Mommy News - Vol. 1, Issue 8
- The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy
- Question and Answer with Dr. Raffelock
- One Dish Baked Potato Dinner
- Tension Tip - The Power of Thanks
The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy
Stephanie Raffelock
When you get pregnant, there are a flood of books that offer help and advice and it can seem a bit daunting to know what advice one should take, especially when it comes to food. My friend, Jonny Bowden has written a new book entitled "The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy." This book is user-friendly and laid out in such a way that you don't have to read it cover to cover, but it can become a great reference book for you. The book is full of information about pregnancy in general, and takes you through a nutritional map trimester by trimester. What follows are some paraphrased useful tips from Jonny's book that I particularly liked:
Good nutrition begins in the womb: Did you know that mothers who eat a junk food diet have children that have weaker muscle strength and are less capable of exercising as they age, thus increasing the risk of the child becoming obese? This suggestion from a study by The European Journal of Nutrition in 2008. As Jonny says, it may seem like a no brainer to avoid junk food, but honestly how many bags of chips, pretzels and cookies live in your pantry. The think about junk food is, that old Lays Potato Chip commercial was right: "Bet you can't eat just one." Junk food is addictive and can have some health consequences for mom and baby.
Say No to Lunch Meat: There are good reasons to avoid deli meats during pregnancy. They have a higher risk than other foods of being contaminated with harmful bacteria, like Listeria. Plus they are loaded with fat and sodium that have been added, meaning you are going to get too much. Added fat can definitely contribute to feeling queasy during pregnancy, so avoiding lunch meats/deli meats are a good idea. Roasting a turkey breast and slicing that for sandwiches is a much healthier idea. If you are not sure how to roast a turkey breast, ask the guy at the meat counter. They usually have cooking times down. And in this age of internet, you can always Google how to cook a turkey breast. It's not difficult.
Artificial Sweeteners: The name artificial sweetener already suggests that you should be avoiding these types of products at all cost! And don't forget to look for products that contain artificial sweetners. You need to be aware of products like soft drinks (not a good pregnancy food anyway), yogurt, desserts, fruit spreads, chewing gums, salad dressings and candy. You need to become a label reader. Aspartame, Cyclamates, Sucralose and Saccharin. While I suggest avoiding all of these, Jonny does point out that the government considers aspartame safe for pregnant women but recommends that Saccharin and Cyclamates be avoided. This is probably more than just one time that I don't agree with our government. I don't think you need chemical cocktails in any food during pregnancy or otherwise. If you can't spell it, can't pronounce it, never heard of it, leave it alone! Fortunately there are yogurts and salad dressings, fruit spreads and chewing gums on the market that do not contain these artificial sweeteners.
"The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy" has foods lists foods and their nutritional values as well as foods to be avoided (really good idea). Jonny's Tasty Tips will help you to find easy, delicious snacks and meals no matter what trimester. The Fast Facts in this book address everything from fatigue, anemia and Omega 3's with simple ideas and solutions for your pregnancy eating. This book is so much more than just 100 foods, it is the ideal pregnancy companion when it comes to eating for two! And it's a great start for the New Year, the New Decade and a New Pregnancy!
Visit Jonny Bowden's web site at www.jonnybowden.com and purchase his book there or from Amazon. Happy and Healthy Eating for a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Start the year right with Sound Formulas products for mothers. Taking care of yourself helps you take better care of your family.
Q-A with Dr. Dean Raffelock
Q: I like something sweet now and then and I heard that sugar is bad for you? Why and what is the alternative?
A: Processed sugars like white sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup stress the pancreas, liver and adrenal glands. These and other highly processed sugars cause the pancreas to quickly make a hormone called insulin that drives the sugar into the cells. The problem here is that insulin also tells the liver to make LDL cholesterol and triglycerides which can stress organs including the heart. Too much sugar also has a weakening affect on the adrenal glands because these highly processed sugars cause blood sugar to spike high and then quickly fall causing the adrenal glands to make hormones (cortisol and cortisone) to help balance out the extreme sugar fluctuations. This causes the adrenal glands to overwork and they can eventually fatigue. Plus excessive cortisol causes weight gain and has a "catabolic" effect causing nerve, muscle and bone to be metabolized for energy.
I suggest that we all stay away from artificial sugars like sucrolose and aspartame. These look like scary molecules to me and sucrolose appears to break down into a pesticide-like molecule while the incidence of brain cancer has risen 10-fold since the introduction of aspartame.
The alcohol sugars like sorbitol and xylitol can be used in moderation but one has to be careful of digestive upset including diarrhea if too much is consumed.
I am even wary of agave nectar because it too seems way over processed and I find the studies that test the "glycemic index" of sugars and foods often do not wait long enough before they test and declare then "low glycemic index" foods.
So where does that leave us? Good old unprocessed, unfiltered honey still appears to be the best bet in moderation. Molasses has some good nutrition in it. Stevia can be used for sweetening too.
Ideally one can be satisfied with some whole fruit but if the sweet tooth is too strong try to get some fiber and protein in with the sweet you choose because that helps the sugar be processed in the body more slowly with less stress on the internal organs. For example a smoothie with real fruit juice, some berries ( fresh or frozen), 1 TBS of ground flax seeds and a TBS of almond butter is very nutritious and can satisfy that sweet tooth in a healthy way. Adding a high quality protein powder into your smoothie can make it a complete meal.
Send your questions about nutrition and health to Dr. Rafflock at: www.info@soundformulas.com
"The Complete Fit & Healthy Pregnancy Workout" by Gabrielle Reece is the best pregnancy and post-pregnancy workout we've ever seen!
Fun Foods for Fast Moms:
Baked Potato Dinner:
- 4 medium to large baking potatoes
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 bag of frozen spinach or 1 to 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 medium onion
- 2 Tbl olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Bake the four potatoes at 375 until done. About an hour. Set potatoes aside. In large skillet, sauté (cook over a slow flame) the onion in olive oil. Cook until onions are almost translucent and then add the ground turkey. Salt and pepper. I recommend about teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. When turkey is cooked (and it will cook up quickly because of the low fat content) add the spinach (which will also cook quickly. Now cut the potatoes in half and mash the inner contents a little bit with a fork and add a little butter or olive oil to them. Spoon the turkey and spinach mixture over the potatoes and serve. A full meal! Serves 4.
Tension Tip of the Day:
With the holidays behind us, and a new year and decade of greater possibility and potential, create five minutes in your day to rock your child/children and say "thank you." The 13th century mystic Meister Eckhart said that if there was only one prayer that you ever uttered, "thank you" would be enough. "Thank you" reminds us of all the spoken and unspoken gratitude that resides in our hearts and helps us keep our focus on the good that is in our lives. The emotional/Spiritual benefits of this bring us calm and peace, while the physical benefits helps us to breath deeper, relax and even lowers our blood pressure. This year, let's all resolve to say "thank you" more often throughout our days. Thank you for being in my life dear mothers! Happy New Year.
Please visit our new blog at www.pregnancyrecovery.com so that I can stop blogging myself and talk with you! Hugs and love to all of you, dear mommies!
~Stephanie~
