Eating healthy is important during pregnancy- we know that. But eating healthy isn't always easy, especially if you don't have a lot of time and you get those crazy food cravings. What are the best foods to eat (and the most practical ways to eat them)? Today we're revealing our top 10 foods to eat while pregnant.
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Pregnancy is a life-changing event that impacts dads as well. What can “pregnant dads” expect during the next nine months and beyond? Here are some helpful tips that benefit the whole family during this important time.
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Preggie Pals
“Top Ten Foods To Eat While Pregnant”
Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.
[Theme Music]
Leigh- Ann Webster: We all know it’s important to eat healthy during pregnancy. It benefits both you and your baby. But eating healthy isn’t always easy especially when you get those crazy food cravings like, pickles and ice-creams. I am Leigh-Ann Webster founder of 52 Healthy Weeks providing fitness coaching and nutrition for women. Today, we are going to reveal the top ten foods to eat while pregnant. This is Preggie Pals, episode 27.
[Theme Music/Intro]
Sunny Gault: Welcome to the Preggie Pals, broadcasting from the Birth Education Centre of San Diego. I am your host, Sunny Gault. Have you joined our Preggie Pals Club yet? This is an exclusive membership and it gives you access to all of our archived episodes, written transcripts of the shows plus some bonus interviews and some of you probably wonder what happens when our tapings are over, our interviews are over. Well, we are keeping the mikes open for another 5 minutes after our show. But all of this is only available if you are one of our members. So, you can access all this information on the web or through the Preggie Pal App. If you want some more information, visit https://www.preggiepals.com. Let’s introduce our panelists and Stephanie let’s start with you.
Stephanie Saalfeld: Hi! I am Stephanie Saalfeld. I am 29; I am a gemologist, due January 9th. This is my first child, a girl and we are having a hospital birth.
Christine Stewart: Hi! I am Christine Stewart-Fitzgerald. I am 40 [Laughs]. I know that’s a pause. I have got a twin girls at home who are three years old and now we are having number three-looks like a girl, another girl and I am actually due tomorrow so… [Audience Laughs] we’ll see how that works out!
Sunny Gault: Fingers crossed, it doesn’t happen in this episode.
Christine Stewart: Yes! [Laughs] I’ll let you know!
Sunny Gault: Alright, Thanks you. Okay!
Veronica Miranda: I am Veronica Miranda. I am 31; I am a graduate student in the Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. This is my first baby and three months- oh my due date is April 18th and I don’t know the gender yet of my baby and it will be a hospital birth, abroad.
Sunny Gault: Okay.
Rachel Gonzales: My name is Rachel Adams Gonzales, I am 29. I am a product coordinator for the DoTERRA Essential Oils. I am due on April 10th. I have a two and half year old son, we had a birthing center- water birth with him and we are going for a home birth this time around and hopefully we’ll find out next week on the sex of the baby number two.
Sunny Gault: Okay! Thank you ladies!
[Theme Music]
[Featured Segment: Becoming Dad]
Sunny Gault: Okay Preggie Pals, grab your guy , we’ve brand new segment launching this week and it is all about the Dad’s, here’s Dr. Daniel Singley.
Dr. Danny Singley: Hi Preggie Pals, my name is Dr. Daniel Singley. I am a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Men’s issues and founder of Basic Training for New Dads. Let’s take a couple minutes to focus on how expected couples and parents of new borns can keep your relationships strong during the third and fourth trimesters. The birth of the first child often results in the temporary decrease in relationship satisfactions. But, there are variety of very straight forward steps that new parents and parents to be can take in order to keep their relationship strong and the key is to be pro-active rather than the waiting until frustration turn to resentment. WI've developed a cheat sheet for expectant parents which gives moms and dads ways to be pro-active about managing some of the issues that can result in problems in their relationship during their transition to parenthood. First, expectant dads, you should take point on looking for a pediatrician. Interview mom to find out what she’s looking for and let her know any preferences that you might have. Then, make the rounds to gather information so you can collaborate together about picking the right pediatrician. This is a great way to help mom out and to be closely involved with your baby’s well-being from the get-go. Also dads, you take the lead on initiating a regular weekly 10-15 minutes sum at meeting to check in with each other. The goal is to connect with each other and see how you are doing not to do family business. Resist the urge to do business. The idea is to connect, that might not even directly involve talking about the baby. Hardwire, that’s sent to you weekly schedule before the baby comes otherwise your unlikely to do it. Finally fight fair, conflict is normal and even a healthy part of many relationships so long as it’s handled productively. I strongly recommend all expectant parents to get and read the book, making marriage work for dummies by Dr. Stevin and Su-simmering, specifically on chapters 3-4 on communication and conflict management. Thank you very much for listening and I hope this information is helpful. I am Dr. Daniel Singley at https://www.newdadsclass.com and be sure to keep listening to Preggie Pals for more tips on how new dads can optimize their transition to parenthood.
