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Whole 30 during pregnancy???


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I"m currently changing my diet from Primal to Whole 30 to eventually Paleo in order to increase my fertility and have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

Anyone done a Whole 30 while pregnant???

I would love to hear some success stories of how much better your felt, easier labor, calmer baby stories that would keep my motivated on this path.

Thanks guys!!!!

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Hi Michele,

I am currently 26 weeks pregnant. I had just started a whole30 when I found out I was pregnant. I felt great that first month, then morning sickness set in. I had a really hard time keeping any food down. Fruits, veggies and protein that I use to love made me sick. Even the smell of coconut oil made me sick. I finally had to go on medicine to help with the nausea and headaches. I started to feel better at week 18 but still had some mild food aversions. Now I can eat just about everything and feel fine. It was really hard at the beginning because I really wanted to

make sure I was eating as healthy I could for myself and the baby. But I also knew how important it was to just try the best I could during that time and to not stress about the fact that I couldn't eat exactly the way I wanted to. Another thing that helped and still does is making sure I get enough sleep and not pressing my self to hard during workouts(crossfit).

I have had some concerns about the actual birth(tearing and recovery) and my doctor said the that my nutrition plays a big part in that. That is why I am going to start another whole30 a week from Tuesday. I am excited to see how my body feels. When I eat a lot of vegetables now my baby goes crazy so it will be fun to see how he reacts to the whole30.

Once I get started I will post updates.

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I highly recommend getting into yoga (if you don't already do this). I swear this helped me during labor and birth. I had an almost 10 lb baby (she refused to come out and just kept growing). You can imagine the kind of tearing that involved and my doctor was surprised at how easily I delivered this baby. Kegels and squatting to the floor everyday.

My nutrition was horrible at the end of pregnancy because I had sooo much false labor, I couldn't handle cooking dinner. So, it had to be the yoga!

I tried to do my pregnancy paleo, but I was doing a high protein, low carb and moderate fat approach. I couldn't keep protein down and wound up just eating whatever I could keep down. The next time around, I plan on trying a higher carb, moderate protein in the beginning to see if that helps because all I could keep down was carbs during the first trimester.

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I am currently 24 weeks pregnant and I was starting another Whole30 right before I found out I was pregnant. I only lasted about 8-10 days before I gave in. I was eating almost nothing and weak and dizzy. I felt awful this pregnancy and I had horrible aversions to all things healthy. It has gotten a bit better and I think I might be able to start a new 30 day in the next few weeks. I think it is possible to maintain a Whole 30 while pregnant but I think it has a lot to do with your pregnancy. This is my 3rd pregnancy and all I can say is that pregnancy is weird on your body. It is a unique situation and healthy eating is better for you and your baby but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work perfectly the whole time you are pregnant.

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My doctor told me that diets high in vitamin C help your body stretch more naturally( completely paraphrasing but that was the main point). My husband asked at one of our appointments what type of nuturtion plan should I follow, the doctor replied that protein was really important( the building blocks of life) as well as a wide assorment of fruits, veggies, fats and dairy. She mentioned grains and I asked if she saw any reason that I needed grains, that I would prefer to not eat grains. She said as long as I was eating lots of fruits and vegetables that would be fine and that I would probably feel better in the long run.

Now that I am starting my third trimester, the books say to really focus on omega 3's. For some reason fatty foods(salmon, sunflower seeds, coconut oil) really make me sick. I know that eggs, kale and brussel sprouts are high in omega 3's so I am going to try an eat more of those. If any one has had the same problem any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Can you just take fish oil supplements for your 3rd trimester? It is very important to get Omega 3's at the end because brain development is occurring at a fast rate.

I learned that high protein in the diet, particularly early on in a pregnancy, is actually bad for the fetus, so it is better to choose fattier meats. But, I don't know if that was only true in the first trimester or the whole pregnancy. I was eating a Loren Cordain, lean meats paleo diet when I got pregnant and my body was definitely rejecting the high protein sources.

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Before I got pregnant, i was convinced that I would be able to eat clean/paleo.. but i'm 10 weeks in and I have ate more crap (wheat, grains, sugar) than I have the past two years. Nothing sounds good, I feel nauseous, so I don't feel like cooking food for myself. I'm planning on trying the whole 30, to get myself back to feeling healthy (other than the nausea.) I find myself just wanting fruit this pregnancy. And bean burritos/tacos. Protein doesn't sound good to me, and neither does protein shakes :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm with you, canclem, during the first trimester NOTHING sounded appetizing. As someone who was just starting to like things like brussel sprouts and broccoli before I got pregnant, I was VERY dissappointed to see that my serious food aversions included most veggies. Also, the smell of beef tallow turned my stomach and the idea of chicken was gross (unless it was in the form of chicken nuggets, which for some reason sounded DELISH). I am in my second trimester now and my appetite has come back...baked chicken legs, sweet potatoes fried up in beef tallow and brussel sprouts and other green stuff are once again on my plate (yay!). It will get better! My doctor, who was a-ok with the lack of grains/abundance of meat in our normal diet, told me to just eat what you can keep down in the first trimester, because it DOES get better! While I would definitely still try to avoid most of the "bad" stuff, I would take comfort in knowing that soon enough you'll be able to stomach those healthy things once again! While I am still definitely not strict Whole30 compliant right now, I've cleaned it up considerably compared to the 1st trimester within just a few weeks.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I had been strict paleo for almost 2 years before I got pregnant...and planned on staying paleo during pregnancy. Then morning sickness hit me. All I could eat and even FATHOM eating was bland cereal, bagels, and bean burritos with nothing else in them. Totally weird I know. It wasn't because I was craving that stuff, I just could not stand to smell, touch or taste anything else. My midwife said not to worry about it, but just do what you can to GET THROUGH IT! And so I did.

