8 Reasons to Work with a Pregnancy Dietitian Nutritionist
I’m a dietitian and doula and a bit biased to the idea that a healthy diet is important at all life’s stages, but there’s endless amounts of literature confirming the positive impact and influence of nutrition during pregnancy—for mom and baby’s health, birth outcomes, postpartum health, transgenerational health, and more.
Unfortunately, in the traditional medical model, prenatal nutrition counseling is almost non-existent.
Seriously though, has anyone talked to you about your diet and how it impacts your pregnancy, or more specifically, which foods to eat to nourish yourself and grow a healthy baby?
1. Why getting solid prenatal nutrition counseling matters.
Prenatal nutrition counseling is not standardized. One of the biggest discrepancies between holistic pregnancy care (a woman-centered, whole health medical model) and the traditional medical model widely used and accepted today is the lack of support regarding diet and lifestyle.
This is the main reason I encourage all pregnant women to work with a dietitian. Whether you’re healthy at baseline or not, a prenatal dietitian can support you during this extraordinary time when your diet and lifestyle are highly influential on your pregnancy and health outcomes.
2. Did you know that most prenatal diet information is actually outdated or unfounded?!
Most standard or conventional pregnancy nutrition recommendations are far from ideal, and some are even lacking evidence. If you were to follow conventional prenatal nutrition recommendations, you’d most likely NOT meet your nutrient needs.
Conventional guidelines recommend limiting or avoiding the consumption of fatty meat (like beef), organ meat, and whole fat dairy, as well as limiting seafood.
Conventional recommendations also take precautions around foodborne illness to an extreme which studies have shown actually limit women’s intake of important pregnancy nutrients like fiber, folate, iron, vitamin E, and calcium.
When I ask my clients what they know about pregnancy nutrition, most reply only with what they can’t eat or need to avoid rather than what they can eat to reduce unwanted symptoms, meet their nutrient needs, and promote a healthy pregnancy.
One of reasons prenatal nutrition information is outdated or unfounded, is the research is lacking human studies because it’s unethical to experiment on pregnant women. Would you subject yourself and your unborn baby to a science experiment? I know I wouldn’t. And animal studies, although compelling, don’t offer a complete picture or understanding of how nutrients or symptom relief, for example, operate in the human body.
Secondly, prenatal recommendations, in theory, come from evidence-based research (we already addressed why that’s lacking) and then are set into policy and adhered to by various governing agencies in the field. This process is bureaucratic and political which means modern research often takes time to go public—sometimes decades.
3. Why grabbing just any ol’ prenatal won’t cut it.
Most care providers promote prenatal vitamins and rightfully so! You need a quality prenatal vitamin (and likely other supplements).
Prenatals provide an insurance policy and can do so much including help fill in the gaps of a nutrient-deficient diet, however, many prenatal vitamins are actually lacking adequate nutrient levels.
Some prenatals are even missing important nutrients all together like choline, iodine, or vitamin K2.
Many prenatals also contain poorly absorbed or utilized forms of nutrients rather than the most available forms, especially regarding B vitamins.
A conventional practitioner likely won’t consider your dietary restrictions (if you have any) or other dietary factors when recommending supplements and by default may miss a critical opportunity. For example, if you’re vegan or vegetarian, if you dislike seafood, or have food aversions or nausea that keep you from eating a balanced diet, you may also need extra support in the form of supplementation.
Other important pregnancy nutrients to consider for supplementation are vitamin D, omega-3s (DHA/EPA), probiotics, collagen, and more, that don’t typically come standardized in a prenatal.
Working with a dietitian or care provider who is knowledgeable about pregnancy supplements can be the difference between you meeting your prenatal nutrient needs or not.
4. Alleviate your unwanted symptoms naturally.
There’s a lot you can do (diet, lifestyle, supplements) to reduce or even eliminate your unwanted pregnancy symptoms naturally before turning to pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceuticals definitely have a time and place, but they shouldn’t necessarily be the first line of defense for unwanted symptoms especially when some of them have negative side effects, of which ironically, may require more medication.