[Theme Music]
[00:05:15]
Sunny Gault: Alright! Today, we are revealing the top ten foods to eat while pregnant- Leigh Ann-Webster is a fitness and a nutrition coach. Her company, 52 healthy weeks specifically focuses on the needs of the women. Leigh Ann welcome to the Preggie Pals!
Leigh Ann-Webster: Thank you, I am excited to be here!
Sunny Gault: Yeah, with all of us pregnant with moms, not pregnant anymore [Laughs] I still feel like an honorary member, you guys make me feel like I am pregnant [Laughs]….
Audience: Okay, what?
Sunny Gault: In a good way! [Laughs]
Audience: Okay, but the good thing is? [Laughs]
Sunny Gault: It depends I guess, [Laughs] let’s break this top ten list. We are going to talk about the easy ways where we can also prepare some of these foods too. We are going to talk about how it benefits mom and how it benefits baby and how we can get these in to our diet which is sometimes difficult to do, right? So, I know you came with this list for us, so in this isn’t in any particular order right these are just….
Leigh Ann Webster: Not at all…
Sunny Gault: Right these are just top ten in general…
Leigh Ann Webster: Yup, yup!
Sunny Gault: Okay, let’s start with the first one, you said, dark leafy greens!
Leigh Ann Webster: Yeah, well, the thing about the dark leafy greens is that they are very high in folic acid and foods that are high in folic acid will help to prevent Neural Tube Defects in the baby. In fact there is a 70% decrease in babies that are born to mothers that have very high folic acid levels, so it’s really, really important to make sure that even if you are in child bearing age, you wanna be really, really taking in a lot of folic acid.
Sunny Gault: So, is that more important in earlier pregnancy like in the beginning?
Leigh Ann Webster: So, it’s really important prior to getting to pregnant and then the first three months of pregnancy, yup, very important.
Sunny Gault: Alright so… how are you guys getting these dark leafy vegetables in your diet? Is anyone you know, not doing as much? Anyone wanted with that? [Laughs]
Audience: I admit I eat properly [Audience Laughs]
Christine Stewart: I say I doing a lot of like spinach salads…
Sunny Gault: That’s great!
Christine Stewart: that sort of like…
Sunny Gault: Ya like raw spinach? Obviously yes!
Christine Stewart: Raw spinach, yes! Of course my husband likes to let upon the beacon with it, but [Laughs]… oh ya! We know, and I have to say you know, I have to go in to the big stores and you know I see that they are doing like the vitamix or the big the blender….
Sunny Gault: Right!
Christine Stewart: Demo’s and so I have always been curious about the big thing I hear is, doing like smoothies and putting in kale and spinach and so thing….
Leigh-Ann Webster: Yeah, so actually that is something that my husband though he is not pregnant [Laughs] but very, very conscious of his diet, he does a smoothie almost daily and he throws in usually almond milk, blueberries, banana and kale and you know what it taste pretty good.
Sunny Gault: Can you even taste the kale? That’s what I’ve noticed….
Leigh-Ann Webster: No. you can’t taste the kale.
Sunny Gault: You can’t taste the kale.
Christine Stewart: You know what I found to be very helpful especially with my son is throwing in frozen spinach because you can easily get that in the smoothie and you defiantly don’t taste spinach, I throw it in everything.
Sunny Gault: How much you putting in?
Christine Stewart: I am like a full handful…
Sunny Gault: Okay!
Audience: Yeah! I mean, frozen I mean that’s like pretty condensed…
Sunny Gault: Right, sure!
Christine Stewart: Yeah, I mean I put in everything, I put in salsa, I make in a lot of Mexican foods, so I make a lot of salsa I put in everything I’ll throw it in, if I have a bowl of beans I’ll always have a pod of beans going, I put and you know, fresh baby spinach that melts immediately, so that’s easy to throw in everything.
Leigh-Ann Webster: So you can hide this?
Christine Stewart: Yeah!
Sunny Gault: Ya, that’s what we’re saying things…
Christine Stewart: Oh my gosh! [Laughs]
Leigh-Ann Webster: Easily, so I have a couple great ideas. I have been making up a pesto from scratch and if your vegan, I don’t even put cheese in my pesto, so it’s just olive oil, basil, spinach and walnuts and then I salt it, oh I am sorry- fresh garlic. It’s delicious and it’s so much spinach, very-very good for you and the other thing that I make is Swiss chard tart. So it’s a be happy to post that recipes, Sunny.
