As part of my plan to be as healthy as I can be during this pregnancy and birth, I have decided to commit to the Dr. Brewer’s Diet. You can learn more here: http://www.blueribbonbaby.org/
Basically, this Dr. is convinced that diet has more to do with maternal and infant health than we are being led to believe.
here is an exerpt:
Toxemia. Pre-Eclampsia. HELLP Syndrome. Premature birth.
Low birth weight. Intrauterine growth retardation.
It’s not genetics. It’s not random. The cause is NOT unknown. Toxemia CAN be stopped. Preeclampsia
CAN be stopped. Best of all, YOU can stop it!
HOW? All the scientific research being done on toxemia and preeclampsia these days is focusing on treatment, and none of it is promising. But the research has already been done, many times and many ways in the past 50+ years, and we know that you can PREVENT this from happening to you in the first place, no matter what your personal history may be. The simple answer? GOOD NUTRITION.
Common sense tells you to eat right when you’re pregnant, and traditional wisdom says you’re “eating for two“. So why are doctors telling you to cut out salt, avoid gaining too much weight, and giving you little or no information about what IS a good diet for pregnancy? Why is the medical community so disinterested in this information? As one doctor put it, “No one is going to make any money off good nutrition.”
While I think this diet represents a decent pregnancy diet, I think the statements of toxemia/HELLP not being genetic are inaccurate and emotionally damaging to women who have suffered these horrible complications.
I went into my pregnancy in the shape of a trained athlete. I was a fitness instructor with a resting heart rate in the low 60’s. My doctors were all certain I was going to have a wonderful pregnancy. I developed PIH/pre-e at 24 weeks with a BP of 140/90. My pre-pregnancy BP was about 105/60. I ate PERFECTLY throughout my pregnancy. In fact, my diet looks a LOT like the Brewer’s diet you link to.
At 26 weeks, my BP got out of control again after home bedrest. I was admitted to the hospital where it was discovered I have a GENETIC clotting disorder. This disorder was preventing the optimal nutrients from having a chance of fully getting to my baby.
At 28 weeks I developed Class I HELLP syndrome and my son had to be delivered so that I did not die. My genetic clotting disorder was to blame for my PIH and HELLP, not a failure of me getting my body the right nutrition.
I applaud anybody like you trying to get their baby optimal nutrition during pregnancy. I did the very same thing. The thing I want to warn others about here is that nothing is ever as clear cut as this sounds. There was nothing I could have done to prevent my HELLP syndrome. During any future pregnancies I will need heparin or lovenox in order not to clot the placenta again and possibly have a repeat of pre-e and HELLP.
Thanks,
Lori