Brewer Diet Anyone?

[myhoneyswife]

I'm going to be doing the Brewer Diet. Was wondering if anyone else was also, maybe we could chat about it. I really haven't found it that difficult to do, except I totally gag on meat. I got a grain mill last week and now am going to get whole grain when I go to town (we live 50 miles away) at the end of the month, so I haven't been doing whole grain yet, but have been making my regular bread with 1/2 cornmeal. I'll also be using almond milk instead of cow milk because anything over about a cup of cow milk makes me sick and we can't afford 4 cups of goat milk a day!

A smoothie that I have been having, it's okay, not great, but the PB helps with protien and it gets an orange veggie in there.

1 banana
1 C water
2-3ish tbs of natural peanut butter (not the hydroginated Skippy stuff)
1/4 cupish of canned pumpkin
an orange
2 scoops of powdered goat milk (until we run out of it)
water to thin

Cara

[Mom2Madeline]

Absolutely! I'm a big believer in Brewer. I only found out about it when I was 4 months along w/ my dd. But this time I've been following it from the beginning. I've had almost no queasiness and my energy is MUCH better than it was with my dd.

[chalynm]

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is the brewer diet? I'm all for anything that will make the yuckies go away and give me more energy, but I'm also a super picky eater...

[myhoneyswife]

http://www.blueribbonbaby.org/ifyoua...nt/index.shtml

Is the start of the nutrition portion of his website, just click the 'next' on the bottom of each page.

I'm a little skeptical of anyone who claims 100% anything (he claims that if you follow this diet, then 100% of the time you will not have pre-eclampsia) but I think the diet is sound.

Cara

[Guest*]

I followed it last pregnancy and had zero complications, only slightly elevated BP at times near the end, but it always returned to normal after eating protein and taking a break.

The only reason I don't want to follow it this time is because we've gone nearly dairy free. I would do some raw dairy, but it's illegal in Colorado unless you do a cow share program, but that's EXPENSIVE. Also, we only eat meat 4x a week max and soy one time or less.

The whole grains, fruit and veggies aren't a problem, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get the protein in. It's the protein that is a huge part of that diet. I LOVE eggs, but, just as I feared, I'm having an aversion to them as I did last time. Today I cooked them up, but I could only take two bites before I started to gag.

So, I don't know yet. I'll follow as closely as I can and hopefully my egg aversion will go away and I can find other ways to work protein in.

[HomeBirthMommy]

That does sound like quite a healthy way to eat. It sounds a little overwhelming to make sure you're getting all of that food each day. If it difficult to get into the "routine" of it?

[Guest*]

Originally Posted by HomeBirthMommy

That does sound like quite a healthy way to eat. It sounds a little overwhelming to make sure you're getting all of that food each day. If it difficult to get into the "routine" of it?

After my sickness went away, it was actually VERY easy to follow last time. It really didn't feel like I was on a diet as soon as I figured out what foods were good. After writing everything down, I also realized that I had been following it fairly well anyway.

[myhoneyswife]

Jlpolzin, I have the same issue with dairy, sorta. I'm allergic to cow milk, can't afford goat milk, so I'm doing almond milk. Glad to hear that you had success with the diet last time!

Ideally we'll be able to get a milk goat this spring, but I'm not sure yet.

Cara

[Guest*]

Originally Posted by myhoneyswife

Jlpolzin, I have the same issue with dairy, sorta. I'm allergic to cow milk, can't afford goat milk, so I'm doing almond milk. Glad to hear that you had success with the diet last time!

Ideally we'll be able to get a milk goat this spring, but I'm not sure yet.

Cara

And that makes the diet so hard! I was getting sick re-reading the list...every other thing is cheese, milk, yogurt, put some butter on this...yuck! I don't even LIKE dairy anymore, just some yogurt once in a while and cheese with some dishes.

Good luck with the goat. I wish I lived in a place where I could even grow my own tomatoes.