Sunny Gault: We should do that!
Leigh-Ann Webster: but it’s a combination of spinach, Swiss chard and then eggs and you can either make a traditional tart crust with flower or if you have happen to be a gluten free, I also have a recipes to do it with almonds.
Audience: you said you were talking about smoothies….
Leigh-Ann Webster: Yes!
Audience: I am actually a big juicer, I juice like, be it greens and things it would be better I am there’s always a debate juicer versus with smoothies… you know! If you are doing greens and juicing them is it just beneficial as If I am putting them in smoothies?
Leigh-Ann Webster: Actually B greens are very-very good for you, and they are high in folic acid as well, I’d say do it what’s working for you and if you have been juicing and its working for you then keep doing it and just throw in some kale and spinach.
Sunny Gault: I have heard of using kale and I have never done this, but literally getting it putting it on like a cookie sheet or something throwing some sea salt on it cooking it up like in the oven just real quick…
Leigh-Ann Webster: I do that all the time…
Audience: So am I…
Sunny Gault: Okay, have you tried it?
Audience: It’s addicting….
Audience: It’s like chips!
Sunny Gault: Oh, it’s like chips!
Leigh-Ann Webster: I usually like if your measuring it out, its 1 bunch of kale and 1/8th cup of olive oil and I just toss it and throw in some sea salt and may be a little bit of fresh garlic and then you bake it, for 25 for about 20 minutes.
Sunny Gault: Wow!
Audience: If you haven’t seen it in Trader Joe’s they have like pre chopped kale which is…
Audience: Yes!
Audience: My big problem with kale is, you have to cut the vein out and chop it up and then so much more work so…
Sunny Gault: Ohhhh…. I realize that. Okay!
Audience: Yeah!
Audience: I actually don’t cut the vein out, I just….
Audience: I well, I put in eggs, I put in you know my son will spit it out [Laughs]. I usually get farmers market with the veins like, you know…
Audience: Yeah!
Audience: Dime size, right [Laughs]
Audience: Yeah right.
Sunny Gault: Okay, let’s move on sweet potatoes?
Audience: I love sweet potatoes; I mean I just think that they are one of the nature’s best foods and what I really like about them for women who are pregnant is that there very-very high in vitamin A, and vitamin A is really essential just for creating a baby but one thing a lot people don’t realizes that after giving birth its very helpful for tissue repair with the mother.
Audience: Hmmm….
Audience: That just leaves the tissue repaired [Laughs] use your imagination…
Audience: Sounds your postpartum important recipe [Laughs]
Audience: Yes!
Audience: And with my clients one of the suggestion that I often have for those who are not lactose intolerant or who are not vegan is to take a big sweet potato bake it at about 375 for an hour and then you top it with a little bit of cottage cheese, so you’re getting and I know everyone gives me look in to and then they call me the next day and they say ok I am addicted [Laughs].
Sunny Gault: I really like cottage cheese, actually and I usually typically like add some sort fruit to it, if I wanna make it sweeter but I never thought about adding to a vegetable.
Audience: Yup!
Leigh-Ann Webster: Wow, its real good and then another a quick easy thing is just dice them up, throw in some diced garlic and rosemary and a little a bit of sea salt and toss them with7 some olive oil and throw ‘em in oven bake em for about 45 minutes, really good. Kids love ’em too…
Audience: I have a question is that how does that compared to like winter squashes or coming up to the season that like butter nut squashes and pumpkins…
Leigh-Ann Webster: That’s really good…
Audience: So fall in to the same like getting similar nutritional value?
Leigh-Ann Webster: Great question, you’re getting great nutritional value in those types of produces, however the thing is that makes sweet potato so good is that bright vivid orange color which would also be in pumpkins and that’s from the beta carotene, so with your yellow squashes you are not going getting as much of that of baby carotene, vitamin A benefit…
Audience: Well, pumpkin and butter nut squash are two of my most favorite things on the planet[Laughs]….
Audience: But, you can do like a pumpkin butter nut squash soup?
Audience: Yeah, I have already roasted 4 pumpkins and let’s see how many days until October [Laughs]
Audience: Over achiever.
Audience: I know you sound like…[Laughs]
Audience: I am addicted… [Laughs]
Audience: in the kitchen all day….[Laughs]
Audience: Yeah I am pretty much out there…
Sunny Gault: Okay, yogurt?
