protein

[KateMcDonald]

I am pregnant and trying to get enough protein..I am supposed to get between 50-60g a day to sustain the baby (I am in my 5th month) and I am not sure how to do that with this type of eating...

Can anyone help me? I am wanting to know the raw foods highest in protein so I make sure to utilize them...

thanks

[RawNut]

Protein is not something you should be worried about getting enough of but rather, too much of. There's never been a documented case of protein deficiency in anyone who wasn't arleady starving to death. The US RDA has been grossly exagerated and influenced by the meat and dairy industry and their lobbyists.

You might enjoy this interveiw with Jinjee Tolifero about her raw vegan pregnancies and births. http://www.bigmediausa.com/archive.asp?aid=7777

Also read this link about protein right here on RFT http://rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3708

Craig

[ProgrammingRaw]

My wife and I have had 3 very healthy children born at home with the help of mid-wives, and we've learned a thing or two. Like namely, that while a baby is developing "it" will take what it needs from the mother, when it needs it.

So actually, as far as diet is concerned, it's more a case of just taking care of yourself. If your body doesn't have enough of something, the baby will tell you (thus, those strange cravings). Just listen to your body.

The only serious recommendation we ever got was making sure to get lots of folic acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folic_acid) - and the best source for that is leafy green vegetables.

All our kids were 8+ lbs, and very healthy and I have to tell you my wife (aside from the fact she was vegetarian for the last two) has always been a very fussy eater with a narrow range of things she likes to eat.

Oh, and please breast-feed for as long as humanly possible, if you can.

Through the course of bringing our kids into the world, my wife breast-feed for 10 straight years (non-stop). She'll always have my undying devotion for that :-)

Huh, two men replying to a thread about preganacy. What's next, eh?

[paprika]

Nuts and seeds are going to give you the most proteins, they'll also provide healthy fats. Eating a variety of nuts and vegetables throughout the day should allow the nutrients to combine into complete proteins too.

Here's a link to a page of my food journal (granted it's almost a year old now). I only took in about 1600 calories for the whole day but I got 37 grams of protein. The other thing to remember is that's just the direct protein from the food and probably doesn't count the protein that's created by combining the foods.

Fiday.com - March 14th 2006 (http://www.fitday.com/webfit/publicjournals.html?Owner=amy%5Ftompkins&Year=2006&Month=2&Day=14)

I hope this helps.

[sareli]

Nutrition is the number one contributer to your healthy baby. My thoughts may differ from some more strict raw foodists, but here's my thoughts. First, talk to your midwife about doing raw food (most midwives would be supportive) and ask for any recommendations.

also, make sure you are getting enough calories, fat, and protein. YEARS of studdies showed that women on the bewers diet had the lowest amount of pre-eclampsia--this diet is insanely high in protein and fat. It should also be noted that women bearing children at THE FARM, a vegan communitee that homebirthed all their children in the 70's were also equally as low incidence. Pre-eclampsia is linked to poor diet and lower protein intake.

I had pre-eclampsia with my 1st child. In my opinion it is more related to foods of poor nutritional quality. I think a diet that is 100% healthy, but slightly lower on the protein scale is better than a diet high in protein, but mom's eating ho-ho's all day long.

just about every fruit/veggie has protein. raw potatoes are very high in protein (try juicing them with something to make it palatable), nuts, seeds,, if all else is failing, sprout some beans....I tracked on fitday and looked at my protein intake today and I've had enough protein to sustain a pregnancy and wasn't even looking.

I do remember my midwife saying that 2nd trimester was MOST important for having adequate protein (70-80g/day) and around 35 wks. you can level off. I know raw foodists say you don't need as much as they tell you, but I would talk to your midwife about this. In just transitioning to raw food, your body (IMO) isn't transitioned to needing less protein yet. It's just really important and remember that most of the posters on this board are not doctors, they just do their own research and come to their own conclusions--they may be very accurate, they may not be...do what you think is best (as far as how much protein etc.)

sarah
ps. my son was born healthy and happily at home :D

[meinleben]

nuts and seeds are a fat source....
greens will give you the most protein....

[RawNut]

just about every fruit/veggie has protein. raw potatoes are very high in protein (try juicing them with something to make it palatable), nuts, seeds,,

Actually potatoes are very low in protein and should not be eaten raw. They are poisonous unless cooked and so are not fit for human consumption.

As Meinleben said, greens are a much better source of protein than nuts and seeds.

