Anyone doing Brewer's/WAP type pregnancy diet?

[Milkymommi]

Looking for some ladies to team up with on everything regarding eating this way. I'm super committed to it but have a ton to learn. I know stuff like this is always easier... not to mention way more  fun, with friends. I'm really hoping for some seasoned mamas to pop in and share wisdom as well as those like myself who are really just stating to dig into it.

My motivating factor is warding off problems with high BP as well as keeping blood sugars happy. I have a history of rising BP through pregnancy with last 2. I also "failed" a blood glucose test by a few points deeming me diabetic, which I completely ignored because I knew it was bogus.

I have to tell ya... I'm eating things I haven't been eating for a looooong time! I feel great other than serious bloat and gassy type discomfort which I'm attributing to slower digestion due to my preggo state

Let's talk daily menu's, meal ideas we're using , general knowledge sharing on the topic, support etc. I think that testimonial type stories would be fantastic as well.

Anyone else?!

[ursusarctos]

I was going to start the same thread! Actually just asking if anyone was going to do the Brewer diet. I most certainly am not right now, but am considering adopting it as a guideline when my food aversions (hopefully) quiet down. It seems like a good amount of good quality food to shoot for, and I like the checklist thing because I tend to be lazy about keeping healthy food around and actually preparing it. I still eat good food, just probably not as much or in as great variety as I should. So it might help me be more mindful about eating more/better. Interested to hear everyone else's input!

ETA: I will be back with meals/menu ideas as soon as I can read about food without feeling gaggy

[Bri'sgirl]

WAP, like Weston A Price?  I've been loosely following that for a few years, but am trying to do better.  Right now I am reading Real Food for Mother and Baby, by Nina Planck.  We have gotten rid of a good percentage of junk foods and non-TF foods from our diet, until I was super craving Doritos on Friday.    I'm actually trying to really follow the WAP as much as possible while pregnant, with a couple of diversions now and again.  ;)  I don't know much about Brewer's, though.

[Lynann]

I'm doing the Brewer's Diet. I mostly followed it last time too, but I did struggle to eat enough in the last month last time and ended up with lots of protein in my urine which scared the midwife a bit. It is a lot of food to eat compared to what I would normally eat but it definitely helped me last time around so I'm doing it again. I use a printout check list every day to make sure I'm getting most of it. Right now with the nausea and food aversions I'm not doing so well, but once I get to the second trimester I find it gets a lot easier. The big thing to remember is that real portion sizes are not restuarant sizes, and then it gets more manageable. I'll try and share some of my plans for the coming week once my little guy is down for the night.

[pjs]

I'm a paleo type eater to avoid diabetic/hormonal/bp issues. I've never eaten this way during pregnancy before. Honestly, as food is such a touchy area for me with the constant nausea I've given myself permission to eat carbs ( toast, pasta etc, stuff that I no longer eat). Once the nausea goes away, I'll be back to my meat and veggie diet.

[happylemon]

I have done Brewers with both of my pregnancies and will/am this time too. I don't really have specific meal plans yet, I am just coming out of the nausea a bit. I had a really hard time eating for 5 weeks, but this week was a little better. I feel like I eat a decent variety of things, I just usually struggle with the amount of food in the diet and making sure I get enough protein. How much protein do you all aim for? With DD1 I was just going based on my Bradley birth method class where we were told to get about 80g or so. That I could do. My midwife last time wanted me between 100 and 120g, that was awful. I could not do it and I felt guilty for it, but felt icky eating that much. I wound up gaining 60 lbs and it was horrible to bounce back after birth. My new midwife says they are not as crazy about protein and that the 80g mark is just fine for now and we will watch and see. I really want to avoid sugar this time too. I have not had issues with GD in the past, but I gained so much weight last time and I think it was a combo of tons of protein and sugar.

[Lynann]

From what I remember the last time around Dr Brewer bases your daily requirements around 2 eggs and 4 glasses of milk/dairy a day and the rest is built up from there.

I try to have the eggs for breakfast, when I can eat eggs. The first trimester is hit & miss with that. Usually I'll have scrambled eggs when DH is making breakfast or hard boiled eggs if its just me. I'll also have 1 of the 4 milk/dairy portions at breakfast as either milk in homemade granola, or a cup of yoghurt with fruit. I'll sometime eat breakfast over two sittings especially if I'm feeling nauseous.