Leigh Ann Webster: Okay so, thing with the yogurt is that it’s very high, it can’t be very high in calcium. What you need to do those really pay attention to the labels. Yogurt can have up to 25% of your daily calcium, however some that will or maybe only have 10%, the key though is finding one that has higher percentage of calcium and a lower percentage of sugar, because what I have noticed is without naming, I don’t want to put down any specific brands but when I am shopping for my son I’ll notice that some of the yogurts that’s are really high in calcium are also like 28-30 grams of sugar. That’s really-really high especially for a toddler or when you’re pregnant. So I like the Greek yogurts they tend to be little bit lower in calcium, they are usually around 15-20% but they are also lower in sugar, and I also suggest the people just buy the non-fat plain yogurt and then sweetened up with little bit of agave or honey because then at least your controlling the sugar.
Audience: Hmmm…. The reason also is Greek yogurt have a higher protein content?
Leigh Ann Webster: It does.
Audience: Okay.
Leigh Ann Webster: It does, yes. So that’s another thing that’s beneficial if your pregnant, and the thing one of the reasons the calcium is so good is because as your ending your pregnancy it helps in the development of milk and in the beginning of your pregnancy it helps in the baby’s formation of bones and teeth.
Audience: Do you have any in particular thoughts on non-fat versus low-fat versus full-fat; do they make any difference- I mean as far as nutritional content goes in vitamins?
Leigh Ann Webster: As far as nutritional content I do not have a good answer on that, I have never compared the labels though I would say that nutritionally they are probably similar. You know I mean yogurt is from a cow in most cases, there can be goat’s yogurt but and that it does contains saturated fat and saturated fat can clog your arteries down the road, so I would always say when it comes to yogurt go more towards the non-fat or the lower fat yogurt.
Audience: Okay!
Sunny Gault: I struggled with yogurt with my last pregnancy because I had gestational diabetes and I really struggled to find one that didn’t have so much sugar in it, we just had sugar discussion but I knew it was important for me to get that, you know what I ended up doing is just going with the smaller version of the yogurt… [Laughs]
Leigh Ann Webster: Right, you know you didn’t get the huge…
Sunny Gault: Right…
Leigh Ann Webster: Containers of yogurt or you can get smaller ones..
Sunny Gault: Right….
Leigh Ann Webster: Actually you know every time I trade a jokes it actually do saw some pretty good ones, and I found- I can’t remember what the number was, but I was looking very specific, you know with gestational diabetes you are looking at labels left and right.
Sunny Gault: Right. You know, and that really helped me…
Leigh Ann Webster: Yeah..
Sunny Gault: Okay, walnuts?
Leigh Ann Webster: You know, walnuts I believe are one of the best foods that you can eat. Now granted they do have a lot of fat, but its good fats, so just don’t even worry about it. I like walnuts because they are really high in omega 3 fatty acids and they’re so much research that’s currently going on right now but couple things that they are finding is that babies that are born to mothers that they have diet high in omega 3’s have less food allergies and less eczema; and they also tend to do better developmentally in preschool and obviously moving on up, so I think it’s just really high to pick, really important to pay attention that having a diet high in omega 3’s and you know when I was creating this list, the first thing you also go to is- actually cold water fish because they have a lot of omega 3’s but I also know that mercury is important to really pay attention to when you’re pregnant, so that’s why I ended up going with walnuts. Flax seeds and Chia seeds are very high in omega 3’s…
Sunny Gault: Okay, the next one is eggs, and actually we had a question because I did post something on our Facebook page, if people had questions you know prior to this interview and we have a question from Jackie, she says I have a question when it comes to eating eggs during pregnancy, I am not concern about eating raw eggs but what about products containing raw eggs such Cesar Dressing, Mayonnaise and even some home-made ice-creams?
Leigh Ann Webster: You know, I tend the air on this side of caution so I would say I would avoid products that have raw eggs, but I am trying to think of its listeria-right?
Audience: Yeah, Salmonella…
Leigh Ann Webster: Salmonella, ya I mean it’s pretty rare; so I think it’s kind of up to the individual to decide…
Audience: Yeah!
Leigh Ann Webster: Did I raw cookie dough when I was pregnant- I did [Laughs] because you know what I love making…
Sunny Gault: I love that you admitted that that and then you are a nutritional expert….
Leigh Ann Webster: well oh.. You’re kidding [Laughs] yes I am human, I love nutritional but I am a human, person that loves cookies! [Laughs]
Audience: And you know I have a confession as well in my first pregnancy. To trying to get that protein in-take my kind of go to thing, was making a sort of mock egg nog, so I did actually do a lot of raw egg but it’s my drink; I can get down really fast!
