Purchasing the book “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” has become a cultural norm among first-time moms in the United States. We have no idea what we’re doing. 1,000 years ago, we women would have been inundated with reproductive wisdom from the elder women of our tribe by the time we were 14 years old. But now that we’re too busy getting our degrees, working hard for the money, buying Manolo’s and watching who’s trying to date Flavor Flav and Brett Michaels, we are completely clueless when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth.

The problem with “What to Expect” and other books of the like, is that they have been overedited by lawyers to pinpoint absolutely every little thing that can go wrong which creates an atmosphere of fear and anxiety for a newly pregnant woman. Anxiety is the enemy of a healthy pregnancy and all pregnant women should do what they can to remain calm and happy. In my opinion, that means avoiding the pre-natal anxiety books and instead focusing on pre-natal health literature like Nina Planck’s “Real Food For Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating For Two, and Baby’s First Foods.” What you focus on you get. Let your obstetrician worry about what could go wrong while you focus on what you can do to have your pregnancy be as healthy as possible.

That begins with good nutrition in the first trimester. Of course the main obstacle is that pesky nausea that is believed to be a result of the huge change in many hormones in your body. And don’t feel badly about this. 60-75% of women experience nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. There is no rhyme or reason to who it strikes as well. Women across the board of every race, socioeconomic status, healthy or unhealthy, tribal or corporate, active or sedentary, may suffer from pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting. So no guilt about this ladies, it actually does happen to the best of us.

The best strategies for nausea and vomiting are the following:

1. Make sure that you drink water with a pinch of Celtic sea salt in it to replace lost electrolytes and minerals. (My favorite salt is Celtra-F from www.ultralifeinc.com). Sea salt will not bloat you, refined table salt will.
2. There is some evidence that vitamin B6 may prevent and treat nausea. “Foods rich in vitamin B6 include [wild] tuna, beef, chicken, liver, avocados, bananas and whole grains,” according to Nina.
3. Ginger may also help ease nausea. Use raw on food or chop up a ginger root and use to make tea.

The good news is, your fetus does not require any extra calories in the first trimester, just micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). That means you do not have to eat more food than you were eating before you got pregnant, unless you are too thin by your doctor’s estimation. By all means you CAN eat more if you are hungry for more food. BUT, you do have to eat well and if that is impossible, take nutritional supplements.

Because your baby’s need for vitamins in the first trimester is high, you must be sure to eat real food. Do not succumb to junk like crackers, cookies and bagels. Refined foods like these actually rob vital nutrients from your body at a time when you cannot afford to be depleted at all. As Nina says, “if all you can eat is a cashew, then eat that, cashews have folate.” Do not listen to the nonsense promoted by some pregnancy books that tell you to just eat whatever you can including sugar and refined foods. This is erroneous at best, dangerous at worst. Eat whatever amount of real, organic food you can. Nina said all she wanted during that time was “fruit, salads, broth and lots of water.” If all you want is bland carbohydrates, eat bananas, apples, and brown rice and other whole food carbs. But keep the junk to a bare minimum.

A note of caution though: while it is encouraged that you eat what you can, pregnancy is not the time to intentionally try to be a vegan. Even traditionally vegan cultures like the Jain in India, have their women eat full-fat raw dairy from grass-fed cows because they know a baby needs protein and fat while in the womb. Especially if you have white skin, that means you evolved from half a million years of your ancestors eating protein and fat to stay alive and healthy (during most of the year that was all that was available). Our genes are no different today. Organic fat and protein build healthy babies.

Here are the recommendations for what is ideal to eat during the first trimester (as per your tolerance):

• As you are building more blood, it is ideal to eat grass-fed red meat, especially liver, for iron. Another reason to watch the refined grains is because they contain phytic acid which blocks the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium.
• A daily fresh organic mixed vegetable juice is a great source of easily usable vitamins. Drink it immediately after it is made so that the nutrients don’t oxidize.
• Good fats are required to build the spinal cord and organs so eat grass-fed butter, organic extra-virgin coconut oil, organic extra-virgin olive oil, avocados, nuts and fish oil (I like Pharmax Pure Fish Oil from www.ultralifeinc.com.)
• Foods high in vitamins A and D are also necessary for early stages of fetal development including proteins like pastured eggs, naturally raised pork and wild seafood.

Here’s what this would look like in a meal plan for a woman in her first trimester (small, frequent meals are usually best):

7am- one organic egg cooked in 1 teaspoon coconut oil, blueberries, ginger tea

9am- one organic egg cooked in 1 teaspoon grass-fed butter, steamed carrot with a pat of butter

11am- small apple with 1 tablespoon almond butter

1pm- small mixed green salad dressed with apple cider vinegar and olive oil, 3 oz. hamburger patty

3pm- small banana

5pm- one chicken drumstick, zucchini sauteed in butter

7pm- leftover vegetables (mixed green salad with apple cider vinegar and olive oil, carrots and zucchini in butter

9pm- one chicken drumstick, ginger tea

For more information please check out Nina’s phenomenal book devoted to this subject.

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