Navigating the Challenge of Eating for Two
A new approach to nourishment during pregnancy involves one part smart research, one part commitment and a little bit of letting go.
So it’s settled, then. I am “with child.” Daddy-to-be and immediate family told the good news. Hunt for an obstetrician on. Operation “Learn Everything I Can About Having a Baby” commenced.
It’s kind of uncanny to wake up every morning knowing that you’ve got the rumblings of a brand new life brewing on the inside. I went out a few days after the medical visit and bought, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” It really hit home, the part about it not feeling real in the first month or so. There are quite a few days when it might seem like you imagined the whole thing, where you don’t really feel any different and the baby is as tiny as a blueberry—it takes a bit for those feelings to kick in. But soon enough, my body started showing signs that something was afoot. I got really tired, really hungry, then not hungry at all. Wheeee, here we go!
I quit going to jiu-jitsu and doing heavy workouts right away. I know there’s plenty of people who keep their normal fitness routines, but I am considered “high-risk” due to my age. I knew that this was a big deal, that the odds were against me, and I wasn’t going to take any chances. That being said, I did continue to show up at practice and watch to keep connected. There’s this stigma about telling people so early, and it does feel like a happy little secret you want to protect for awhile, so I made something up about having back pain, just until I was ready to share the news (around 12 weeks).
I started to Google every type of food or drink I wanted to put in my mouth. Then I’d get super frustrated with any negative or ambiguous explanations of safety. One time I actually ordered a freshly squeezed lemonade from a juice stand, then cringed when I remembered reading something about fresh juices being more likely to spread illness and promptly threw the $10 juice in the trash (ugh!). Another time I walked back to a Copper Branch vegan restaurant because they put sprouts on my salad — a no-no food because they tend to harbor bacteria. It felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, and everyone in my circle had different opinions. Problem is, it can be difficult to get access to a doctor’s advice this early on. Also, when you do get in to see your OB, you can’t realistically bug your doc with a long list of all the foods you’re wondering about. At my first visit, the nurse handed me a paper with trusted sources, which was a big help—but due to Canada’s health system, my wait was about 3 weeks just for the doctor’s office to review my information and call me back. So smart, independent research is key.
Word of advice: Dr. Google is not a real doctor and he’s not to be trusted. Because there is so much misinformation on the net, I recommend only heading to trusted websites that are backed with scientific data — American Pregnancy Association, FDA, CDC, Canada.ca’s Pregnancy Food Guide. If you Google just about any food — say “turmeric and pregnancy” or “cabbage and pregnancy,” some obscure site will pop up saying it’s “likely unsafe.” And that can drive you bananas. I got really frustrated with the fact that, ironically, burgers cooked well from your local fast-food joint appeared to be in the clear, whereas all this healthy, raw food I was trying to get into came with elevated risks. The reality is that there are only a handful of things you need to stay away from (raw fish, too much caffeine, alcohol, raw sprouts, deli meats, unpasteurized cheeses and juices, undercooked eggs and meat), and that a lot of the Net’s red flags have to do with taking “medicinal amounts,” meaning yes, it’s probably going to cause some ill effects if you eat a jar of turmeric powder, but probably won’t hurt baby in “food grade amounts.”
If you’re of the camp that feels the foods you eat have a very direct impact on baby’s development in the womb, there are some great books you can turn to: “Real Food for Pregnancy—The Science and Wisdom of Optimal Prenatal Nutrition” by Lily Nichols, “The Whole Nine Months — A Week by Week Pregnancy Nutrition Guide” by Jennifer Lang, MD, and “Healthy, Happy Pregnancy Cookbook” by Stephanie Clarke and Willow Jarusch.
My grandma was surprised by the things I mentioned that are off-limits today, saying “If that was the case, none of us would’ve made it out of the womb!” So really, you want to trust the official websites and your doctor, and take other people and web pages’ advice with a grain of salt. I’ll tell you, though, that “likely” or “probably” safe wording will drive you nuts. Trust your gut. I haven’t had a deli sandwich since finding out I was pregnant, or a kombucha, or a cup of coffee, because keeping Bean safe is way more important to me than any pleasure I could get from consuming any of the iffy stuff. On the other hand, I don’t freak out if I make a mistake. At Christmas time I ate a Greek salad with a bunch of feta cheese on it, then later found out feta and other soft cheeses are questionable. Everything turned out OK.