Audience: Yeah!
Sunny Gault: What are the benefit of eggs in general, what are we looking for?
Leigh Ann Webster: Okay, so, the reason I chose eggs was because I know that there’s going to be you are gonna have vegetarian listeners, and a diet high in iron is incredible important for a pregnant women. Part of the reasons is because your blood volume during pregnancy will increase by almost by 50%, so iron produces hemoglobin; and hemoglobin is what transports oxygen throughout the body and to your baby’s body. So that’s why iron is so important, and egg yolks have ton of iron. So that’s what kind of my thinking with the eggs and I know we were talking about spinach earlier, and of the things that I did when I was pregnant was to make scrambled eggs and I would throw in like a handful of chopped up spinach….
Sunny Gault: Okay!
Leigh Ann Webster: And wrap it in a corn tortilla.
Audience: That was a great idea!
Leigh Ann Webster: Go to thing that I eat all day long [Laughs].
Sunny Gault: Right, you’re saying that I am thinking that it sounds really good if you add salt? [Laughs]
Leigh Ann Webster: No!
Sunny Gault: Because I am a big salt person whether or not I am pregnant, I know you actually got another question from another Facebook fan about salt and how much salt you should have, so I guess now is the appropriate time to bring it up….
Leigh Ann Webster: Sure!
Sunny Gault: Yeah.
Leigh Ann Webster: Sure, you know I am going to be honest, I do not know the exact amount of milligrams that a pregnant woman should be eating. I can tell you that it’s a one teaspoon for you know average adult which is….
Sunny Gault: Per day?
Leigh Ann Webster: Per day…
Sunny Gault: Per hour?
Leigh Ann Webster: Per day [Laughs] 2400 milligrams, but what I tell you is that if you are eating very natural diet and you add salt to what you’re eating, I think you are gonna be fine but the problem with the salt is with people who are eating a lot of processed foods, so they are buying a lot of like cam- sorry I am naming the product but the Campbell soups or Stouffer's pizzas or anything super quick and easy that they throw in to the microwave that’s where the salts coming from….
Sunny Gault: Okay!
Leigh Ann Webster: But when you are eating like natural diet which are all these foods that I chose that are very natural, I say add in the salt…
Sunny Gault: Okay!
Leigh Ann Webster: You know unless of course your doctor says that you are preeclampsia or high blood pressure then your doctor will give you a recommendation.
Sunny Gault: Okay, makes sense! Okay when we come back we are going to wrap up our top ten list and we’ll get some recommendation from Leigh Ann on where to get some of these great recipes and perhaps put some of these up on our websites, we will incorporate all these good foods in our diet, we’ll be right back!
[Theme Music]
Sunny Gault: All right welcome back everyone we are talking about top ten foods to eat while pregnant we are literally counting down this list of our top ten foods and with us is Leigh Ann Webster, 52 healthy weeks; and Leigh Ann was generous enough to create this list for us, so let’s continue with rest of this list we are talking now about-Kiwi’s.
Leigh Ann Webster: Okay, I love Kiwi’s, I think kiwis are one of the best foods out there and there’s a lot of great thing about them, they get their bright vivid color from something called chlorophyll which is very good for you, they have 6 grams of fiber. Very-very important for a pregnant woman and they also are very-very high in vitamin c; and the thing about vitamin c that’s so important is that it is a necessary nutrient or a vitamin for your body to actually able to use iron and folic acid. So defiantly pay attention to vitamin c I know we all think you know the vitamin c immunity you know prevent colds but it also has the major role in your body. Quick thing to a lot of people don’t eat kiwi’s cos there are pain to peel.
Sunny Gault: They are!
Leigh Ann Webster: Let me tell you, I solve your problem [Laughs] right here. Wash your Kiwi, cut in half and scoop it out with a spoon, that’s…
Audience: That’s the way I have ever done it.
Leigh Ann Webster: Yup, and a lot of people just don’t, or you can squeeze out of them [Laughs]
Sunny Gault: Yeah. [Laughs]
Leigh Ann Webster: So, I mean, I say everybody aim for like 2 kiwis a day and right there you’ll….
Sunny Gault: Wow…
Leigh Ann Webster: You’ll also get in almost half of the fiber that you need in a daily basis.
Sunny Gault: That’s amazing, and I have a huge sweet tooth so I love hearing stuff about you know kiwis and eat kiwis cos to me that’s naturally very sweet.