Lunch I have a baked potato three days a week, usually with shredded cheese or some leftovers from dinner. About once every few weeks I'll have a can of tuna or some salmon with the potato. If I've got room I'll have a salad too. Other days I'll usually have a whole grain pasta dish or something with brown rice which gets my whole grains in for the day on the days I'm not doing potato.

Dinner is almost always protein based with lots of veggies and another glass of milk.

I also drink a glass of OJ most days as I use that to take my liquid iron supplement (many years of low grade anemia) and that counts as my daily citrus.

I try to fill in the rest as snacks through out the day, otherwise I could never eat the amount of food recommended.

The last pregnancy I talked with my midwife about struggling to eat everything I was supposed to every single day. Her policy was make sure you get the proteins & dairy products in and then work on the rest.

Last time around with DS I craved cheeseburgers and pizza, which probably helped towards my 46lb weight gain, but 40lb of that fell off the first two weeks postpartum. I still have the other 6lbs and have added a few more since getting pregnant again. Fortunately so far I've been craving mostly fruit and raw vegetables this time, so I'm hopeful that some of those pounds stay away.

I will admit that my biggest issue though is drinking all the water on top of milk, OJ, RRL tea etc. I find it difficult to drink lots of water when my stomach is still full from the meal I just ate an hour ago. By the time I've finally digested most of that meal its time to eat again, and still no room for all that water. I just try to make sure I'm not dehydrated, and if I don't get it all in every day then so be it.

[clovermom]

I'd like to join in too! My BP crept up towards the end in my last 2 pregs and last time I was also borderline GD (mw was fine w it & we didn't change anything). I really want to avoid either of those things if possible. I had just started exploring TF this past year and looked at the Brewer's Diet when I got preg. It's been really hit or miss as to how I feel and what I can stomach. Im discouraged right now bc Im 12 wks and feel like I should be feeling better, and Im just not. Im still quite nauseous and also feel run-down, tired, just blah..... Im gonna give it another week. I think having a checklist and menu plan for the day would help me since a lot of times when I feel like I can eat I drag my butt off the couch and stare in the fridge and pick whatever is most appealing. I do well with habits and don't mind eating the same thing over and over. Lyn, I think I will try to follow your daily menu, it sounds reasonable and much like what I normally eat. If this nausea is going to carry on than I might just have to start forcing myself to eat better, even if I have to gag it down!

[Beth145]

I'd love to be part of this thread! I just did a little research on Brewer's diet, and it's definitely helpful to have a checklist, which I found on a Brewer's website, so I can attempt to maintain a balanced diet.  Here's the link if anyone is interested: http://www.drbrewerpregnancydiet.com/id96.html

[SoonToBe]

That's my plan.  In fact, I've eaten more poorly this pregnancy than I did before.  I'm not eating lots of junk, but I'm eating a lot of carbs and processed food (i.e. pretzels, organic corn chips, pasta, etc) because of nausea and food aversions.  I'm just eating what I can.  I own chickens and haven't been able to eat an egg for over 2 months!  I'm hoping I'll be able to have more protein and a better balanced diet in the next couple weeks as I enter the 2nd trimester.  I'm sure I'm eating enough vitamins and minerals and stuff for the baby, but I'd like it to be less processed stuff. 

So in short, I hope to be joining you soon. :)

Bree

Edited by SoonToBe - 1/30/11 at 4:00pm

[mkat83]

We eat a somewhat WAP diet at home, at least as much as we can with as much traditional, whole foods as possible.  I like to cook things, but sometimes I don't have the patience or energy.... and I don't want to smell the food cooking.  We are lucky that we have a great food club/co-op here locally where we can get real milk, grass fed meats of all kinds, and more.  

I feel like I've been so bad thus far in this pregnancy as well.  We've been going out to eat a lot more, and I've also been heavy on the carbs as well.  I keep telling myself once I get to that magic 12 week mark I will be able to do better!

Hope we can all share tips here!

[bumbold]

I would usually love to chat about all these things but the food aversion is huge so, I will come back when that has settled down.  We where following a pretty stricked WAP diet. 

