The Brewer pregnancy diet - anyone followed it?

[LionsandBears]

I just found out about this after seeing a link to an article from BB. I knew we had to be healthy during pregnancy, but I'm not sure I'm getting enough protein and vitamins in my current diet to help bub grow and help prevent medical problems. eg - don't think pizza is particularly nutritious.

Has anyone followed it? If so, how did you get through all that food? Did you and bub end up being healthy? How much weight did you gain and long did it take to reduce?

There's a lot of food on the daily list and I'm having trouble getting my head away from my old low-carbs, low-fat, low-salt eating mentality. I was told by my MW not to put on any weight in the first 20 wks because I stacked on 10kg before getting pregnant, but now I'm worried I've been starving bub during that all important early development stage.....

any thoughts?

[Cherished]

Hi tashy, I hadn't heard of the diet but just looked it up... It does seem like a lot of food? But it really just looks like a well rounded eating plan to me. I lost 6.6kg's before getting pregnant but I have put on 5 kg's and I am just over 16 weeks pregnant. I think I ate lots because I was not only hungry but it stoped me feeling sick too... I was a bit worried that 5kg's was a bit much but I think my eating has slowed down rather than eating more (at this stage anyway) so I am hoping the 2nd tri will have a slower rate of weight gain anyway??? I will not be trying to eat as much food as on that diet but I will eat when I am hungry (which is often) lol and I will just be making sure each meal has a carb and a protein in it with either a salad or veg serve, I always have 1-2 serves of fruit a day anyway... Not sure I have helped in any way?

[LionsandBears]

thanks cherished. it does look like a healthy eating plan. I'm not sure I'll make all those daily portions though (2 eggs a day plus meat etc), but we're going to try a meal plan to see how we go. I crave green vegies anyway, so that's not difficult.

DH says he'll put a spreadsheet together for me

[Cherished]

tashy my dh has done a really fantastic spreadsheet for me which is like a food diary where you can easily count your calories etc it's a great idea, I used it to loose weight in the past but while I'm really worried about putting on weight during the pregnancy I am not going to count calories or watch what I eat cause I do enough of that anyway I wish I had the motivation to keep watching everything but I am enjoying this break from it all, I am trying to eat healthy though, there is no doubt in my mind that bubs is getting enough good vitamins etc. What kind of eating plan were you thinking of doing?

[LionsandBears]

hi cherished - I'm looking at doing the Brewer plan. Given it's been shown to reduce/prevent pre-eclampsia, IUGR and others, it looks very good. I just need to be disciplined and work out how to eat all that food. I already need to make lunch the main meal - can't have big meals at night.

We're going to work out a weekly meal plan and use that to plan the shopping.

[Heaven]

Never heard of it but just looked it up. It does look like a lot. And it says to eat liver?? As far as I know you are not supposed to eat liver due to high levels of vitamin A!

[LionsandBears]

it says eat liver if you like it. Liver has high levels of iron too. I don't like it, so will skip that.

[kungfubecca]

If it's a well balanced diet it has merit, but you shouldn't eat more than your body feels comfortable eating, as long as you are receiving a balance of the different nutirents to stay healthy, that is most important, and basically bubs will strip your body of what it needs before it goes without.

if you follw the diet, just leave some room for treats occasionally, even if your treat is a big bowl of fruit salad, make sure you don't sacrifice that craving for the diet.

[luna moth]

It might be a good start as a guideline. I looked at it, and it doesn't seem like that much to me - but as a vegan, I don't eat the meat, so would be looking at serves of beans or pulses. I defintiely have at least one a day, and often two.
Anyway, that's ramble.

Also, Heaven's right - liver is definitely not recommended in pregnancy these days - even if you like it. Maybe the plan is a little outdated?

Have you thought about reading What to Eat When You're Expecting? It's a bit long, but pretty good. Tash, I have a (slightly old but still good) copy that I can ship down to you if you like. Otherwise, consider going to your library (oh to be near a quality Melbourne library!) and borrow one of Rosemary Stanton's cookbooks - lots of them have great info in them, and mine has a section on pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Good luck!

[LionsandBears]

Audax - the plan was developed in the 50's, so probably has some outdated bits, but only the liver that I can see

I think I actually have that book - thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, I have to say I struggle with those "when you're expecting books", so it's on the bookshelf. A great book I have is Feeding the Bump, which has receipes for each trimester.

We've developed a basic meal plan and it seems to be working, except I still can't eat much at night. Last night all I could eat was a bowl of steamed vegies with some cheese on top. I just end up really bloated at the end of the day and if I eat too much, am too uncomfortable to sleep. Right now, I'm struggling to finish my yoghurt before I finish work and go home.

kungfubecca - there's still room for treats. I had a scoop of ice cream last night. Happily, I put it down as a tick for more dairy btw, 1 scoop is all I could eat - not like the normal portion of ice cream I'd be scoffing down pre-pregnancy.

It's a weird one. I don't think I'm starving bub, but my portions are so much smaller than pre-pregnancy out of necessity (it's all I can fit in). I think it's actually a good habit to learn for the future - hope I can keep it up later.

[CrazyLady]

it does look like a healthy eating plan. I'm not sure I'll make all those daily portions though (2 eggs a day plus meat etc),

Another thing is make sure you look at the quantities of meat meaning gram value. Most cuts of meat are actually over the RDI of that particular meat so that might be something too.