After morning sickness went away, I think around 14 weeks or so, then I could eat other stuff. I still didn't stay strict paleo, but was maybe 80%. I had been doing crossfit for about 2 years at that point and I continued throughout my entire pregnancy. It felt incredibly awesome! I was amazed what I could still do when 8 months pregnant. :)

However, I just have to say this....and I really don't want to scare anyone. I had an expectation in my mind that because I ate so clean and did crossfit, that I would have an amazing perfect birth. I did not have that experience. I do think that what I gained from Crossfit helped me make it through such a long labor. I just want to say this because I feel that all pregnant women should tread carefully when building expectations around their birth experience. I had a traumatic birth, and ended up with PTSD to deal with. Afterwards, I dealt with thoughts like "well if eating right and exercising didn't help me have the birth I wanted, then what's the freakin point?"

After getting counseling, I was able to work through the emotions/thoughts surrounding this all. Now I know that no matter what, working out and eating right make me healthier. I do it because the fact is it's better for me. Period. End of discussion. The thinking that BECAUSE I'm eating right and working out, that means I will have X,Y or Z happen in my life or produce a certain result, (ie. the perfect birth) is dangerous thinking.

I'm not saying it doesn't help or doesn't affect it at all. Don't hear that. This is just a warning to you that are pregnant that MIGHT be thinking...Hey if I eat this way or exercise all through my pregnancy, that means I'll avoid a C-section or have a quick labor. There is no guarantee. There are SO many factors that affect what kind of labor you will have. I wish I wish it was completely in our control, but it just isn't.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I hope I'm not scaring anyone. I hope I came across honestly without being too blunt. If any of you have anything you want to talk about regarding this, please let me know.

And thank God for this forum to share and talk openly about all of this. I wish I had this support when I was pregnant!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi.

I am currently 13 weeks pregnant. I was a pretty strict Paleo for the previous year, with the last few months eating a low-carb, moderate fat, high protein version. Think meat and veggies. I had myself all excited because I thought that since my diet was dialed in I was going to have an easy first trimester.

Oops! Bad expectations on my part. As soon as the nausea hit I had horrible aversions to all the Paleo foods I previously enjoyed. The only things I could stomach eating were grains and carbs. It is just now that I am starting to be able to eat protein again and am trying to pysch myself up to do another Whole30.

I just write this to share that my experience being pregnant hasn't been great and it has been super hard dealing with the guilt of eating so poorly. This has really been a dark place for me. But.... the first trimester is winding down and I can see that things are looking up. I will pick myself back up.

If anyone else is experiencing this, I hope this gives you hope that you're not alone. Do the best you can and don't give up!

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  • 1 year later...

Congrats to all pregnant mothers on this forum! My wife is also 13 weeks pregnant. So, I am in search of a complete diet list for my wife. I expect a healthy baby. She wants to maintain a list provided at http://www.pregnancysymptomscramps.com/category/pregnant-women/. But I know nothing about this. Can you please help me on this that is the list good enough and trusted? Waiting for a helpful response.

 

Thanks to all!

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Congrats to all pregnant mothers on this forum! My wife is also 13 weeks pregnant. So, I am in search of a complete diet list for my wife. I expect a healthy baby. She wants to maintain a list provided at http://www.pregnancysymptomscramps.com/category/pregnant-women/. But I know nothing about this. Can you please help me on this that is the list good enough and trusted? Waiting for a helpful response.

 

Thanks to all!

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It's so encouraging to hear other pregnant ladies go through the same thing as I did! I've been pretty strict paleo for over a year, with great ideals of sticking to it during pregnancy. The nausea hit and all I wanted was bagels smothered in butter. Not exactly my ideal. I did what I could although veggies were on the aversion list. Finally the nausea went away!

 

I'm at nineteen weeks and started a W30 last week. I'm already feeling so much better! I feel the need to reset my body after the junk I had first trimester. I struggled with a little guilt about not feeding my baby well during that time, but I've come to terms with it and did the best I could. I know that my base of good health before getting pregnant and now continuing it, will be beneficial even if there was a bumpy patch in there.

 

I definitly recommend eating the best you can, but not beating yourself up about it if you can't stick to a W30 during the first trimester. Wait until those horrible aversions taper off and then go all out with the good food. Yay for little humans!

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