Hi folks, a few questions (I posted this in sues journal and then thought it would be good to ask all of you!)

I have been finding a common thing that a lot of people who have previously been on LC before a pregnancy, then go on to get gestational diabetes or nearly do.
I was thinking back to my pregnancy with my twins and something struck me, I remember that they use to use the keto sticks to detect the danger of diabetes (or I thought that was what it was for) so surely, if I do slip into the purple on the midwives sticks at any point (which could be possible if I lose my appetite or something for a few days) then will they just assume I am going diabetic? Could this be what happens sometimes anyway, and the women aren't really getting GD?? I'm sorry, I know nothing about it at all!

Also, if people didn't know anything about LC at all (like my neighbour) but were sick all their pregnancy, like she was, and they pretty much were loing weight (she lost 20lbs) then surely people like her would have babies with defects too? But her little one has been fine, no problems with IQ or anything....so do you think that's different if you are unintentionally not eating the right things, as apposed to actually Low carbing?

I'll be interested to find out your opinions!

really sorry to keep on!! lol but, my husband asked a question just now that I don't know the answer to....do you have to cut back on the fat if you're pregnant? Obviously you can use liberal good fats on atkins...what about when you're pregnant, does that have to change?

the short answer is NO do not worry about fats.
Fats are needed for proper development of your baby's brain. However, you should however pay attention to the quality of the fats. Ie: really REALLY limit your vegetable oils and stick to butter, fish oil, coconut, fats from meats and milk and eggs. A good practice is to get several egg yolks daily - preferably runny. I mix raw ones into a berry smoothie in the morning and then later in the day generally eat gently hard boiled, or soft boiled eggs just because I like them and they're convenient. The cholesterol is very good for baby
check out the weston price foundation for some great information on pregnant mothers and babies and their nutrition

I thought you had to cook all the egg yolks b/c of the risk of salmanella? I love over-medium eggs and have been so missing them the past couple of weeks! Are you sure raw egg yolks are o.k.?

foxgluvs - I don't really understand your question. Are you asking about nutrition in general? Yes, there are plenty of women who have horrible nutrition, especially during the first trimester when they can't keep anything down, but go on to have perfectly normal babies. The baby actually takes most of what it needs from your body. A lot of the increased calcium requirements are so that *our* bones don't lose too much calcium b/c the baby is going to take it from us no matter what.

I don't see LC as intentionally poor nutrition - quite the opposite. It emphasizes whole grains, healthy grains, lots of protein - all things they know are good for growing babies.

Pggirl, no I was refering to the point that had been made once or twice in this thread already about not going into keytosis when pregnant because it's meant to produce babies with low IQ (or something like that) and I was thinking, people who couldn't hold anything down for months on end, must surely go into keytosis all the time. So surely, if you go into keytosis by accident (lets say you are ill for a few days or whatever) then can it really hurt that much?
I was making the point that my friend had a little girl who was perfectly ok, even though she had been sick 5 or 6 times every day from the moment she fell to the moment she gave birth....surely she would have been in keytosis purely because she wasn't keeping hardly anything down.

Sorry if I didn't explain that properly!

In my opinion anyone whom is pregnant should really consult an OB prior to doing any low carb anything and refer all questions back to them. I am three and a half months post partum and am planning on getting pregnant again in about 3 months with my last baby before my hubby goes back to Iraq but I will discuss low carbing with my doctor because I am VERY worried about hurting the baby.

will post again in a bit with the egg info..
This is anecdotal, and of course not meant to be a blanket statement for everyone, but my friend's sister had severe morning (all day) sickness for 8 mos. She puked any time she ate and ended up losing 65 lbs. Yes, 65. Her baby (now 4) is sweet, cute and bright as a button.

