Top Tips For A Healthy And Successful Raw Vegan Pregnancy

Today I am going to give you my top tips for a healthy and successful raw vegan or vegan pregnancy.

Having been through a healthy pregnancy myself, I am here to give you my top tips on how to get through this magical event in life if you are on a raw or vegan plan.

Here is my video about it:

Before your raw vegan or vegan pregnancy

A very important aspect of becoming pregnant is to prepare yourself beforehand.

This means some 6 to 9 months before conception you really need to cleanse your body (both the female and male). So a healthy high-fruit low fat raw vegan diet or high raw whole foods vegan plan, along with other health promoting lifestyle factors are a must.

The 1^st trimester is a very important time for the baby’s development.

A study carried out by the British medical council in Gambia, Africa found that mothers who conceived during the dry season had babies who suffered from more diseases as they grew up compared with babies who were conceived in the wet season (1).

The reason for this was that the mother’s consumption of green vegetables was much higher during the wet season and so their nutrient intake was higher, including folate, which is known to be very important for developing babies inside the mother’s womb.

If, as a pregnant mother, you want to supplement with folate, then make sure it is from a whole foods source and not the synthetic folic acid that you can find and which can harm your body/baby. We’ve written an article on it here.

Can you eat a raw vegan diet during pregnancy?

Many mothers ask if they should switch to a fully raw vegan plan during pregnancy.

My answer would be not to go fully raw during pregnancy (unless you were already fully raw before) because your detox could have a detrimental effect on your baby.

A safer way would be to exclude all junk and processed foods from your diet and include whole, plant foods with the large percentage of raw fruits and vegetables.

Exercise is another very important aspect to having a healthy pregnancy and something which I truly loved doing both before becoming pregnant and during my pregnancy.

So prepare yourself before getting pregnant and also do some safe exercise during pregnancy as well, which can help you enjoy an easier pregnancy and avoid back aches.

Making sure that your body and the babies receive all the nutrients that they needs during pregnancy is very important and supplementation can certainly play a vital role in this.

Stay on top of your B12 levels and actively monitor it via blood or a uMMA test, especially towards the end of your pregnancy. Sufficient amounts of vitamin D are also vital, especially if you live in a climate with less sunshine.

If this is you, then consider taking a vegan vitamin D3 supplement, if you are low. All the supplements discussed in the video can be found via this link.

As the baby grows inside your womb, you will need to increase your calories by approximately 100 calories for each month of pregnancy. So by month nine as a mother you will need to be consuming around 900 extra calories for your baby.

This does represent a challenge for the expectant mother to eat enough raw plant foods. Personally, I found that fruit smoothies like bananas and dates worked very well, as well as eating fats like avocado, coconut flesh and nuts and seeds.

And finally, but no less importantly, is the need to stay centered and relaxed during your pregnancy. Talk and sing to your baby as they can hear you, do deep breathing and get outside in nature to connect to both your body and the baby.

Enjoy the pregnancy ride, it passes so quickly!

Bibliography:

1. www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34222452