induction and being pregnant?

[moe0204'schild]

so what's the deal with this diet and being in your first trimester. i'm hearing bad things. is this stuff legit or just anit-protien power/atkins stuff? anyone done research or heard anything about this?

[Thedabara]

Keep in mind that I am NOT anwering in any medical or scientific way. I followed PP about 80 to 90% of the time I was pregnant. The 2 times during the pregnancy I had a problem were during bouts of morning sickness. I just had trouble wanting to eat protein. I never did buy any crackers though....I did eat a few bagels and low carb toast... Then when I was about 8 1/2 months along, I just wanted to eat everything! So, after some initial guilt, I just did. I gained about 27 pounds this last pregnancy, compared to 50 and 60 pounds during the previous ones.
However, I never wanted to lose weight during this pregnancy. I had been low carbing for about 3 years before I got pregnant. It was just a normal way of eating for me. I saw no reason, and still don't, why I should go back to eating junk just because I was pregnant. In fact, I feel just the opposite. I eat more veggies than any one I know who eats a higher carb diet. I also don't eat trans fats or processed foods. I also made sure I made up any calorie deficit with fats. I had a Tbls of cod liver oil every day as well as alot of coconut oil and fats from meats ( I love the skin from a roasted chicken anyway).
Now, my almost 8 month old is crawling on the floor near me, "chatting" up a storm. He is healthy and well developed, and seems as sharp as a tack to me.....Of course I may be a bit biased!;) There is a pregnancy thread from last year over in the woman's health issues forum..... Good luck to you.
Jenny

[cmcole]

I'm pretty sure that Atkins recommends NOT sticking with Induction-levels during pregnancy, but maintaining a Maintenance-Level menu.

Of course, Protein Power is more like a maintenance-level menu, anyway, wherein you can eat whatever you wish (excluding processed foods and sugars for best results), but in moderate servings.

Someone else could have more knowledge in this regard.

[Gaelen]

so what's the deal with this diet and being in your first trimester. i'm hearing bad things. is this stuff legit or just anit-protien power/atkins stuff? anyone done research or heard anything about this?

A couple of things...
Protein Power doesn't have an induction. Phase I is the first stage, and it's 30-40g ECC, which is double the amount of carbs recommended in Atkins induction.

And yes, the Drs. Eades have done research and these are their recommendations, from the Protein Power Lifeplan "Frequently Asked Questions."

I've also moved your thread to the Challenges to Wellness, "Women's Wellness" forum. If you scan those topics, you'll find a lot of discussions about using PP or modifying PP while pregnant and/or nursing. Hope this helps!

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Pregnant or Nursing Women:
Can you follow the Protein Power diet while you're pregnant or nursing?

Pregnancy and nursing place an increased demand on the mother for both calories and protein. It is not safe to undertake a reduced calorie intervention during these times. But the Protein Power Plan Maintenance program is actually a very healthy structure-plenty of lean protein, dairy protein, fresh colorful vegetables and fruits, no refined sugar, and minimal wheat, corn, or potato starch. As long as you have normal, healthy kidneys, it's a great nutritional regimen.

Add the extra calories required to maintain weight during these special conditions (pregnancy and lactation) as lean protein, dairy, or good-quality fats, and keep the carbohydrate at about 1/3 more grams than your daily minimum protein requirement. For example: If your daily minimum protein requirement was 75 grams per day, you should increase it to 90 or 100 grams per day during pregnancy or lactation. You would set your carbohydrate grams at about 30% more than that, or 120-130 effective grams per day.
Remember, you can have more protein and more good fat, but keep the carbohydrate fixed near this level. And remember to check any nutritional changes with your obstetrician before you make them.
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In other words...you really shouldn't be trying to lose weight while you're pregnant. But just because the Drs. Eades recommend maintenance-level carbs, which can be as much as 90-100g/day, doesn't mean that you need to eat junk food. There *are* carbs out there that aren't going to kill you--fruits, vegetables, dairy products, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, small amounts of whole grains. They aren't recommending Twinkies and Hostess cupcakes--just that you not compromise your developing baby or your milk supply by trying to cut calories while also trying to produce a kid or milk. Hope this helps.

[dvdmon]

Most mainstream birthcare providers who have kept up with the literature, will at the very least tell you not to shy away from fat or protein during your pregnancy, since both are needed during your pregnancy to grow a healthy baby. As far as carbs, well, that's a different story, but I'll just relate a personal experience.

We got pregnant a couple of years ago and my wife did not eat low-carb. She wasn't overweight and didn't gain tons of weight during her pregnancy, but she WAS diagnosed with gestational diabetes when given the test. There are all kinds of reasons why this test flawed, and how it is used by doctors to induce an earlier birth than otherwise would happen normally, but in any case, here's what we did: my wife got a glucose meter and started taking her BS one, two, and three hours after each meal. She very quickly saw how huge a surge a desert made, or other high-glycemic foods. She was I guess around 5-6 months by this point. She decided to eat much lower-carb. She probably was not at 30-40gm ECC each day, but probably well under 100gm. She had no problems for the remainder of the pregnancy (kept her BS numbers perfectly low), and while she didn't lose weight, she didn't gain much or any either.

I don't offer this as a way to tell you what to do, but simply to say that there's a lot of fear and hysteria around pregnancy. While generally you should not be pushing your body too much, since it is dealing with this big new function, I think eating according to PP is not really "pushing it." Gaelen is right - there are plenty of healthy veggies and fruits one can eat while still keeping carbs to a reasonable level. Just make sure all those carbs aren't preventing you from getting a good amount of protein and fat as well!