Leigh Ann Webster: Another quick thing to do with kiwis is, this will be a common breakfast that’ll have before I work out. I’ll chop up some kiwis, strawberries handful of walnuts and a little bit of honey and you have got your omega 3’s your fiber, folic acid, it’s you know you’re doing good.
Sunny Gault: Yeah, alright good, avocados; not everyone may has access to avocados, that kind of preface that as living in San Diego. We may be little bit [Laughs] you know quite able to get though ya the avocado capital kind of thing. But let’s talk about it first and then maybe some other alternatives….
Leigh Ann Webster: And actually that’s true, you are right we are spoiled but now a days across the country they do have the packages of just pure avocados that comes in the refrigerator section….
Sunny Gault: Yeah.
Leigh Ann Webster: But what I you know when we think of potassium what’s the first thing that’s come to mind?
Audience: Banana!
Leigh Ann Webster: banana’s right! Well did you realize that bananas have more than 50% less potassium than avocados…
Sunny Gault: Really?
Leigh Ann Webster: So…Yeah.
Audience: This was marketing thing they got that….
Leigh Ann Webster: Yes!
Audience: Thing that!
Leigh Ann Webster: Yes totally….
Sunny Gault: Yeah.
Leigh Ann Webster: But I love avocados because they are full of very healthy fat and they are very-very high n potassium and potassium is really important because it helps to regulate your heart rhythm and I don’t know if any of you have experienced any irregular heartbeats been in pregnant, I did! But I definitely made a difference for me; and the other thing that they are finding is those women who have diets very high in potassium have a much lower rate of gestational diabetes. It’s some other foods you that you can eat though, if you don’t have access to avocados would be bananas you can throw them in smoothie, you can throw them in an oat meal and then nuts also tend to be high in potassium.
Sunny Gault: Yeah.
Audience: It’s great to know, I think avocados are also great in fiber? There is a source of fiber.
Leigh Ann Webster: They are a decent source of fiber.
Audience: Yeah-yeah, I didn’t you know one of my go to things I just like to slice open avocados put a little bit of salt on it, sometimes I mix it with fresh tomatoes and that’s simple , real simple quick…
Sunny Gault: Yeah.
Audience: What else you guys do with avocados?
Audience: Rachel use in Mexican food probably a lot right? [Laughs]
Audience: Well actually I use it to make things you know like a creamy consistency since we don’t eat milk; I use it to make salad dressing a lot….
Audience: Okay.
Rachel Gonzales: I again I am obviously put in salsas, I just chop it up and just love avocados in everything but because it has that creamy fatty consistency it’s been a really great substitute for me for you know creams…
Sunny Gault: Oh, interesting.
Leigh Ann Webster: It also tastes really good on top of like veggie stir fries just have slices of fresh avocado…
[00:26.19]
Sunny Gault: Did you ever have it on pizzas?
Sunny Gault: Oh! That is so good, you should I mean I am not; I don’t get really weird with my pizzas, I am not a gourmet pizza girl, but I am telling you what avocado on pizzas-really good!!!
Rachel Gonzales: It’s really uncommon in US but I have seen in Asian food and its actually really good-smoothies like sweet smoothies and desserts with avocado because it has like creamy fatty consistency that its delicious!
Sunny Gault: Okay, oatmeal-low sugar, no artificial sweetener, so we are taking all the fun out of it?
Leigh Ann Webster: I know I am so sorry, well here’s the thing; if you make your own oatmeal from scratch then you can control your sugar. So if you don’t have gestational diabetes and you want to put in little bit of honey or guava, that’s fine; but at least you know that your controlling your sugar. A lot of times in the pre- package oat meal, they will have between 10 to 20 grams of sugar in one serving of an oat meal. So that’s why I suggest making it from scratch and some quick things you can also do, you can make it from scratch and you can make a big batch and then throw it in the crock pot and heat on low like keep it on low and put in chopped apples and other fruit and then you have a delicious breakfast in the morning. The other thing to remember about oat meal is that it’s a very good gluten free complex carb and I’d say gluten free just because I know that’s really popular right now, so I want everyone to know that they can still have oat meal, and they are really high in fiber and another thing is that- lot of times my clients don’t know as I said the only form of fuel that your brain uses is carbohydrates. So oat meal is a great brain food too.
Sunny Gault: And it keeps you full… that’s the thing I notice about it!
Rachel Gonzales: Yeah!
Veronica Miranda: Just nice if you try it this way…
Leigh Ann Webster: If you are not lactose intolerant during your pregnancy, I always suggest making it with like with one percent milk because why not up the calcium for the day, it doesn’t taste as good with water; I like to make with almond milk….
Sunny Gault: Okay!