Ketosis does not produce low iq, what it does is depress CNS activity (btw, alkaline conditions excite CNS activity leading to spasticity and other neurological probs) Benign dietary ketosis is not nearly enough to damage a baby's brain - and if enough protein is consumed, there should be sufficient gluconeogenesis for the baby to get glucose for it's brain anyway. The ketogenic diets that are perscribed for epilepsy/siezures and do a lot of depression of the CNS are higher in ketones and provide less glucose than do our moderately low carb diets.

Taken from an article from the american egg board
"...One of several types of bacteria which can cause food poisoning (salmonellosis) if ingested in large numbers. It is found in the intestinal tract of animals, birds, insects, reptiles, seafood and people. The bacteria can easily be passed from the intestinal tract to the hands and onto the food.

Although the inside of the egg was once considered almost sterile, Salmonella enteritidis (Se) has been found recently inside a small number of eggs (much less than 1%). If an egg does contain Se, the numbers in a freshly laid egg will probably be small and, if the eggs are properly refrigerated, will not multiply enough to cause illness in a healthy person.

The majority of salmonellosis outbreaks have been attributed to foods other than eggs - chicken, beef, and fish - to human carriers, and through them, utensils and other goods during preparation. Of the outbreaks involving eggs, almost all have occured in the food service sector and have been the result of inadequate refrigeration and insufficient cooking. Se will not grow at temperatures below 40 F, and is killed at 160 F...."

www.mercola.com/2002/nov/13/eggs.htm
www.mercola.com/2003/feb/5/eggs_salmonella.htm

I've read a lot more but those were the quickets things I could find at the moment. But really, If you're not comfortable don't do it. I'm 100% comfortable and I do...but am not on an egg campaign here, just saying that I DO eat them soft and or raw and am happy to do so.

In the cookbook I have "Nourishing Traditions" by sally fallon and the lady who wrote "know your fats" they actually recommend for babies 4 mos or 1 year (I forget) and older to eat the yolk only of a soft boiled egg daily. (the whites are not easily digested). Before getting pregnant I ate a LOT of raw food.. tons of raw meat/fish, milk, eggs and cheese... now I'm just on the eggs until after the birth.

btw: I get eggs fresh from the farm when I can get them, otherwise it's the good ones from local stores - I would never eat the sick looking ones with pale yellow deflated yolks from walmart or other huge stores that have been sitting there for ages and touched by God knows who.

Meg, are you sure? I just found out that my chol level is much higher now than normal. I was frightened, the doc said i have to follow a strict low fat-lower carb (!) diet.
What do you guys think?

I have no idea about the cholesterol issues in pregnancy, I have never had mine tested so I have no clue what level mine is at, however, I did look into your question to Meg (hope you don't mind Meg) and this is what I came up with.

Dr,

I have high cholesterol, high "bad" cholesterol AND low good cholesterol, which I would like to control. However, it turns out that I am pregnant. What are recommendations for pregnant women with a cholesterol problem?

Thanks in advance,

NancyX

DrRich replies:

First of all, congratulations.

Most, if not all, anti-cholesterol drugs are contraindicated for pregnant women. The most commonly used drugs - the statins - in particular are not to be used by pregnant women. During pregnancy, most doctors recommend that only diet and exercise be used to control cholesterol. This is generally okay, because a) pregnant women are usually young, and high cholesterol leads to problems in middle age and old age (so no immediate problems ought to arise) b) women are pregnant for only a relatively short period of time (though it seems forever at the time), and the long-term risk of heart disease if cholesterol is not controlled for 9 or 10 months is felt to be relatively minimal (though this has not been studied). The real reason this is rarely a problem, however, is that young women rarely have lipid levels measured, and obstetricians NEVER measure them, so the problem never comes up (even though it probably should come up fairly often).

The bottom line: We simply don't have a way to treat cholesterol safely during pregnancy, aside from diet and exercise. And until the drug industry is protected from liability, it is extremely unlikely that any drug therapy for cholesterol (or any other therapy) will be PROVEN effective and safe during pregnancy. The studies simply won't be performed.

