Yeah I did kinda revive the thread. I thought it was a pretty good discussion. Plus it was a chance to hear the other side of the argument to see how much substance it had. Not a whole lot from what I saw.

It wasn't intentional, but due to gallstones during my last pregnancy, I didn't gain any weight at all during the pregnancy, and finished it exactly the same weight as when I started. Once the baby was born, I lost 10lb immediately. The baby was 2 weeks early, but full size and very healthy.

I guess that I need someone to explain to me what the benefits are of being in ketosis while pregnant. Why not stick to the maintenance stage of Atkins (avoiding sugar, white flour and starchy veggies while eating whole grains and small amounts of fruit and berries) while pregnant and then resume stage one or two after breastfeeding?

I don't know if there are actual advantages to ketosis during pregnancy, and I doubt many people set out to be in ketosis, but a lot find they are whether they like it or not. I cycled a lot while I was pregnant (because I threw up in cars and buses) so I was often in ketosis, even though I was on a high carb vegetarian diet.

Moderate or severe morning sickness can also result in ketosis. Many pregnant women find their stomach turns at all sorts of "healthy" food, so they can find themselves eating stuff they hadn't intended, just so they could eat.

I would just plan on eating a good diet, and accept that your body may have its own ideas what what you need.

Re breastfeeding: extended breastfeeding is more common than you may realise (most women nursing toddlers do so in privacy) so you will probably find you are back to low carb while you are still breastfeeding. Ketones do NOT pass into breastmilk, and low carbing does not affect the taste.

Ketosis or weight loss wasn't the issue for me. Eating foods that babies are made of was the issue for me. Avoiding heartburn, swelling and vomiting was the issue. Babies are not made of whole-grains or fruits, babies are made of proteins and fats. Even so-called "healthy carbs" did that to me, especially in the last 2 months.

The fact that I had no weight to lose a week after the babies were born was just a wonderful topper.

I suppose the better choice would have been to go ahead and eat that "healthy" stuff, suffer like hell and gain unnecessary weight.

(I'm being sarcastic. If I had to do it over again, I would not change ONE THING about how I managed my pregnancies. My completely uneventful pregnancies, despite being Advanced Maternal Age, easy and drug-free L&D, perfectly fully developed and healthy newborns, and now, my healthy and SLIM 7, 5 and 3 year olds have confirmed what my gut told me then...that it's fine.)

If ketones were bad for fetuses Eskimos would be extinct.

I will just chime in my experience:

I did higher protein and fat and moderate carb (generally consiting of meats, liver, produce, nuts, traditional fats, broths) during my last pregnancy and had ketones when I did the strip at at my midwives. Sometimes it was quite high too. I was even having smoothies with honey and berries in them and I would still have ketones in my urine. My midwife was not worried at all because I ate all whole foods and all other markers showed that I was very healthy. One of my midwives even started eating beef after talking to me

I had a great pregnancy with almost zero swelling and a good amount of energy. My labor was fast and my baby is robust, healthy, and alert. The doctor said she was advanced at her checkup.

I would feel yuck if I ate 100 grams of carb a day. I think just because we can test something (ketones) it does not necessarily mean that is is useful information or something we need to fret. Like ElleH said, babies are made of fats and proteins and those are excellent foods to concentrate on when growing babies

Jen

This is an interesting article about this topic... http://www.dratkinsdietplan.info/ne...cy-studies.html

What a joke. I can't believe you even posted it as a rebuttal, lol. The WHOLE website is basically a giant ad for some other stupid diet plan, with constant warnings about how low carb is bad for you. They give you a little good advice and then pepper it with "but the American Heart Association says" blah blah blah. I especially like the page where it says that if you do low carb, you will get kidney stones, constipation, Osteoperosis, and cardivascular disease.


I loved how they said all these horrible things happened to the mice in their study. Atleast they ADMIT that we aren't mice, lol.

This "Atkins" website is a joke. I wonder if Dr.Atkins' estate knows that these people are using his name this way.

My favorite part was the way they couldn't decide on the correct way to spell the plural of the word 'embryo' so they just tried different options at different times.

IMHO I think it makes sense NOT to be in ketosis during pregnancy.
My limited understanding is that the babies receive nutrients through the umbilical cord based on the foods ingested by the mother. Which is all fine and dandy but if the mother is in ketosis, not ingesting any/very few cars and she is in ketosis - her body will be using her stored body fat to provide energy to survive for HER - meanwhile - since ketosis is the burning of stored body fat for energy instead of glucose and, well - a fetus has no stored body fat, how exactly is it supposed to survive without carbs?

I'm sure there is a good reason why OBgyns are checking for ketone levels at every visit and although this diet is probably ideal for the general person, imho it is certainly not ideal for those who are pregnant. Nursing I don't know - but pregnancy seems kind of obvious - at least to my limited understanding.

I usually do not get into the technical side of these debates, but I think ketosis is the burning of *any* fat for energy, including dietary fat.

As was brought up much earlier in this thread, if babies required carbs the human race wouldn't have made it very long.

well then why do obgyns make a point of checking for ketones at every visit?

don't get me wrong - I'm all for ketones - gosh I love them off completely - I just have a hard time seeing how a developing fetus with no body fat receiving nutrients from a ketotic mother would survive....or even fully develop.... Maybe if we hear from someone who has ACTUALLY gone through a successful keto-pregnancy....(unless we did and I didnt read it since I skipped all the in between pages of discussion )

Yes, all you have to do is read the whole thread (it originated in like 2006, not sure why it got bumped, but it's kind of interesting reading).

Again, not one for debate so bowing out.

Actually, we did have several of us talk about our keto pregnancies, lol.
I had two Gestational Diabetes preganancies. I ate very very little carbs, as even in small amounts, my blood sugar shot sky high. As a result, my last two months of both pregnancies, I lost weight. My midwife and doctor said NOTHING about the level of ketones in my urine. I did pee in a cup every visit, but no one mentioned anything about ketones.

My babies were born super healthy, they were 7lbs 5 oz and 7 lbs 6 0z in weight, both had a 9/10 on the apgar, both developed ahead of their milestones. My now 5 year old child has been sick exactly once with a cold, when he was around 2 1/2. He was walking at 9 1/2 months, he already knows how to read, simple math and doesn't start kindergarten until next month. My no 9 1/2 month old is already cruising the furniture, and has let go a few times and stood on her own. She'll probably be walking in the next few weeks. She weighs 22 lbs now, and is already in size 12 month clothes. She also has never been sick, no colds, ear infections, nothing.

There are several other mothers on here that can give you similar stories.

It should be mentioned that MANY women are in ketosis, whether they eat carbs or not, because of nausea and morning sickness. I know a girl that ate practically nothing her whole pregnancy because everything she ate came back up.

I'm not a biologist, and won't even began to think that I know how it all works. I do know that, yes, your baby is fed through the umbilical cord with nutrients that you take in. I also know that your body will continue to send the best nutrients to your baby, and you get what's left over, if any (probably why so many nauseated women have super healthy babies, and still lose weight.)