[Milkymommi]

Uhg... I started the thread and now I'm having trouble even THINKING about food. I thought I suddenly turned the corner a few days ago and I hadn't been suffering w ms as badly as w/ my previous pregnancis up to that point, which I attributed to this style of eating. That may be true... however, this morning it kicked in so hard that I could barely choke food down all day which in turn made it impossible for me to even remotely follow my eating regimen as normal BLAH!!!!  I'm sure not eating much didn't do me any favors in the ms department.

I'm in love with the checklist concept... as soon as we get into a house ( we are in transition from full time RVing ) I'm going to make religious use of them. I tend to do really well when logging my food. Up to this point I've just been winging it in my head.

Also, all of the things that I've been reading with regard to TF in general are astounding. I'm coming from a primarily vegetarian - even raw foods for a while-  mindset. I feel as though I may have turned a blind eye to some truths about food. I'm not really sure why but I did. The first thing that turned me in this direction was dairy... we have always consumed minimal dairy but pasturizing/homoginizing never made sense to me. That was the first dominoe! Eating meat has been a challenge... some I'm ok with but it gets knarly for me. I'm sure it's the ms because I actually like the taste. I have not been a life long veggie but it's been a good 10 yrs. Before that SAD- which I believe is the core source of all my ailments I've been striving so hard to heal. I'm having trouble with the karma factor regarding eating mammals but I suppose that's another thread entirely

We found ourselves pregnant by surprise ( quite welcome!) so I was still in progress with trying to heal my body with food. I've had some issues over the yrs including obesity, high bp, gallbladder removal, high liver enzymes ( suspected fatty liver) etc. I've taken off 80 lbs over 6 yrs and have only experienced "troubles" with bp with my last 2 pregnancies. I had pre existing borderline hypertension but bp started creeping in the 3rd trimester. I never presented with actual pre-e ... but my last child was born still at full term so I am committed to being as proactive about my health as possible. NOT that I blame my diet for my loss by any means, I just want to cover all the bases -why not?! I'm determined to get through this with a healthy body and a healthy baby. Food is medicine.

[jennyfah]

I'm in!  I followed the Brewer diet for my last two pregnancies.  I am going to try ease up on the dairy this time in the third trimester though. . . and really watch those refined sugars (even though I crave them)!  Ice cream is my nemesis.    I think often a majority of my protein for the day (in previous pregnancies) was coming from dairy because I ate so much of it, which was probably not ideal.

I am interested in TF/WAP and would love to incorporate more of that lifestyle into our eating. 

[Bri'sgirl]

Bump! 

After doing some more research on the Brewer's Diet, I've decided to give it a try.  I'm starting to tolerate, and even enjoy, eggs again.  I had a real aversion to them for a few weeks.  Also, drinking that much milk shouldn't be too much of a problem, since it's been one of my cravings.  I think I'm already drinking 2-3 full cups, plus other dairy.  It's really the other foods that I'm going to have to really try to fit in, but I figure, even if it doesn't happen every day, doing the best I can will be better than not doing it at all.

[happylemon]

Glad this got bumped back up!

I am still having some MS issues, but have been able to eat decent. I feel lucky this time that my cravings are veggies and fruits and not ice cream and chocolate. I can usually eat a really good breakfast and lunch with a couple snacks, but then I feel sick at dinner and don't eat a whole lot. Nearly all of our food is fresh and homemade and we almost never eat out, so feel like that is an advantage and I don't really have to make any drastic changes to my diet. My midwives are being much more laid back about the protein this time, I am aiming for 70g and I do not feel guilty the days I don't get there. I am not drinking as much milk as in past pregnancies, but I drank so much back then that the cut back is a good thing!

Lyn, I was talking my midwife about the water thing last week and she said that an important thing is to just sip all day. Your body can not absorb a whole lot at once anyone, so if you are drinking a lot at once you are not really getting the full benefits anyway. I carry a water bottle everywhere and just try to sip it.

