Has anyone gone through a pregnancy raw and vegan? There isn't much support out there except for Jinji's e-book, but I'd like to get some feedback from you all.

I have been eating really well and including more sprouts and greens in my diet. Breakfast is usually blended fruit and spinach and/or spirulina. Snacks are nuts and fruit, usually seperate. Lunch and dinner is pretty much watermelon first and lots of veggies. I noticed that too many nuts make me uncomfortable, but greens are fruit are awesome.

I have been really exhausted, but this seems to be normal for the beginnning. Otherwise all is well.

Any diet additions are welcomed!

i must confess, i was raw for the first trimester of my pregnancy, and i was tired and i was a full-time student. but finances made it so that i couldn't get enough raw food to stay full. pregnant and hungry was just too miserable, so i added some cooked foods in my second trimester(not a lot of animal products, which always is what people want to feed to a pregnant woman) mostly potatoes and raw dairy. most days, until the end of my pregnancy, i would only have potatoes as my cooked food. i think i needed the raw dairy to keep from adding other foods in. when i craved bready, salty, or other processed foods, i waited it out. there was some ice cream, and some meat, but i know i could do it if i had more local support. trying to eat raw with the advice of those around you (and aren't they all experts) is really hard. i had no support and stayed 75% raw for the rest of my pregnancy.

i was raw for the first two weeks of breastfeeding, and that also worked a bit too well. i could have fed the whole nursery, which was entirely formula fed when we were there! people kept trying to get me to eat other foods, especially since all i wanted was fruit juice and fruits with the occasional handful of nuts. my milk production is still strong, but after a few months, i started traveling and got lazy on my raw foods, and now i'm suffering. we're still solely breastfeeding at 6 months, though he loves tomatoes, apples, pears, bananas, plums, avocados, etc.

don't listen to those who tell you that meat and animal products, or beans and other protein sources are necessary for a smart beautiful baby. Gabriel is crawling at 6 months, has been smiling since he was 2 weeks, and is 'cruising' already. his muscle tone is incredible. people still want me to eat badly, and now they want me to feed my child 'baby food' and 'rice cereal'. maybe we should get a support group!

You don't need to add any animal products but you would do well to pay attention to your fat sources.

See this:
[www.ajcn.org]

and this:
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

If I were pregnant or lactating the only thing I'd do differently would be to add a 200 mg per day algae-based DHA supplement, just to be on the safe side.

I already supplement for B12 and D2.

I also take cooked beans but that's not necessary and will not affect B12, D2, or DHA status.

Thanks Mama Cass~~I had gone off raw just before getting pregnant and worked my way back to mostly raw during pregnancy as I felt much better that way (though i never had morning sickness and I felt my few years of mostly raw leading up to pregnancy were even preperative...)

After Dovelin was born, I wound up eating lots of quick "foods" like Luna bars and such as I was living in the (tame) jungle and had very little help, but baby cried a lot and I eventually found that I needed to go back to raw vegan in order for him to be happy. It's been a struggle, I'm not proud to say (but not ashamed either), but now, at 10 months old, he is a marvel, and I'm eating raw vegan again. He's very strong and aware and joyful. Now that I've been eating raw vegan again for awhile (more than a month), he no longer has colic or spits up and I have so much more energy and love to give and patience and can just generally let sleep deprivation...roll off my back!! Motherhood has razed my life down to the ground, has blurred everything but me, myself, and baby, and has reaffirmed the validity and importance (and necessity, for now!!!) of a raw vegan lifestyle. At least for me!!!!

Blessings to you, *Phytoangel~~, on your journey! You ARE blessed!!!!

lovingly, Adrienne (Michelle)

Oh yeah, and the thanks to Mama Cass was because yeah, even now, people urge me to eat non-vegan stuff at least some of the time, even though no one knows the answers, they just feel the need to urge something, as our children are so dear and important.

Trusting my instincts had become central in motherhood~~may I remain attuned to them through thick and through thin!!!! What would I do without them???