Every Woman's Guide to Eating During Pregnancy [Paperback]

Following her first pregnancy at age 47, award-winning cookbook author Martha Rose Shulman teamed up with Jane Davis, an obstetrician/gynecologist who loves to cook. The result is Every Woman's Guide to Eating During Pregnancy, a readable and practical handbook for mothers about nourishing their growing or breastfeeding child--while enjoying delicious, healthful food. The authors take a fresh and festive view of eating during pregnancy by offering 100 tasty recipes framed in a crash course on nutrition. Refusing to obsess about calories and fat grams, the authors evaluate foods in terms of nutrients--what they do for your body and your baby. "With this book, you can throw out the calculator and reach again for your plate," they promise.

While Shulman and Davis offer solid answers to the usual food queries--how to cope with nausea, how much weight is too much--their approach shines by detailing the nutrition challenges of first-trimester queasiness, second-trimester ravenousness, and third-trimester fullness. The recipes are hip, healthy, and not for pregnant women only. They include fruit soups, black-eyed pea pâté, beef and arugula salad, Mediterranean chicken stew, corn gratin, and peach bread pudding. These easy-to-prepare meals are followed by chapters that focus on eating plans for individual needs such as vegan or lactose-free diets and the special needs of high-risk pregnancy, including gestational diabetes and multiple births. The author's skillful balance of information, advice, and recipes will allow mothers to celebrate both food and family. --Barbara Mackoff

Shulman (Mediterranean Light) and Davis, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Los Angeles's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, team up to offer a slew of recipes plus some basic tips on weight gain, bed rest, fighting nausea, key nutrients and other issues faced by virtually all pregnant women. The recipes include breakfast foods, snacks, salads, soups, sandwiches, main dishes and deserts, and Shulman provides inventive variations on even the most ordinary dishes. She includes a toaster-oven version of the grilled cheese sandwich and a deviled eggs recipe that's easy on the mayonnaise, plus more exotic treats like Grapefruit Avocado Salad, White Bean Puree, and Mediterranean Chicken Stew. Many of the recipes are easy to make and suitable for anyone, pregnant or not. For the pregnant woman, the meal plans which include advice on schedules and portions sizes for the different trimesters will be particularly useful. Shulman and Davis devise special programs for those with conditions such as lactose intolerance and gestational diabetes. They offer low- and high-carb programs, as well as special plans for vegetarians and nursing mothers. Fans of Shulman's other books are especially likely to find this comprehensive new volume appealing.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From a best-selling cookbook author and a nationally respected ob-gyn, a book that makes eating well during pregnancy easier than ever Now that you're pregnant, what you eat is more important than ever before. You may be nauseous or starving or alternately one and the other, and your tastes may change constantly. Whatever your condition, whether you're twenty-seven or forty-seven, and whether you love cooking or hate it, Every Woman's Guide to Eating During Pregnancy gives you all the practical information and tips you need to keep you and your baby healthy. It includes - suggestions for coping with nausea and heartburn - ideas on how to make your cravings work for you - a clear explanation of your changing nutritional needs by trimester - a week's worth of flexible meal programs, with plenty of ideas for nutritious breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks: lower-carb, high-protein plans for weight control higher-carb, high-protein plans ovo-lacto and vegan plans plans for women who don't want to cook, including a list of healthful packaged foods from the supermarket calcium-rich menus for the lactose-intolerant plans for women who are expecting multiples plans for women with gestational diabetes plans for each trimester - 100 easy, nourishing recipes, including Buttermilk Pancakes, High-Protein Muffins, Mediterranean Chicken Stew, Pasta with Tomato-Mushroom Sauce, and Chocolate Pudding

Jane Davis, M.D., is associate director of the obstetrics and gynecology program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Martha Rose Shulman is America's foremost authority on good-tasting, healthful food. She has written many award-winning books, including the best-selling Mediterranean Light and Provençal Light. She is a contributing editor to Health and writes regularly for the nation's leading food and health magazines.

