Vegan Diet: Advice for Moms and Babies - P1/2
Like 2 Dislike 0 Published on 4 Jul 2011
http://SupremeMasterTV.com -- HEALTHY LIVING Starting Right with a Vegan Diet: Advice for Moms and Babies -- P1/2. Episode: 1684, Air Date: 25 April 2011.
Halo, sweet viewers, and welcome to Healthy Living! Perhaps one of most tender and lovely times in a mother's life is during her pregnancy. While she patiently awaits the arrival of a precious new baby, the concerned mother might begin to ask questions such as, "What is the healthiest diet I can have during my pregnancy?"
And "What should I feed my baby when he or she is born?" According to the American Dietetic Association, the world's largest association of food and nutrition professionals, "Well-planned vegetarian (or vegan) diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence."
On today's program, the first in a two-part series, several health care professionals will discuss the benefits of the vegan diet during pregnancy.
Dr. Eric Slywitch(m): What we observe in a vegan diet is that there is a greater concern with the nutrients, and the pregnant woman ends up seeking more information about these foods and ends up greatly improving her diet.
She usually uses more whole foods, the more natural foods, and often looks for organic food. Then it brings benefit in bringing a better wellbeing for the pregnant woman and avoids a series of disturbances that may occur during pregnancy that may affect the baby. So when there is this care that usually happens in a vegan pregnancy, the pregnancy tends to progress in a tranquil way.
HOST: Doctors say that having a healthy baby requires a healthy mother, so managing pregnancy to ensure a baby's good health is important for every expectant mom. Marina Barone is a vegan naturopath from Geneva, Switzerland who has worked with her husband in the field of alternative medicine for 25 years. Ms. Barone will now explain the importance of choosing the right foods for both an expectant mother and her baby.
Mrs Marina Barone(f): Vegan food is the foundation if you decide to plan a pregnancy. You can say, "Okay, I will give to my body and to the baby's body the best tools." We as parents become responsible for what we'll transmit to the child.
There is a genetic heritage that we ourselves have received and that we cannot control, at least not totally, but there is a metabolic heritage related to what we do with our body. It's not enough not to smoke and not to drink; the child will develop on what we eat.
HOST: The health of a mother before and during pregnancy determines the health of her child throughout his or her lifetime. Vegan nutritionist Astrid Pfeiffer of Brazil will next discuss commonly available fruits and vegetables that can help provide the nutrition needed to deliver a healthy, intelligent baby with a good constitution.
Ms. Astrid Pfeiffer(f): The best source of Omega-3 we have to eat is linseed or flaxseed oil. Then during the pregnancy and also for the infant until the age of two, Omega-3 is an anti-inflammatory; it also helps the immune system and the development of the central nervous system.
So both for the mother afterward and the baby it is essential to take Omega-3. You can get the whole flaxseed, grind it in a blender, and put it on top of beans, put it on top of (vegan) mousse, put it in a smoothie, or you can leave it in grain, soaked in water for about 40-50 minutes and take it with water, both linseed and grain.
You may do it both ways. Or linseed oil, usually the oil has a bit stronger flavor, so many people dislike the taste. But it should be consumed cold not warm. It can also be eaten either on top of salad, on top of rice, or sometimes over whole-grain bread.
Ms. Astrid Pfeiffer(f): Iron, we find it a lot in legumes. For a person who is a vegetarian, the best sources of iron that we have are legumes, salads, and dark-green leafy veggies. But this time the iron should be supplemented because with food we cannot get the daily amount needed.
Calcium, we have it in tofu. Each 100 grams, a big slice, for example, of tofu has about 250 to 300 milligrams of calcium. So it's very rich, an excellent source of calcium. The vegetables that contain the most calcium are kale, arugula, watercress, and mustard. You can also make a green juice, for example. Then we can eat either the salad for lunch, like a green juice, or in the morning or afternoon.
You can blend these vegetables in a blender with fruit, for example, and put a little mint and ginger. So, you are further optimizing calcium intake. Oils also have it, such as peanuts, Brazil nuts, cashew nuts, preferably unsalted. We may also have tahini, molasses ... both are excellent sources of calcium.
Another nutrient that we also need to give a little more attention to is B9, folic acid. Then fruits and vegetables would come in, apple, orange, which also have vitamin C, which helps in iron