Many of my clients seek me out to help manage unwanted symptoms like nausea, fatigue, headaches, body aches and pains, constipation, and more. We work together to complete a comprehensive physiological review before even looking at their current pregnancy state or diet.
All of this is to say that when we do a thorough health assessment and consider the pregnant woman holistically, we’ll more often than not uncover valuable information that may be contributing to their negative symptoms including dietary habits, restrictions, or other lifestyle factors, many of which can be addressed without drastic measures or unnecessary medications.
5. Lower your chances of having gestational diabetes by up to a whopping 78%.
Learning how to manage your blood sugar is one of the most important things you can do for yourself when you’re pregnant to feel better and prevent gestational diabetes.
Because of the many metabolic changes occurring during pregnancy, and especially during the second half of pregnancy, your body becomes more insulin resistant and more susceptible to blood sugar dysregulation in general and can even lead to gestational diabetes.
Whether you have a gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) diagnosis or not, studies show that even slight elevations in blood sugar during pregnancy can lead to negative outcomes.
Regulating your blood sugar with diet and exercise are fantastic ways to not only lower your blood sugar, but also decrease insulin resistance and reduce the need for medication (if taking any for GDM).
Eating a high protein, low-glycemic diet has been shown to help balance blood sugar, and women who exercise throughout their pregnancy lower their chances of having GDM by up to a whopping 78%. Working with a dietitian to help manage both areas of your health and create a personalized plan can be extremely beneficial for both you and your baby.
6. Your diet can change health outcomes for future generations.
Your diet and exercise also have the power to influence your genes and thus your baby’s genetic make-up. This is an area of scientific study called epigenetics.
The nutrients you eat and take in supplements, your stress levels, and the pollutants you’re exposed to during your pregnancy affect your baby and future generations by switching on or off genes that influence health.
You may inherit certain genes from your biological family, but those genes are not necessarily you or your baby’s fate. You can positively (or negatively) influence them with diet and lifestyle factors to create different outcomes.
A prenatal dietitian who specializes in functional testing can help evaluate your genetic predisposition to various health outcomes and can help you make appropriate diet and lifestyle changes to benefit you and your baby, and then influence the future health of their baby(ies).
7. The best medicine you can “take” is in your kitchen!
Learning how prenatal nutrition and lifestyle factors can help you manage symptoms and prevent complications is the first step. Applying this knowledge in your kitchen and onto your plate is the next.
My food philosophy stems from the concept that food is medicine and is always a part of the healing process wherever you’re coming from and whatever you’re up against.
There are so many things we can do to our food—little twists and turns we can make that increase the vitamin and mineral content or make something more easily digestible, for example. This is called culinary medicine and it’s an emerging evidence-based field that blends the art of food and cooking with the science of medicine.
Culinary medicine stems from the idea that high-quality foods can help prevent and treat health issues and disease. This isn't a one diet fits all approach, but rather a type of “medicine” that focuses on the individual, how food works in the body/their body, socio-economic-cultural aspects, and the joy of eating and cooking.
I work with my clients to provide recipe ideas, inspiration, meal plans, and other creative ways to ensure they’re meeting their nutrient needs and help them get the most out of their food.
Working with a prenatal dietitian and doula that’s knowledgeable in both the science and cooking can be very helpful for taking a nutrition “prescription” to an attainable and sustainable level.
8. Cut the confusion and get the right healthcare team on board.
In general, there’s a lot to consider when you’re pregnant. Cut the confusion and get support from an expert. Implementing diet and lifestyle changes doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Find someone on your healthcare team who can help you streamline the science and simplify it all for you so you can focus on what’s important (growing a tiny human!) and creating enjoyable and sustainable goals.
When I was pregnant with both of my babies, I worked with a variety of health practitioners to support my evolving mind-body-spirit-needs including a dietitian and doula.
If you’re pregnant, I highly encourage you to reach out for support.
I would love to offer you a free 30-minute strategy session to ask questions and learn more about my prenatal nutrition services. We can discuss your health goals and how I can best support you and help you map out a clear action plan. Click the button below to schedule now.
