I have been a vegetarian most of my life but after the birth of my first became a vegan. Now I am pregnant with #2 and would love some tips on extras I may need to intake or supplement. IS there a good prenatal for vegans? I am still nursing my 2 year as well.
This is my 4th vegan pregnancy. I've never worried much about supplements...if I can stomach them, I take either a VegLife multivitamin or 2 chewable Animal Parade multis, a calcium+ supplement, and Deva vegan DHA. Oh, and if I feel I need an extra iron boost I take Floravital liquid and dandelion root capsules.
Unless your diet is very poor or processed you are unlikely to need any supplementation.
Basically stick to good nutrition guidelines - get your five a day at least, making sure that 2 or those are leafy greens. Whole grains rather than processed. Seeds or similar a few times a week, if not daily. Low salt, no/low trans fats, don't over do the 'fake meats'
I take Rainbow Light prenatals and vpure omegas. I'm also looking for a cal/mag supplement, but mainly because I'm still breastfeeding. Congrats on your pregnancy! I'm due late Dec.
Originally Posted by Helen_A
Unless your diet is very poor or processed you are unlikely to need any supplementation.
Basically stick to good nutrition guidelines - get your five a day at least, making sure that 2 or those are leafy greens. Whole grains rather than processed. Seeds or similar a few times a week, if not daily. Low salt, no/low trans fats, don't over do the 'fake meats'
:
However, I did take Rainbow Light Prenatals a couple times a week.
I eat raw-vegan, and I haven't been taking a prenatal or anything. I've been taking a DHA supplement, and I also just eat a good amount of superfoods, which are high in nutrients - so I'm not too worried. We've been adding a green superfood powder to our green juice in the morning (the one we were taking for awhile had B12 and folic), I eat maca, goji berries, raw cacao, tocotrienols, hemp seeds - in addition to a balanced whole foods diet. I've been making sure to eat a little more protein-rich foods than I usually do, even though I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole protein thing during pregnancy. In general, I don't think it's difficult to get enough, but when you're pregnant they scare you about everything... Basically, I don't think a lot of "extras" are necessary, as long as you're eating lots of whole, unprocessed, organic fruits, veggies, etc...
Thanks ladies! It sounds like I am doing pretty good from what you all said. I have noticed just nursing that I get very dizzy easily and need to eat constantly. Since being pregnant its even worse, I am hungry all the time.
Has anyone else noticed this?
I still like to take a prenatal supplement just to be sure I am not missing anything, As long as its a whole food based supplement. I also worry about DHA, and B12
Originally Posted by SuperB
I still like to take a prenatal supplement just to be sure I am not missing anything, As long as its a whole food based supplement. I also worry about DHA, and B12
I think Rainbow Light would be something you're looking for. I found some at Target, as well as my HFS.
Fortified "milks" have B12 in them (and Nutritional Yeast of course). You can even get a fortified soymilk that has DHA. Otherwise.. walnuts, flax, hemp seeds have DHA too... just add some flax/hemp seed oil to a salad to anything that doesn't require heating the oil. And top your oatmeal, cereal, or salads with walnuts.
I put flax seed oil on my bagels (they're very protein heavy, love it) in the morning; sometimes I top that with homemade parm (made with omega 3 friendly walnuts and B12 fortified nutritional yeast) or cinnamon-sugar (just tastes good).
Also, I take Floradix in the morning with a vitamin C enriched juice (to aid the iron absorption), and that is also enriched with B vitamins.
Cinnamon taste good, and it helps stabilize blood sugar, which can help with the dizziness SuperB was talking about.
Also really concentrate on making sure your drinking enough, nursing a two year old and being preg. is exhausting, I know I have been doing it, and we are in the process of CLW as my supply is pretty much non-existant.
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