Primal and Pregnancy page

[Andrea Winslow]

Hello Everyone!

I'm new to the Primal Blueprint way of life and so far I'm really enjoying the changes and experiences. I have searched for someone else who has either went through a pregnancy while sticking to the Primal diet or someone with some advice on the subject. I am not pregnant YET but we will be trying in the next few months. I guess my questions all reside with the diet and lack of extreme physical exercise. Is it safe? Should something be added/subtracted from my diet? Anyone with any first-hand experience or ideas?

Thank You!
~Andrea

[Jenny]

I'm pregnant but don't feel able to fully embrace Primal yet because I have so many appetite issues right now. Regardless, it sounds like a GREAT approach nutritionally for pregnant women too!

Mark's blog has tons of posts relevant to pregnancy. Just run this search: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/?x=0&y=0

[hannahc]

Mark has done a few good post for pregnant ladies, and there are many of us who either still are pregnant or who have just gone through "primal" pregnancies. Hopefully some of those ladies will chime in too!

I've been primal for 1 year and 2 months, and am 11 weeks pregnant now. It's definitely harder to be completely strict with diet for me, meaning I was 95-100% primal diet wise for months on end (even at restaurants/parties/etc...I was great at finding the good food ), and now I'm falling more into the 80% range and including more dairy and fruit and it drives me a little crazy. I certainly couldn't do anything close to 50 carbs or less right now (I would stay between 10-40g carbs most days before), I'm solidly at the 150 range.

I used to exercise intensly too, and have dropped my serious kick-ass sessions (sprinting/interval weight sessions/etc.). For 6 weeks I couldn't eat much and was dead-tired, so I just did the best I could. Then, at 8 weeks my appetite came back and so did my energy! I've been walking A LOT, probably 6-8 hours per week at least, running maybe 2ish times per week for 25-45 minutes each time, doing some bodyweight exercises once or twice per week...whatever I have enough energy for.

Mentally, I'm so happy to be pregnant and can't wait to meet this little person! Hubby and I are making plans for his/her room, deciding on names, looking at baby clothes and gear, wondering how things will be when the baby is here Physically, it's such a different feeling to know you should be getting bigger. It probably sounds stupid to guys (you're pregnant, you're supposed to get bigger!), because DUH I know I'm supposed to get bigger, but it's still something you have to wrap your mind around. Even if my thighs and my face get bigger along with my belly, it will all be for the baby and I can work on losing it later!

Being primal is definitely a VERY very good thing though, if you follow all 10 "rules" (minus the sprinting I suppose) you'll be setting yourself up for a healthy baby and a healthy post-pregnancy body as well.

[Spinner]

I am 7 wks pregnant and I am doing about a 80-90% primal diet. I am diabetic as well, so I have had to adjust my carbs around a bit. I do 15 carbs for breakfast and my first 2 snacks. Dinner and Lunch I have about 50 carbs or so each, and my pre bed snack is also about 15 carbs or so. I was supposed to do 27 grams of carbs at bedtime, but it made my blood sugar too high in the morning. I have been getting up at 3am to test to see where I am, and I also test before all meals and 1 hour after each meal to see if I am in the 'zone'. I have to keep my blood sugars between 70 and 130 and preferably below 90 when I wake up. I have added back in Ezekiel bread, ak mak crackers and wasa brod (ok, ok, yea I know, not primal!) but I get the majority of my carbs from veggies and some fruits... mostly apples, plums and berries.

[Andrea Winslow]

Thanks to everyone! I was excited to get responses to this because it has been weighing on my mind greatly. Congratulations to all the expecting mothers that are primal, that is wonderful to hear! And to Spinner, wow. You must be doing an awesome job controlling your diabetes! The whole reason I'm going primal is because I'm a candidate for diabetes and I'm trying to put it off as long as humanly possible. Are you having any complications or anything thus far?

[foxachickaza]

Around the time that I was pregnant with my son, I came down with PUPPP Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy around the 6th month. So for pretty much four months I had a terrible itchy rash over my whole body. People that I talked to, never had it and a lot had never even heard of it. Worst part about is that my very own doctor had never had seen it before, so she did not know how to treat it. My question, is there any one else who has had it? Also my husband and I are talking about the possibility of having another child and my fear is that I will get this again? So if there is anyone else who had the same problem, help.

[austinmama]

Hi Andrea!

I am also pregnant, with baby #2, due 2/19/11. I'm in the 14th week right now and glad to have my energy back, for the most part.

My first pregnancy went fine but I was nowhere near eating primally.

I stumbled on this site at the beginning of August and officially started eating primally on 8/12. I bought the book and devoured it in 3 days. After reading all about the ill effects of grains, I feel I can switch to a Primal diet with a clear conscience.

I discussed this to an extent with my midwife at my 8/16 appointment, and she was very supportive of my getting more protein and veggies and less starch in my diet.

Look for Slesca's Primal Blueprint Journal--she ate and exercised according to PB throughout pregnancy AND delivery and afterward. (Her birth story is on page 25 of her journal.)

I think there are some other proud primal mamas on here who have already delivered.

We've got to stick together!

Blessings to you and your growing family,

Mary

[Andrea Winslow]

Thank you, Mary, for sharing your story! Here's something that's kind of cosmic; I started the PB on August 11th! Isn't that odd, haha. So far I'm doing well and I'm having an absolute BLAST in the kitchen. I really love the recipes in the cookbook. I've started growing almost all of my herbs and some of my veggies. I'll be sure to look for that journal, it sounds like just what I need!

Thank you again!
~Andrea

[suseyb]

Around the time that I was pregnant with my son, I came down with PUPPP Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy around the 6th month. So for pretty much four months I had a terrible itchy rash over my whole body. People that I talked to, never had it and a lot had never even heard of it. Worst part about is that my very own doctor had never had seen it before, so she did not know how to treat it. My question, is there any one else who has had it? Also my husband and I are talking about the possibility of having another child and my fear is that I will get this again? So if there is anyone else who had the same problem, help.

I had this with my third pregnancy. Some say that this can be related to elevated liver enzymes. During that pregnancy I became a raw food vegan around the middle and was juicing carrots and beets. I sometimes wonder if all that detoxing caused the PUPPS as I haven't had it since. I did have some itching in the middle of my current pregnancy, but I think that was some sort of allergic reaction. Regardless, I have been taking silymarin to help my liver.

I would recommend talking with your doctor about this prior to getting pregnant again. You may also want to interview other doctors and/or midwives to see what kind of experiences they have with this type of skin problem.

Susie
momma to five

[Jenny]

I had a lovely PUPPs rash last pregnancy. Hopefully I won't this time.

Supposedly it happens in only 1/200 pregnancies and most of those moms are first time pregnant with boys. It's less common for baby #2 even if you had it before. Here's hoping!

As for treatment some docs are ok with steroid cream but it seems like it doesn't do anything more than Aveeno and waiting. Some swear by super hot showers. There's a soap, I forget the name, pine tar maybe?

Run some searches for pupps rash. puppp rash. and pupp rash. Lots of ideas out there and some may work for those suffering.