Brewer Diet Anyone? - Page 2

[maciascl]

I did it last time & loved it. I plan to use it again, only now we are vegitiarian (still eat eggs, dairy & some fish) so I think it is going to be more difficult. I'll have to go through his site again. I think I remember him have info for being veggie on the diet too. Anyone else veggie?

[Mom2Madeline]

I know that Dr. Brewer took toxemia rates among a group of low income moms down from 35% to 0.5%, and that the Farm in TN uses a vegetarian version of Brewer and when I read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth it said they'd only had one case of toxemia, which they handled there w/out medical intervetion. So not 100% but pretty close. There was also a harvard study that found 0 cases of toxemia in women who got at least 75 g of protein a day.

As for getting enough protein, make sure you're not overestimating serving sizes. A meal in a restaurant probably has 2-3 servings of meat, not just one, for example. Remember nuts, beans, yogurt, etc.

[jadzia's_mommy]

That doesn't look like a very accommodating diet for vegans. Pretty much the only time I really count my protein grams is when I'm pregnant. I've really got to pay attention to it, because I have a tendency to just eat a lot of fruits, veggies, and grains all day. Fine ordinarily, but not really enough protein when pg.

[SlingWearin'Mama]

Originally Posted by myhoneyswife

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!)

these are great suggestions thanx! Its just getting them to appeal to me sometimes ya know?

[myhoneyswife]

J's Momma, you're right- it isn't really accomidating for vegans. Do you have a midwife? Maybe ask her what she'd suggest for you. I was a vegan for a couple of years and I ended up getting sort of sickley because I wasn't diciplined enough to get all the protein and iron that I needed, but I'm sure where there's a will there's a way for a very healthy vegan pregnancy. Good luck to ya.

Cara

[jadzia's_mommy]

Originally Posted by myhoneyswife

J's Momma, you're right- it isn't really accomidating for vegans. Do you have a midwife? Maybe ask her what she'd suggest for you. I was a vegan for a couple of years and I ended up getting sort of sickley because I wasn't diciplined enough to get all the protein and iron that I needed, but I'm sure where there's a will there's a way for a very healthy vegan pregnancy. Good luck to ya.

Cara

I'm using the same midwife as with my last pregnancy. She is very into monitoring my diet. She made me keep a food log for a few days during my first pregnancy. I ended up mildly anemic toward the end, but I really worked on getting the protein. This time I'm going to work on eating a lot of lentils and chick peas, as well as dark leafy greens so I have enough iron, too. I think I actually still have some leftover iron supplements! Better check the expiration date on those! Normally I never have a problem with iron or protein, but the need goes up so much with pregnancy I really have to pay attention.

[myhoneyswife]

Sounds good! Yeah, I bet she would be good at that sort of stuff, midwives know about that. Just thinking about iron supplements gets me stopped up, though, would you mind letting us know what she says? I really don't like meat much at all, and the idea of chickpeas (hummas) sounds really good right now! I'm going to try spirulina for iron this pregnancy also, getting some tomorrow.

Cara

[chalynm]

Originally Posted by myhoneyswife

I'm going to try spirulina for iron this pregnancy also, getting some tomorrow.

That sounds really good. I had completely forgotten, but when smoothie shops were the big thing however many years ago, I used to get one w/ bananas, OJ, a few other things I don't remember (coconut, maybe?), and spirulina. I loved the stuff. I'll definitely have to try it again. The only problem here is that there's only one health food store in the whole quad-cities, which is about 1/2 hr away, and it closes @ 5. I could see about ordering it online, I guess, but then I have to wait for it. Knowing me, I'll be totally turned off to the idea by the time it gets here.

[mom2mimi]

Does anyone know if this diet would be good if you already have chronic hypertension?? I am currently taking medication, exercising, eating well, and taking garlic and alfalfa supplements but I want to do absolutely everything I can to prevent pre-e and prevent the two most dreaded words to me...hospital birth!

[myhoneyswife]

mom2mimi, I would imagine that it could help, as it's designed to avoid pre-e among other things. I've also heard that cayenne can help blood pressure, capsules or just 2 spoonfulls of the stuff you have in the kitchen. But I've never tried it, so I don't really know (don't have high bp either).

Totally understand wanting a home birth!

Cara

[newcastlemama]

I did the brewer diet with my last baby for awhile and I couldn't handle it...too many animal products for me. I am a strict vegetarian now, but I will be eating more beans and high protein grains. I eat whole foods primarliy so I feel pretty good about my nutritional health. I will also ask my midwife for help if I need to.

[nichole]

are you guys going to eat the liver? i have some organic liver leftover from a whole chicken i bought, but um...ick! i like calf liver but i'm concerned about the toxins. i think i'll pass...what about you guys?

nichole

[myhoneyswife]

Eww, no liver for me! It kinda freaks me out because liver is what takes out the toxins from the blood, that and the kidneys, so I eat neither! I'm sure it's fine, and I've heard of people soaking it in milk (I think) to leach the toxins out of it.

Just my take on it