Bradley Birth Class #2 - Nutrition

My doula and birth coach, Cortney, and I went to our second Bradley birth class.  Today's topics included nutrition and breastfeeding.  The Bradley method focuses Dr. Brewer's recommendations for a healthy pregnancy.  This includes milk products, eggs, protein, greens, whole grains, citrus, fats and oils, yellow and orange fruits and veggies, salt to taste, and lots of water.  Some items reinforced about nutrition:

• Good nutrition can almost eliminate risk of pre-eclampsia. 
• Pre-eclampsia is signified by high blood pressure and protein in the urine during pregnancy.  The only way to stop pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby, no matter when the condition sets on.  The choice is to deliver the baby or the mother will die, even at 20 weeks, 28 weeks, 37 weeks...whenever.
• Make sure to take in 80 to 100 grams of protein per day.  One doctor (I forget his name) did a few studies and women to hit this number were sure not to have pre-eclampsia.
• Getting enough fat in your diet will make your skin stretchy.  This lessons stretch marks and makes the body more able to stretch for delivery.  Even a little fat goes a long way.  And, there are many fat-soluable vitamins that we absorb better when paired with fat.
• Pay attention to nutrient pairings for best absorption.  Calcium is best absorbed with fat.  So, even if drinking skim milk, that needs to be consumed with maybe some buttered toast to best absorb the calcium in the milk.  Either that or switch to a fattier milk.
• Our Bradley instructor emphasized the importance of buying some foods organic, such as the "dirty dozen" and the "clean 15."