My partner and I are planning for pregnancy. With my last pregnancy, I allowed my midwife to scare me into cooked food and pre-natals. This time around I feel much more confidant in a completely raw pregnancy. I am not however, sure about taking pre-natal supplements. I can get much more nutrition from fresh foods, I am sure; but I don't think I know what foods to consume and how much, in order to give my body and (hopefully) baby all it needs. Currently I am struggling with iron and circulation issues. I usually make a tincture from Red wine, ginger juice, and honey or take Florodix Liquid Iron for a while. But since being raw I don't want the wine or the Liquid iron supplement. Any suggestions?

B12 and D2 I would supplement and probably also DHA from algae.

The rest you can get from your food.

If I were pregnant I'd use one of the nutrient calculators online to be sure I met my needs for everything else. It's more difficult when you are pregnant.

I suggest lots of greens. At minimum half of a large head of romaine per day, along with handfuls of spinach and something cruciferous. You can eat them as salad, juice them, or make smoothies, anything that makes it easier, do it.

At least 1 tbsp of ground flax.

You can fill up on fruits and monounsaturated fats like avocado.

break out the greens-
i juiced kale, spinach and collard greens for the first trimester, along with a variety of sweeter fruits and veggies. adding a touch of ginger helped pick me up on those harder days.
but i ate around 7 or 8 oz of greens daily. and then a ton of fruit and veggies.

pre-natals were impossible to keep down except for one two month stint in the middle of my pregnancy when i took them b/c i was eating more cooked veggies. then they worked. but when i went green/raw again, up came the vitamins. since i had this with both pregnancies, i was more at peace with just tossing them instead of trying to keep the nausea at bay. i figured my body was probably saying it had enough of some things.

while staying raw b/c you want to is great, i also say that i totally support incorporating some cooked veggies in if your body wants them. sweet potatoes were my thing, and some brown rice. i found this balance, and just listening to my body, instead of taking a hard-core stance and suffering through it, worked well for both pregnancies.

peace-

Any advice for when trying to get pregnant? I know "they say" folic acid should be taken for conception.

if they only knew 1/100th of what goes into keeping bodies healthy-
you should check out a nutrition calculator and look into the vitamin/mineral content of many fruits and veggies- you might fight your B6 (folic acid) consumption is plenty high- and what you're getting from nature your body is using far more effectively than supplements.

research spinal bifida- this is the birth disorder they are seeking to prevent with folic acid/ b6. knowing what they're trying to treat/prevent helps me understand what the strategy is behind the treatments-

peace-

Thanks Mama Cass!
Beautiful pic.

Blessed

it's hard to be folic acid deficient when you are eating a lot of greens.
Excellent sources of folate include romaine lettuce, spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, mustard greens, parsley, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and lentils.

the first time for me i took quite a few supplements, bee pollen, algae, perfect food, primal defense, enzymes, lots of efa's etc. the second time round i took some whole food supplements for iron (i am low), calcium, multi vits, lots of efa's again. i still take iron, calcium, multi and efa's now as i am nursing. i do this because i don't have the time and energy right now to juice and make a lot of smoothies, sprout, etc. this summer after we move we'll be set up better for those things and i'll stop taking the vits as i add more whole foods that i feel make up the difference. i don't think supplements are optimum, not even whole food ones, so i'd like to replace them with actual whole foods. but i'll still take the iron, i am chronically low.