Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: pregnancy and diet nutrition guidelines

Question:
Hello All, Well, Dh and I have agreed to officially start trying on May 1st (although it won't really matter until about two weeks later). Anyway, in January, when I quit taking the pill, I quit drinking alcohol, coffee, and tea, along with not taking any medications or eating/drinking anything with artificial sweeteners. (plus taking a multi and extra folic acid) Now, yesterday, my Dh asked about my vegetarianism. I had done some research and found that there were two predominant schools of thought about vegetarianism and pregnancy: vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Since almost everything I read seemed biased to either of these sides, I sat down and tried to construct a vegetarian diet that would fulfill the nutritional recommendations for pregnant women and come to the conclusion that fulfilling the protein and iron recommendations would be very difficult, if not impossible. So, I have tentatively decided to start eating meat when we start trying. I know I will return to vegetarianism once only my health is an issue...but I do not want to doom a child to being short or unhealth because of my principles. Has anyone come to a similar (or different conclusion) about this issue? Any suggestions or guidelines ?

Answer:
Good luck! I'm happy you DH is no longer so ambivalent! I'm a vegetarian myself (my DH too) and, although we're not actively trying at the moment I don't plan on giving up my vegetarianism when the time comes for us to start a family. I've read a bit about it (I think there's a book out called The Vegetarian Pregnancy or something like that) and everything I have read indicates that with an adequate diet there's no reason at all why a woman shouldn't continue a vegetarian diet throughout her pregnancy. In fact, a vegetarian diet is, for the most part, rich in folic acid and other nutrients and it certainly isn't necessary that a pregnant woman have an exceptionally huge protein intake. Of course if you (and I mean the general you -- not you personally!) are one of those vegetarians who just eat things like pasta, rice and don't attempt to eat a balanced protein-rich vegetarian diet than of course the pregnancy would suffer from lack of proper nutrients. But there are PLENTY of vegetables and soy-based products out there that are rich in iron and protein and would certainly offer just as much in terms of nutrients as a piece of meat (not to mention the fact that you wouldn't be putting all those hormones into your body and your baby's body that they shoot into meat these days). I know a few women who were vegetarians throughout their pregnancy and they progressed to have not only healthy pregnancies but healthy babies.