I keep hearing these three main things that all pregnant women have to get: folic acid, calcium and iron. The way most people meet these requirements is usually by taking a (prenatal) multivitamin, or those just those three specific vitamins. I don’t want to take vitamins because I have been learning a lot about how the stuff in the vitamins aren’t really natural, they aren’t the real vitamin. Instead they are a synthetic vitamin.
Here is an example that I heard from a friend. She said that there have been studies published about how vitamin A can be bad for your baby and cause deformities. Pregnant women are advised not to consume too much or extra vitamin A. However, that was from a study where the pregnant women were taking vitamin A from a supplement, which was a synthetic vitamin not a natural one. The synthetic ones are supposed to mimic the real vitamins, but the problem is that there is a lot science hasn’t figured out yet. Science doesn’t know exactly how our bodies work, exactly what is involved with digestion and exactly what makes up a vitamin. So the women who consumed extra doses of the synthetic vitamin ended up having some deformities, so they wanted to advise against too much vitamin A consumption while pregnant. However, it is said that people in other countries eat foods really high in vitamin A, essentially getting 2 or 3 or more times the amount of vitamin A that we get, and they don’t have any birth defects from the vitamin A. But this is due to the fact that they are consuming natural vitamin A, not a synthetic vitamin.
I don’t trust vitamins anymore. And I am and am not the “preachy” type about living my lifestyle. All I can say is that it is so important for people to get the vitamins they need. Ever aspect of the human body and of our living has to do with what we eat. I took a nutrition class and learned all about how many diseases, problems and defects we have been able to aid by fortifying all cereals and various other foods with more B vitamins. B vitamins, probably specifically folic acid, have so much to do with pregnancy. So I think it is probably better for people to take a vitamin than to just eat all the fast food and junk food today and go without a vitamin. But for my life, I realize for me that the best thing to do is to change my entire lifestyle. It is a challenge to get all the vitamins you need, every day, by food alone – with no supplements. I am still trying to figure it all out. It takes time, skill, knowledge and patience to be able to look up all the stuff, go to the grocery store often and cook every meal. I couldn’t have done it with the lifestyle I had while in graduate school. I think if I were to have kids and a career, then I wouldn’t be able to find the time to provide for myself and family the nutrition they need. There simply wouldn’t have been enough time. But I don’t want to settle for being “practical”, to get vitamins in a pill that might be bad for me just because I feel like I don’t have time to do what is best for me. For me, I decided to make time for that. I feel like I am reordering my values. I believe that if I do that, then my life will fall into better order.
I keep having mixed feelings. On the one hand, I understand how it is hard for people to change their lifestyle, and I understand why they choose how they do. But I also feel like we have to be responsible for our lives. And it seems so obvious to me that it doesn’t take much to figure out how unhealthy we are living now. I am not a radical person, or at least I never considered myself to be. I guess I think of myself as a cautious explorer. I don’t feel like I am in a camp, I am not a radical naturalist, and I don’t feel like people who eat fast food deserve to die. I do wish that more people would change their lifestyles, though. Because I am starting to see health problems in people I love that I believe could be prevented by various do-able lifestyle changes.
Since I have a few months, I have time to work up to getting all my vitamins by foods only. If I don’t get all the prenatal amounts today, its ok. I will work on coming up with some kind of a pre-natal nutrition plan. My main focus will be trying to get all the nutrients I need from food sources only. I think it is possible. And I have a feeling that when I find out what foods I need to eat, I will probably discover that it is easier than people think. I am guessing that it is lack of knowing what we need to eat that primarily prevents us from being healthy. It's hard to figure it all out.
3 comments:
Have forwarded a concise email to you about the chemical and molecular composition of natural and synthetic vitamins.
I understand that you intend to attempt to obtain your vitamin and mineral requirements per all of the food which you ingest. That is possible. And very difficult to do. The prenatal vitamins with folic acid cover the requirements needed for your own daily usage plus the developing baby. If any deficiency occurs, the substances are leeched from your bones and body and may cause calcium deficiency in you which really complicates you later on, as you age.
