting on your child to find out!

Read More from: Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy

Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy – Part 9 – Calcium!?

Dr. Alan Greene — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:28:28 +0000

Calcium!?

My favorite OB textbook says that vitamin D requirements double in pregnancy, and that calcium and phosphorous requirements each go up by 50 percent. The latest scientific evidence, however, suggests that requirements for vitamin D, phosphorus, and calcium, don’t go up at all during pregnancy.

It is true that a woman delivers about 25,000 to 30,000 mg of calcium to her baby over the course of pregnancy to build her baby’s bones. If she needs 1,000 mg per day for her own needs, it would seem that she would need more during pregnancy to provide for the extra needs of her baby. But the current recommended amount for pregnant adult women is still 1,000 mg per day. Research has shown that a woman’s body recognizes the need for the extra calcium and gears up the intestines to absorb a higher proportion of the calcium in the diet. More is absorbed, and more is stored. If women are getting just the routine amount of recommended calcium, pregnancy is a time of calcium feast, not famine.

The problem is that most women do not tend to get the amount they need from what they eat and drink. A glass of organic skim milk has about 300 mg; a cup of organic yogurt about 400 mg, a cup of cooked organic broccoli about 180 mg. Perhaps this is why dairy products appear on so many lists of strongly-desired foods during pregnancy. Calcium-fortified juices and other foods are good alternatives, if you need some extra calcium. Prenatal vitamins vary in their calcium content. Most have at least 200 mg – but that still may leave a gaping calcium gap.

Read More from: Eating for Two: A Guide to Mother’s Nutrition during Pregnancy