Craig

[Moonstone]

"nuts and seeds are a fat source....
greens will give you the most protein...."

Nuts and seeds are a fat source, yes, but it is the good fat is it not? that our body needs? they are also a good source of protein and calcium when on a raw diet.

I have read maybe twenty articles about protein, in all of them it says to include nuts and seeds in your diet along with fresh fruit and vegetables.

I think they are a very important part of a raw food diet.

I just think you should include this when you say that nuts and seeds are a fat source.

[meinleben]

why would i include that if i don't beleive it to be true.....

and you ask if nuts and seeds are good fat???? well they are vegan fat so i guess that is good....yet if you look at percentages of fat vs protein from these sources it is evident that they would not really be consumed for their protein...rather for their fat...

[Xanadu]

Along with raw greens being an excellent source of protein you should be aware, as Rawnut said, in addition to that list being created under the influence of the meat and dairy industries, that the protein requirement needs list was established based on the intake of protein sources that are not digested anywhere near as completely as raw protein is . You would definitely have to take in much more cooked protein than raw to get enough usable left over for you and your baby's needs. Whereas we need over 70 grams cooked protien a little over 30 grams raw is plenty since it is completely usable. And ditto on the need for folic acid while adding to that some B12 for sure. To quote Alissa's book, "Living on Live Food", "Protein does not create protein in your body. Amino acids create protein in your body. And the best source of amino acids are leafy green vegetables. When you eat meat, fish or chicken, you're not getting as much protein as you think you are. Take chicken, for example. Say there are 20 grams of protein in a chicken breast. Once you cook it, you destroy half the protein. Now your body has to digest and assimilate this heavy, dense source of 10 grams of protein, that will take up to 100 hours. ..... How much protein from a cooked chicken breast will you actually get? Maybe a few grams, if you're lucky." As to potatoes she says they contain 11% protein and that they are not as compared to other vegetables a particularly good source of protein but that people have survived on them alone along with water and not been found to be protein deficient although other vitamin and mineral deficiencies
have occurred under those conditions.
You might also realize that meat protein has to be first deconstructed into it's various amino acids (what few are not destroyed by cooking) by your body and then reconstructed into the proteins needed by your body which consumes more energy that should have been free to do other things. I am not a liscensed nutritionist although I have been studying nutrition for the last 30 years. You might know though that authors like Alissa check out their facts thouroughly as they might be liable not to mention that the book was written with the purpose of helping people so they are not likely to just be expressing an "opinion". Also as mentioned previously by ProgrammingRaw after a raw diet, breastfeeding as long as humanly (and nonpregnant) possible is one of the best things you can do for both your baby and yourself and I salute him for his attitude about it. And whatever you do as long as you are raw don't worry about weight gain while pregnant as long as you don't gain a huge amount in say about a week which would be one indication of pre-eclampsia.

[LadyAngora]

Actually potatoes are very low in protein and should not be eaten raw. They are poisonous unless cooked and so are not fit for human consumption.
what?! i've never heard that about potatoes! i used to eat them raw all the time as a kid. haven't done it in years, though... do you have some research i can read up on about this?

[Moonstone]

meinleben, you are right, I am so so sorry. I should not have said "you", but rather "I think this should be included."

By good fats I meant what a piece of this article says, most likely the same as vegan fat?

Good Fats, Bad Fats
Fat is an important part of a healthy diet. There's more and more evidence that many fats are good for us and actually reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. They also help our sugar and insulin metabolism and therefore contribute to our goals of long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. And because good fats make foods taste better, they help us enjoy the journey to a healthier lifestyle. But not all fats are created equal--there are good fats and bad fats.

"Good" fats include monounsaturated fats, found in olive and canola oils, peanuts and other nuts, peanut butter, and avocados. Monounsaturated fats lower total and "bad" LDL cholesterol--which accumulates in and clogs artery walls--while maintaining levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, which carries cholesterol from artery walls and delivers it to the liver for disposal.

[meinleben]

moonstone
no problem....thanks for your thoughts...

the whole fat debate is super interesting to me....i am at a point where low low low fat is helping me thrive....and i have completely gotten over the protein myth.....it took a while.....

we all find what works best for us...it takes time....but there is no hurry...

[timoteo]

There are so many misconseptions about good fat. Just because it is good or raw does not mean we should not regulate our intake. Humans require very low amounts of fat to thrive.