Birth defects and many other diseases can occur from hypervitaminosis, difficulty for the mom as well. Many people think that such and such vitamin is good for me, therefore, more is better. Not true. All fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K)are stored in the body or filtered through the liver. Therefore, too much of these are very detrimental. All of the other vitamins are used by our body and urinated out. Hypervitaminosis is rare but, of course, deficiencies are detrimental.
So be diligent if you plan to only eat your all of your daily vitamins, minerals, iron, and protein.
BUT, the most emphatic comment is about folic acid. Folic acid should be taken from 2-3 months before you EVEN PLAN TO GET PREGNANT. The neural tube development is critical, occurring during the first 3 weeks of pregnancy and the ingestion of the recommended dose of folic acid, has dropped the incidence of spina bifida and neural tube defects by 70%. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Please research this recommendation.
Also,the comments per the incidence of osteoporosis in the Eskimos and the South Africas vary due to the exposure to the sun, lack of exposure to the sun which converts the vitamin D and daily weightbearing exercise and walking.
Eskimos do not get any sun exposure for 6 months of each year and are more prone to osteoporosis because of it.
So, just some comments off the top of my head.
Susan
Melissa and I have been thinking about how difficult it’s going to be to get a properly balanced diet without taking vitamin pills, but regardless of this difficulty, we have decided to embark on the journey anyway.
We will make the difficult expedition to the distant country of Wal-Mart once a week in order to track down the rare and exotic items necessary for the health of our bodies.
We fully expect that the natives of this country will be hostile, so much so that they may even help us find certain items on the shelves, such as peanuts and asparagus and broccoli.
After procuring our goods, we will attempt the difficult journey back, which will undoubtedly involve stopping at one or two stoplights. If things get really perilous, we might have to make a left turn or something.
Then, when we make it home, we fully expect to be faced with the further difficulty of preparing these items for consumption, which might very well involve cutting the vegetables with highly dangerous weapons, such as common kitchen knives.
If, after all this, we are still alive, then we will have succeeded in the difficult goal of having a balanced and healthy diet.
Joel
Hi Melissa,
My mother showed me your blog and stirred my interest. I hope you don't mind me commenting. I commend you on developing a strict dietary plan to ensure the absolute health of your baby. You will probably be surprised as well during your pregnancy that you will actually crave healthy foods like this - after hearing for years about all the horrible food pregnant women crave, I was surprised to find out that I actually had very healthy cravings - all I wanted was a ton of fruit and vegetables, as well as a good amount of grains and proteins.
Anyway, the whole debate of taking a folic acid supplement vs obtaining it all from your diet is interesting. My gut was immediately that all women expecting to become pregnant should start a supplement with at least 400mcg of folic acid per day. This is what I've been trained to advise my patients to do. This is what my OB told me to do as well.
After speaking with Joel, however, it made sense that if one is diligent enough in their diet, the recommended dosage of folate can be obtained. So then, I started to feel silly with my "by the book" recommendations for prenatal vitamins in educated women who know what they're doing and have the means to do it without supplements.
Just to be sure, I did a literature search to find scientific studies on the matter, and what I found was surprising. Turns out, the body doesn't absorb folate from natural food sources near as well as it absorbs folic acid from supplements or fortified foods. Here are the articles that I found:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_n4_v23/ai_18266949
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/is_n4_v15/ai_18292244
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15447898&itool=iconfft&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum
I still need to do a literature search at work where I have more resources, so who knows what the most up to date evidence shows, but I thought this was interesting food for thought..... It is a good question to ask your doctor at least.
Again, I really admire your determination to lead such a healthy life - not many people do it, and it will have long-lasting effects on both your baby and yourself. Oh, by the way, there is hormone-free, antibiotic-free cheese out there as well (although unfortunately more expensive!).
Take care and enjoy!
Melanie
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