Pregnancy and eating raw...newbie questions

[sherahtaylor]

I just found out I'm pregnant! I am around 4 weeks or so, and this is my 6th pregnancy - all the rest were SAD and miserable - so I'm determined to stay raw 100% this time.

What supplements should I be taking? Right now I'm taking a B12 and Iron every day - but are "prenatal" vitamins mostly for those on SAD, or for everyone? I know folic acid is important so should I just take that?

It's hard to know because I know if I ask my OB he's just going to say um, yes, of COURSE take your prenatals. Not knowing anything about Raw. But I can feel the nausea starting to settle in and if it comes full force like it normally does, I won't be eating a balanced raw diet - I'll probably only be able to eat a few things.

[Lay-Lay]

I would check on the supplements on www.alissacohen.com

[Brianna]

New Chapter has a prenatal and it's a whole food supplement, not synthetic. I would definitely take that if I were pregnant. Folic acid is really important. Eat plenty of greens!

[Sharon in Colorado]

Be careful about those supplements. Most of those prenatals are worthless, just a bunch of synthesized nutrients that you are alredy getting in fresh fruits and vegetables.

Here are some questions to ask yourself or research:

How do you know you really need a specific amount of each nutrient? Is there some hard core evidence that something horrible is going to happen if you don't ingest these pills?

How do you know if any of the nutrients are actually going to be used by your body?

How do you know the ingredients in the supplement are safe to ingest?

If the supplements are turning your urine bright, isn't that a signal that your body doesn't need the synthetic or isolated nutrient that you're already getting from nature?

Not only Jinjee from The Garden Diet, but really, most women all around the globe do not take pills for pregnancy. And the millions of people born without their mothers taking pills, before pills were introduced. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables are cheaper and more reasonable for your health.

[AvoMama]

I didn't take supplements. I ate extremely well and tracked my intake on nutridiary.com. I think the only non raw thing I had was some maple syrup which is loaded up with minerals.

Your body will tell you what you need. Before I knew I was pregnant I *CRAVED* oranged. I ate two dozen a day for about 10 days. Then I *NEEDED* Nori. Dulse. Spirulina. There was my folic acid and my B12. heh.

It was my perfect zen time of nutrition intuition. You don't need the same amount of the same nutrients every day. It fluxuates. You'll need more of one thing and less of others on a given day, so track your intake and try to keep it above the recommended minimum.

I got everything in by having a couple green smoothies every day.

Good Luck!

Beth

[Rawkinlocs]

bumping up for Kate....