Introduction If you've just picked up this book and begun to read, chances are you're in your first trimester of pregnancy. You may be nauseous or starving or intermittently one or the other, and possibly for the first time in your life, you have begun to think about and maybe worry about what you eat. Perhaps you've been eating well up until this point, or maybe you haven't. Whatever your dietary habits, you don't want to be bossed around or punished for the way you eat. You just want some practical information. Well, you've come to the right place. Even if you haven't ever thought much about food or your weight, now that you're pregnant, you'll find that you obsess about these matters. This is because every month at your prenatal checkup, you'll be put on the scale and told that you're doing fine or that you're gaining too much weight or not enough. If you experience morning sickness, queasiness, or fatigue, if your tastes and aversions change every week, your diet can become a challenge. Each phase of your pregnancy will present new hurdles. During the first trimester, you may experience morning sickness or feel tired. But even if you have no energy to cook, you can make choices about the foods you buy. Luckily, although the quality of the food you eat is crucial during the early months, it is not essential that you gain a lot of weight. During the second trimester, you may feel ravenous all the time. As you near the end of your pregnancy, you will find it miraculous that there is any room for food in there at all, and little meals will suit you best during this time. Pregnancy can be a time when you take tremendous pleasure in eating, not only because you may enjoy food more but also because you know that it is nourishing both you and your baby. It can be a time when you eat foods that you once considered an indulgence. Or if you have always been plagued by weight problems, it can a difficult time, because you may feel a conflict between the health of your baby and your own weight and appearance. You may have been given conflicting information about what you should and shouldn't eat and about how much you should eat. On the one hand, you may hear that protein is all-important and that you need 45 grams a day. On the other hand, you may be told that you shouldn't eat much red meat a very good source of protein because of all the saturated fat. So you turn to beans and grains, only to hear that you should watch your carbohydrate intake. You also may be barraged with lists of food groups, portions, calories, and grams. Suddenly, eating is not about pleasure and satisfying hunger; it becomes a math class, with the calculator replacing the fork and knife. With this book, you can throw out the calculator and reach again for your plate. We've devised a number of eating plans for you, based on good, uncomplicated food. There's something for everyone here: if you like to cook, you'll find plenty of great recipes; if you're too tired to cook, you'll find a number of very quick dishes; and if you don't cook at all, there are meal plans based on healthy, tasty packaged and frozen foods, with some fresh vegetables and fruits thrown in for good measure. We've already done the work for you, so you don't have to figure out how to put together your meal strategy. Just choose the one that suits you. Because we think it might be easier for you to understand how the foods you eat affect your weight and health, as well as the health of your baby, if you understand the basics of nutrition, we've included a nutrition primer in this book. That way, when we talk about a balanced diet about protein, carbohydrates, and fats; vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients you'll know what we mean. We also tell you what the best sources of the different nutrients are. We've listed the key nutrients that you will be getting in every recipe, and the nutrition section will allow you to bone up on what these nutrients are actually doing for you and your baby. If you already have sound eating habits, you're well on your way to a healthy pregnancy. You will need to increase your caloric intake, but not by much (100 to 300 calories is recommended, and you can find those in a couple of glasses of milk, a milk shake or smoothie, or a few pieces of fruit). If you need to improve the quality of your diet, this is the time to do it. The beneficial effects on the health of your baby will be the most immediate outcome, but changing your diet for the better will also have lasting effects on your own health and therefore on your quality of life. What, you may ask, are sound eating habits? The most important aspect of a good diet is balance. Whether you are a vegetarian or a meat- eater (or a little of both), a fast-food addict or committed to organic foods, lactose intolerant or diabetic, you need to have a range of nutrients in your diet: complex carbohydrates, which can come from whole grains (including breads and pasta), beans, and fresh produce; protein, from animal or plant sources; fats in moderation, with an emphasis on monounsaturates (such as olive oil) and omega-3s (see page 385). A balanced, healthy diet, one that includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, will also provide you with a range of micronutrients vitamins, minerals, tiny nutrients called phytochemicals all of which help in very specific ways to make the body function properly. And if your body is working well, in all likelihood so will your baby's. Your baby is, after all, totally dependent on what you are eating for his or her own nutrition from the time you conceive until the moment the umbilical cord is cut and well beyond that if you nurse. Moreover, recent studies have shown that the way the baby is nourished in utero can have a lasting effect on his or her own health. Overweight babies, for example, are more likely to have weight problems in adulthood. And because a baby's taste buds and olfactory senses develop by the third trimester, your child may be more likely to want to eat good, healthy foods such as broccoli, carrots, and greens if you eat plenty of them while you're pregnant. Remember that it's normal and healthy to accumulate fat during pregnancy. You even produce special hormones that tell the body to store fat. Your body needs those fat stores, both for your developing baby and your own energy needs, as well as to prepare for lactation. But for some people, controlling the amount of that fat may be a challenge. This is when knowing something about nutrition can come in handy. For instance, simple carbohydratessugarsare often the source of many useless calories during pregnancy. Low energy and fatigue, depression, and mood swings often result in a craving for sweets. If you're gaining weight too quickly or are already overweight, these cravings can be problematic. If you're sensitive to carbohydrates, certain types, such as refined baked goods, can encourage your body to store too much fat. Fats, however, are the most insidious source of calories. Gram for gram, fats have more than twice as many calories as protein or carbohydrates (9 as opposed to 4), so if your diet is high in fat, it will be too high in calories. Fats also contribute to two other pregnancy afflictions: morning sickness and heartburn. You may love cooking or hate it, but everybody has to eat, especially during pregnancy. Whether you are twenty-five or forty-five, whether your pregnancy is going swimmingly or you are feeling challenged, you'll find something in these pages that you can use. It may be a lower-carb menu plan, a vegan menu plan, or one for a multiple pregnancy. It may be a list of recommended packaged foods from the supermarket. Perhaps it'll be a few of the recipes, such as grilled chicken breasts, buttermilk pancakes, do-ahead lasagna, banana bread, or bran muffins. (These happen to be ones that are most regularly requested by our own children.) These are healthful and delicious dishes, drawn from a repertoire that we and our families have been savoring for years. The recipes, each one with a key-nutrients profile, are followed by eating plans with a week's worth of menus. You can follow them to a tee if you want to, or simply use them as guidelines. Whatever you decide to cook and eat, rest assured that you and your family will enjoy it. Our menus may be designed with pregnancy in mind, but this is not "pregnancy food." It's just good, simple cooking, developed with a cook'sand a mother'stouch. Coping with Nausea The first trimester is a good time to experiment with different taste and texture sensations. Giving in to cravings immediately may prevent or alleviate nausea. Some of these suggestions for preventing queasiness may work for you. _ Keep appealing foods by your bed (crackers, matzo, almonds, hard candy such as lemon drops, pretzels, or apple juice or carbonated fruit drinks in an ice bucket), and eat or drink some of it before rising. _ Don't drink citrus juice first thing in the morning. _ Have a snack before going to sleep. This will help keep nausea at bay during the night. _ Eat lots of small meals. _ Alternate liquid snacks and solid snacks. _ Eat foods with a high liquid content, such as watermelon. _ Avoid greasy, rich foods; they're more difficult to digest. _ Never leave the house without food. _ Avoid sources of odors, such as refrigerators, trash cans, dirty diapers, pet products and boxes, gas stations, public restrooms, and coffeepots. Have somebody else open the refrigerator door and dispose of the trash whenever possible, and enlist someone else to change diapers. _ Ask your partner, a friend, or a relative to prepare food or bring home takeout meals. _ Use air-conditioning; heat and humidity exacerbate nausea. _ Rely on warm clothes and keep the use of artificial heaters to a minimum; these accelerate fluid loss. _ Avoid poor-quality computer screens and videos, which can cause nausea-producing dizziness. _ Keep lemons on hand to smell; their scent has proved useful as an antidote to nausea-provoking odors. Rinsing your mouth with fresh lemon juice and water also may alleviate symptoms. _ Experiment with Sea Bands (wristban...