Leigh Ann Webster: And so….
Sunny Gault: Yeah, I had to do that with gestational diabetes cos you could only have milk at certain times of the day other times it’s like almond milk, so
Leigh Ann Webster: Yup!
Sunny Gault: I tried that, it’s not bad….
Leigh Ann Webster: No not at all….
Sunny Gault: What about cream of wheat? My family was a big cream of wheat-family, is that?
Leigh Ann Webster: I love cream of wheat but….
Sunny Gault: Yeah!
Leigh Ann Webster: The one thing they do find that cream of wheat will raise your blood sugar, a lot faster than oatmeal….
Sunny Gault: Oh really!?
Leigh Ann Webster: and part of that is because it’s very low in fiber, so I would say go with oatmeal over cream of wheat but you know nothing is wrong with the treat every once in a while [Laughs]
Sunny Gault: Desserts out there [Laughs]
Audience: Yeah right! [Laughs]
Sunny Gault: Chocolately and I went chocolate…[Laughs]
Audience: Yeah I know…
Leigh Ann Webster: You can top it with like cream and brown sugar, that’s what we did when we were kids…. [Laughs]
Veronica Miranda: Oh my gosh! It’s so good [Laughs]
Christine Stewart: Is there any big difference between you know the let’s see like steel cut oats versus like regular oats and quick cut oats?
Leigh Ann Webster: There is a difference; there is difference- pay attention to fiber because the fiber will control how fast it goes through your system. The more natural the product the better it is, so I would say steel cut oats would be your first choice moving on down to just regular oats and then moving on down to the quick oats.
Sunny Gault: Organic chicken or red meat?
Leigh Ann Webster: I choice this because I know that like I said iron is important and so is protein, because protein really are the-is the building blocks of your baby’s cells so if you are someone who eats you know chicken or meat I just say try to go with grass fed. Try to go with most natural that you can, avoid the antibiotics, avoid the hormones and you know just choose something natural and one quick recipes which would be to make fajitas because then you have got you know a lot of great nutrients in the bell peppers and the onions and the garlic, cayenne- you know if you make your own fajita mix cayenne papers are really really good for you. Paprika is very good for you and you can roll it up in a corn tortilla or whole wheat tortilla with some avocados and you have got a really solid meal…
Stephanie Saalfeld: Side of beans?
Leigh Ann Webster: And a side of bean and you got a really salt deal and potentially some great pregnancy indigestion [Laughs]….
Christine Stewart: Yeah! No I was curious, when it comes to white meat versus red meat? You know what’s your recommendation on how often should we have red meat and does it make a difference for pregnant women versus you know the average person?
Leigh Ann Webster: Yeah okay! I would say that you know trying to avoid saturated fats, maybe once a week- red meat but if you are grass fed its going be much lower in saturated fat, so and you’re not going to have those added hormones and anti-biotic; so ya I would say once a week would be fine and as far as poultry you know if its organic I know two to three ounces at least once a day would be fine….
Christine Stewart: Okay!
[00:31:33]
Leigh Ann Webster: That I know for sure!
Veronica Miranda: What about like sandwich meat, so let’s say you get a really good…
Audience: Oh wow, that’s a great question!
Leigh Ann Webster: You are on the run and you want…?
Sunny Gault: Yes!
Leigh Ann Webster: Okay, that’s a great question, so I would say choose a sandwich meat that is nitrate free. You definitely want something preservative and nitrate free, I know Traders Joe carries one boars head meat- but you really wanna avoid anything that has a lot of nitrates and chemicals, that’s been highly chemically processed and plus that also plays into salt….
Sunny Gault: Okay, does that keep the meat fresher longer, is that why they put nitrates?
Leigh Ann Webster: Yes!
Sunny Gault: Okay! And we did have a comment and we have touched on this little bit but maybe we can go little bit more in depth from one of our Facebook friends- Katie says I know eating chicken and other meats are good for you during pregnancy, however I am vegan I can’t get a lot of foods by OB I can’t eat a lot of foods my OB is recommending to me- do you have any suggestions?
Leigh Ann Webster: Oh Sure definitely, I mean actually leads us in to our 10th food…
Sunny Gault: perfect!
Leigh Ann Webster: Which would be beans and lentils I always will suggest to somebody who is vegan to really up the intake of beans and lentils during your pregnancy, they are just such a good source of fiber and complex carbohydrates and protein. So they are really one of nature’s perfect foods. Now a lot of pregnant women will look at me like I am crazy when I suggest beans cos they are like dude- why do I need to increase the amount of gas?