[myhoneyswife]

Yeah, I've never really liked cheese or meat, which makes this diet a little interesting.

Too bad you can't have a garden! I'm looking forward to putting one in here. Hey, I've heard that you can grow tomatos inside, so maybe you could have home-grown tomatos

Cara

[Nothingbutbreast]

Would this diet help fluid problems in the third trimster?

[SlingWearin'Mama]

poppping in from the August board here... I am attempting to follow it but being gluten free am having some troubles with my whole grains. Also does anyone know if anything should be adjusted for twins? I feel like the protein is low for twins?

Thanx!
Jenn

[myhoneyswife]

I don't know if it would help with the water retention- but I know that to digest protein you end up using a lot of water, so you want to drink extra. That doesn't really answer your question, though.

I see how being gluton-free would be difficult to follow with this diet! What kinds of grains can you have? I'm not familiar with gluten-free, but would be happy to brainstorm with you

Edited to add about twins, yeah, I think I'd up the protein by maybe 2 servings for twins- Building 2 of everything seems like it would take more protein.


I was just looking stuff up about gluten free...

I think you can get brown rice flour, and I think that qualifies as both GF and whole grain. I have a grain grinder, and just made brown rice flour last week to use in bread, tasted good, I think.

Corn- corn tortillas, corn bread.

Millet- I used to make a cereal with Millet (lol, I tried looking it up under Mullet, no, that's not it) and diluted orange juice when I was a nanny. It was pretty good.

Quinoa- pretty high protein, I think. I used to eat this a lot, but don't remember how... Not much help, eh?

But yeah, your options are limited, aren't they!

Cara (who needs to get back to work!)

[Nothingbutbreast]

fluid problems meaning low fluid. I've been induced all 4 times due to low fluid levels (3 out of 4 times were before 36 weeks)

[myhoneyswife]

I'm thinking that it might, by making sure that all the nutrients needed to make fluid are available and not causing your body undue stress because it's not getting what it needs.

I'm sure you've heard it before, but I've heard that drinking lots and lots of water will also help with low amniotic fluid.

I'm sorry you had to be induced, and so early also!

HTH

Cara (who is not by any stretch of the imagination an expert, but is very openionated!)

[Nothingbutbreast]

I'm going to ask my midwife on my first appt

[Guest*]

Originally Posted by myhoneyswife

Too bad you can't have a garden! I'm looking forward to putting one in here. Hey, I've heard that you can grow tomatos inside, so maybe you could have home-grown tomatos

Cara

No room for that either. I have a small deck. I'm going to buy some pots and try growing a few herbs this summer.

It's really hard living in suburbia with the tiniest yard you've ever seen, when all I really want is to live at altitude and have an organic farm/ranch. One day...

[Guest*]

Originally Posted by myhoneyswife

I'm thinking that it might, by making sure that all the nutrients needed to make fluid are available and not causing your body undue stress because it's not getting what it needs.

I agree. The diet is supposed to keep your body functioning optimally for pregnancy. Part of that would be promoting appropriate fluid levels.

Let us know what your midwife says.

[myhoneyswife]

Originally Posted by jlpolzin

It's really hard living in suburbia with the tiniest yard you've ever seen, when all I really want is to live at altitude and have an organic farm/ranch. One day...

I know how that is. We were born in California and just decided to pick up and move to Montana last year (never had seen the state before, but thought it might work). When we grew up in California, we had plenty of room to roam, but now with housing prices how they are we couldn't even afford to own a townhouse or condo! So after living for 2 years in the city, we're finally in the country and love it. Hope you can get here soon too!

Cara

[Kirsten]

Not in your ddc but saw this on new posts. I did the Brewer diet on recommendation from my Bradley teacher. Really helpful. I didn't find it that hard to get between 80 and 100 grams of protein a day. I was ok with dairy though... I really had almost no pregnancy "symptoms".