[Leilalu]

Me! I have been  doing the WAP thing for years, albeit loosely at times. I do love to bake and I like my ice cream and coffee:D  I don't always shy from white flour... I do feel much better though when I try to get the recomended things for the pregnancy diet. Just a few weeks ago I literally felt like I was going to DIE if I didn't drink some milk or kefir. I drank half a quart of raw milk, half a quart of kefir and felt right as rain. I am healing from a broken foot, and still nursing so I think that added to the intensity of what I felt;)

We do raw milk, veggies from a csa during the growing season, grassfed meat shares when we can, no processed foods except for the occasional potluck or something we can't avoid but that is usually the kids that cave in. We make most things homemade, I ferment when I remember and buy most things organic and from coops. We had chickens for awhile and I can't wait to get in our new house and get set up for that again here in a month or two.

My thing is just trying to be balanced. I don't want to be the psycho mom who never lets her kids eat anything bad , rather I try to teach them to make good choices and explain why I do.

We are recovering from 2 colds at once, including a tummy bug. For lunch today I had some homemade granola, dried figs and greek yogurt with maple syrup:) And a small bowl of chicken noodle(rice noodle) soup with homemade stock. And some really good fresh roasted coffee with extra cream!

[Fulhouse]

I don't know quite what brewers or Price is, but I've been paleo since September. Is there anyone else here 100% paleo? I eat absolutely no grains or beans. I've loved eating like this because I lost all cravings for bread, cookies, etc. I have made it to almost 10 weeks now still keeping paleo.

We eat grass fed meats, organic dairy, pastured eggs, veggies and fruits. I usually have a little chocolate, less now with pregnancy.

I certainly have less nausea than my last pregnancy but I don't know if it is because of the diet or is more nausea coming in the weeks to come? I read that other thread!! I think last time I had nausea until week 15. And it has gotten worse this week (9).

I am older so I am really relieved that with this diet I will not get GD nor do I need to take those tests. One less thing to worry about.

A huge part of my diet is plain kefir (store-bought organic because if you make it yourself there can be up tp 5% alcohol.). I even get up at night to drink some. It helps keep nausea away. I also pop zofran about once every two days, but sometimes 2x a day. It's generic and it doesn't seem to work for longer than 20 minutes. Maybe I need to pay for the non generic?

Any paleo girls knocked up out there?

[Bri'sgirl]

Yesterday, I went the the Brewer link from above and printed off the lists of foods that you are supposed to eat.  After I did that, I made a one day menu, just to see what it might look like.  It really wasn't too bad.  One way that Brewer seems to differ from WAP is that it doesn't have any emphasis on soaking grains, fermented foods, like kefir or kimchi, or stocks.  I figure that I could sub at least one of the dairy choices for kefir and at least one of the vitamin C choices with saurkraut or other ferment.  I can see how this is very doable, even moreso than I originally thought. 

Sarah - If I eat too much, especially at dinner, I get really nauseous.  That seems to be passing a bit, but I am still careful about how much I eat at one sitting.

Leilalu - I know what you mean about not wanting to be "that" mom that doesn't let her kids eat anything bad.  We've sort of compromised and, as long as we're eating most of our meals as TF or at least homemade and "acceptable", then I'm not going to worry about a piece of candy here or there, or a take-out pizza once every few weeks.  Life's too short to be so strict, at least for us!  ;)

Fullhouse - we're not paleo, but I applaud you for doing it.  I'm not so much into grains, but I do like lentils and beans.  Well, I guess I do like rice, too.  As far as the homemade kefir, the amount of alcohol really depends on the time spent fermenting.  During the summer, in a hot kitchen, it can definitely develop a higher percentage of alcohol in a shorter amount of time.  A 12 hour ferment is usually sufficient.  But, during the winter, when my kitchen rarely gets above 65-68 degrees, I let it ferment up to 36-48 hours without much worry of excess alcohol.  I am currently only making water kefir, because I killed my milk kefir grains a few months ago, but do plan on making milk kefir as soon as I can find some grains.  Store bought (for us) is so expensive, it's hard to justify buying as much as we drink.  Our family of 5 can go through 2-4 quarts a week, and I can make it for half the cost.

[pjs]

I'm grain-free, or at least trying to get back to grain-free. M/s has made rice and white flour super appealing. I don't eat beans often, though I feel like I should eat more for fiber purposes but I can't remember where they fall on the glycemic index and if I should be avoiding them as well.