Sunny Gault: [Laughs]
Leigh Ann Webster: In outputting, it’s so true! [laughs] okay here’s the thing know if you soak your beans like for 24 hours you will get rid of what’s causing the gas…
Sunny Gault: Hurray!!
Leigh Ann Webster: Yes!
Veronica Miranda: Yes, yes I speak from experience, like I eat two pots of beans a week.
Stephanie Saalfeld: I do too…
Leigh Ann Webster: And here’s the thing also, if you are on a budget, so does a lot of people are on budget especially when they are pregnant cos they have got so many expenses coming up…
Stephanie Saalfeld: Right!
Leigh Ann Webster: I can’t believe sometimes, like all by a package of organic beans-organic black beans and they’ll be on sale for like a dollar ninety nine….
Christine Stewart: Yeah, and you know I was just curious now here in California we have a lot of Mexican food but I know there’s a lot of other beans out there like you know lentils and chick peas and garbanzo and some other varieties and do you have any recipes that you’d like to share?
Leigh Ann Webster: Yes! I do actually. A white bean Tuscan salad…
Audience: ooohhhh, that’s sounds good!!!
Leigh Ann Webster: Cannellini beans- those are white beans and they are also equally as good for you. I liked to slow cook the cannellini beans but you could do it in a pressure cooker, you could also follow the direction on the back, or you could buy canned-cannellini beans and then all toss it with little bit of pancetta, basil, olive oil, salt pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers and then I’ll make my own croutons…
Veronica Miranda: Wow!
Leigh Ann Webster: And it’s really good. The pancetta though I got admit it, it’s kind of what gives it [Laughs] it’s probably not the best thing to eat…. A little bit will go a long way…
Sunny Gault: and then so you mentioned cans?
Leigh Ann Webster: Yes!
Sunny Gault: Ok, I want to talk about that just briefly I mean what are we doing for convenience sake like we were saying some of us we are busy we are students who are or whatever…
Leigh Ann Webster: Absolutely whatever….
Sunny Gault: If we buy not just beans but whatever in cans or frozen generally speaking are we losing a lot nutritional element to doing in?
[00:34.57]
Leigh Ann Webster: Not necessarily, in fact with vegetables they will, take the vegetables pick it wash it, flash freeze it and so the nutritional value can actually stay the same no problem-convenience matters to me too and so you know the all the foods I chose are pretty simple and I often when I am talking with the people I do become a little idealistic but the truth is that a lot of times I will personally open a can of black beans [Laughs] and feel absolutely no regret [Laughs] ya so, right there!
Stephanie Saalfeld: So we are normal now [Laughs]…
Leigh Ann Webster: Absolutely!
Sunny Gault: Well, thank you Leigh Ann [Laughs]
Leigh Ann Webster: Pass the Oreos...[Laughs]
Sunny Gault: Yeah! Right, [Laughs] thank you Leigh Ann, for being in here. Today, again we are gonna share some of these recipes on our recipes on our website so you guys be sure to look out for that and if you guys have recipes that it helped you during your pregnancy, we would love to hear about them, you can share them on the episodes page in our website, or you can post them to our Facebook page or even share them through twitter, if you are twitting be sure to use the hash tag Preggie Pals we can find it and don’t forgot this conversations continues for our members. If you want to get this great bonus content that’s gonna happen right after the show be sure to join the Preggie Pals Club-visit our website for more information.
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[Featured Segment: From Our Listeners]
Sunny Gault: We have a message from one of our listeners this comes from Christine of Four Collins, Colorado. Christine writes- Hi Sunny Loved, loved, loved the episode on surrogacy. I have actually never thought about it as an option for me, but listening to your show has made me re-think the possibilities. My husband and I had some difficulties in pregnancy at the first time and for a while we weren’t even have our own children, if that had been the case, we have may have needed a surrogate of our own. Christine- thank you so much for writing in, we loved sharing all these information with our listeners. That wraps up our show for today- did you know that our expert Leigh Ann is our official Fitness and Nutrition Expert for Preggie Pals, so that means as you could send her your questions through our hotline which is 619-866-4775 or you can even send us an email and she will answer it on our future episodes and as I mentioned earlier at the beginning of the show be sure to check out the Preggie Pals Club for all of our archived episodes, transcripts and special interviews and you can learn all about it in our website which is https://www.preggiepals.com.
Coming up next week, we are getting personal- we are talking about sex and pregnancy! Thanks for listening to Preggie pals- you’re pregnancy you’re way.
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[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media Production. Information and materials contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. For such information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical and advise or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating healthcare problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you’ve questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified healthcare provider.
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