DrRich

And this articel is VERY interesting! :

High Protein, Low-Carb Diet During Pregnancy Good for Baby

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/med...hp?newsid=16743

I am sure. Nutrition has been a passionate hobby of mine for 7 years, I love to read whatever I get my hands on and find it interesting to know the science and reasoning behind it. I WANT to know.
That said - I am not your doctor.. only doctors can tell people what to do. Doctors are a wonderful resouce and I respect them, but many of them do not have the time nor the inclination to keep abreast of nutrition, and what my doctor would tell my to eat would make me fat and sick. I have no desire to go against what your doctor tells you, but what I CAN tell you is that it is fact that babies need fat.. before and after birth. I also believe that you need it too for optimal health. It's old news at this point that cholesterol comsumed in the diet does not translate directly into your blood cholesterol levels.
I can give you some links to start you out - but I recommend you do your own research to feel comfortable. Do not blindly believe what 1 person tells you, take it into consideration and do your own work. Remember though, you can find proof on the internet for everything and anything you could wish for. If you want to read that a vegan 100% raw diet is what will be best for your unborn child, make you lose weight and cure all your woes - mental and emotional you will find it somewhere....so be discriminating and sensible.
Good luck!!

Hear! Hear!

Wiser words were never spoken!

Jenn

Hope I didn't offend you Meg, I think the articles I posted were actually FOR eating a low carb high fat diet while pregnant....but maybe I read them wrong?
Hope I didn't upset you by posting a link to them....I was just trying to find out some info for the lady!

Silvia - I don't think anyone on this forum wants to hurt their baby or give birth to one that they have "damaged" in any way. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was a motivation as to why Tanya started the forum.

Several of us have low-carbed through other pregnancies and given birth to healthy thriving babies. Personally, I followed the eating plan reccomended by "What to Eat When You are Expecting" (recommended by a doctor and written by the authors of the popular books with similar titles) during my first pregnancy and consequently felt terrible. It was a traditional low fat/high carb diet. I was a basket case the for about 16 weeks 'til I through the "plan" out the window. I tried again with baby number 2 and was sick for 20 weeks and then had a horrible cough and cold the last 15.

I have been LCing for this entire pregnancy (I'm 17 weeks) and I can't believe how good I feel - no throwing up at all, incredibly mild queasiness, in fact, I really can't complain about any pregnancy issues that I could (and did) with my first two!! Sure I have the standard tiredness, but even that is getting way better. And it's not like I'm not chasing 3 children under the age of 5! With my third pregnancy, I started LCing 1/2 way through the second trimester after I gained 9 pounds in one month and felt WAY better and slowed the gain. My 20 month old is healthy - almost to a fault, weighs 28 pounds and is a fabulous eater of healthy foods, not junk.

I also followed a doctor reccomended diet while breastfeeding my first child. It was supposed to help with milk supply and help me lose weight while breastfeeding. Not only did my milk supply almost dry up, but I gained weight for about a month. Again, low-fat/high carb - as in, I think the reccomended bread consumption was 9 servings a day!

I know I'm on a tirade - but surely you are aware that not all doctors are completely aware of the health benefits of low-carbing? I don't know if you read this whole thread, but my OB is a die hard Atkins fan and strongly reccomended to me to control my carbs given how overweight I am. In fact, he said if I gained nothing, he would be totally fine with that. The reccomended weight gain in pregnancy is for normal weight women - all the books say that. In "What to Eat..." they make the comment that if you are medically obese, it is o.k. to gain 10-15 pounds when pregnant, as long as your doctor is o.k. with the baby growth. The thought behind this is you need about 8 pounds of body fat for your baby to be healthy. I have WAY more than that! The only way I know to gain that little, or less while pregnant is to cut out sugar. I hope you can find another way!

Treencee

I didn't mean to offend anyone on this forum, I was simply stating my opinion and what I would do just as everyone else here does. Sorry if I upset anyone.