Another vegan pregnancy!

[Angelic Light]

Hi everyone,

I just found out that I am pregnant with baby number 4. I am delighted. He/she is due in April 07.

I have had 3 vegan pregnancies already, with great success, and I hope to make this pregnancy more of a raw one. At the moment, I am about 50% raw, 50% cooked. I hope to up my intake of raw foods over the next few months, although I do not wish to be 100%. Maybe about 70-80% raw.

I just wondered if there was anything in particular that I should be eating for pregnancy, and what types of foods I can add in to my diet to help me go more raw..

I had been eating a lot of sugar for a few months, and during the first two weeks of pregnancy I had been eating pretty crap, since I didn't know I was pregnant. As soon as I found out though, I immediately started eating healthy again. I spent most of last year eating really well, but somehow, I ended up eating all the sugary things again. I have a sweet tooth, so any advice about sweet raw things I can eat will help me a lot.

Thanks

Love Catherine
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Angelic Light]

Are there any raw foods that I should avoid during pregnancy, ie herbs etc?

Thanks

Love Catherine
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Catherine,

My favorite sweet raw thing are Almonds Cookies. It does have raw organic honey in it, and some people won't eat honey, but if you do, here's the recipes. It's so EASY!!!!

Almond Cookies
2 Cups Raw Almonds
1/2 Cup (aprox) Raw Organic Honey
Coconut (raw) shaved

Put about 2 cups of raw almonds in your blender and blend until it's real fine meal.

Start adding in the honey and blend. Once it goes into a ball (like dough) it's done.

Pull out a little and roll in your had to form a ball (I usually make about 1/2 inch balls, just big enough to pop into my mouth). Roll the ball into the coconut.

Refrigerate

It's so easy, quick and takes care of my sweet tooth, which I get about once every couple of months.

[dreamrawalwz]

I'm just curious as to why you wish not to be 100% raw? Congratulations on the preganancy!

[Jamie]

Catherine,

Congrat's on your new pregnancy!!! How fun!

There is a great site,, rawpregnancy@yahoogroups.com. Tons of great encouragment and info!! I think it might be helpful to you. The women are amazingly loving and there is a wonderful midwife who is raw and has been delivering babies for I think 25 years or more. She has lots of great input..I encourage you to join :)

Jamie

[Arky]

Any pregnant vegans would do well do listen to Shazzie's interview on RawVeganRadio.com. It's very informative.


J.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Jamie,

You posted an e-mail address for the Raw Pregnancy board. I changed the @ with a ".", but I still didn't get to the board. Would you have the link for the board?

Thanks.

[Jamie]

hmmm,,, I don't know why it won't work for you. I don't know how to post the link I guess. It is a yahoo group and is called raw pregnancy. Weird



http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawPregnancy/


Does that link help? Don't know if I did that right or not.

Jamie

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Thanks Jamie,

The link worked. :D Thanks.

Your other link worked also, but it was an e-mail address so it took me right to my "e-mail send".

[faith4u]

Congratulations! I think that you have a very workable plan.

If you struggle with sweets make sure you are getting plenty of greens in daily.

Also do like Helen suggested and make raw treats. The great thing about eating raw is that it is so easy to make quick raw desserts. I love to make pies now, something I never did before because they were too much work.

There are tons of candy "ball" types of things that you can make and keep frozen or in your fridge. I recommend that you always keep plenty on hand.

Or make fudge...or rich chocolate pudding.....or a chocolate shake.

I have a 7 1/2 month old baby. He is my fourth. My third was a vegan baby and I went raw at the beginning of my third trimester with my last baby. It was amazing how different I felt. Tons of energy......no heartburn etc...

I think you are better off not going 100% at this point. Many people don't suggest going all raw during pregnancy....like David Wolfe. Unless you are truly ready for it I think you are better of doing it gradually as your body is ready. Yo-yo-ing is not good for the baby. Do you know what I mean? What I mean is if you eat 100% for awhile and then binge on SAD or vegan junk and then go back to 100% over and over it is not good for you or your baby.

If you can stay at 85% or whatever you choose and eat healthfully than it is a win win situation for both of you.

Keep us posted!!

[Jamie]

Wow Helen,

I think I just figured out why my friend,, who I keep sending that same address, can't get to that site either!! DUH,,, I need to send her the link not the email.

Jamie :)

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hey Jamie,

You can tell your friend that you had a "detox moment". That's what I can tell my raw food friends. My other friends I just tell them that I had a "senior moment". :D

[Angelic Light]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and congratulations!! I will have a look at the yahoo group - thanks for that! I didn't know that existed. I have tried almond balls before but I didn't like them. I will give them another go though. I think I might make some carob fudge - I made that before and it was good. My children liked it too.

Dreamrawalwz, I love some vegan cooked foods too much to give up, such as brown rice, tofu, beans etc, so that is why I don't want to be 100% at the moment.

I have had horrible nausea the past few days... I have heard that ginger, limes, lemons and peppermint tea are good for that. Does anyone else know of anything else that might help?

Thanks!!

[Angelic Light]

Thanks Arky, I will check out the radio interview...

[Angelic Light]

Does anyone know of any good remedies for morning sickness, or more like all day nausea? lol thanks xx

[NuttyRawMom]

I personally have had no problems with morning sickness (thankfully!) in 3 pregnancies on different diets of SAD/high raw vegan, but I have read that it stems from the body needing to cleanse itself from whatever the mother has in her body. Vomiting is a cleansing/healing method! I would suggest starting your mornings off raw even if you don't want to go 100% for the time being. Beginning your day with fresh juices, water, and fruit if your are hungry is the best way to start out. The body is coming off a cleansing period from the night and when you start out with cooked right away it shuts it off quick. IMO, with the pregnancy, the body is on overdrive for protecting the baby and will try to continue the process in the form of morning sickness. Try it and see if it helps, then let me know!

[vgloveforlife]

I would suggest getting enough omega 3's in for the DHA. Flax and hemp are good sources or a micro algae.

Sesame balls are a great idea for calcium. I grind sesame seeds in a coffee grinder and just mix in some sweetner. They are sooooo good!

There are quite a few herbs to avoid when pregnant. Just a couple that come to mind are goldenseal and licorice. I would do a search online.

Ginger and peppermint are great for morning sickness!

Congratulations! I hope all goes well.

[Angelic Light]

Thanks nuttyrawmom, for your advice. That makes sense that the body is trying to cleanse for the baby. Just now would be a great time to be all raw, but I just can't at the moment. I do eat raw most mornings - just water and fruit mainly, or a smoothie. But I still feel sick then, and even during the night funnily enough when I am not even eating. Today I have been trying to eat more raw foods than normal, and it seems to be helping a little. So many foods are turning me off just now - it is very frustrating. lol

I am 10 weeks preg now so hopefully the sickness will pass soon. You are very lucky not to have had morning sickness with your pregnancies.

Vgloveforlife, thanks for your suggestions. I was thinking of adding some ginger to a smoothie - I haven't tried that yet. I did try peppermint tea but it didn't help that much, although it tasted nice.

It is funny you mention the flax and hemp, as it keeps coming into my head to grind some up and add them to my smoothies. I haven't tried the sesame balls yet. Will try that soon.

Thanks for your help!

[Rawkinlocs]

bumping up for Kate....