Today, I shall sum up what Shanahan recommended in her book and what I wrote in the six previous parts.

Last week, I stopped at how to cook meat, slowly in a pot and include all parts: fat, organ meat, joints and bones, plus fine herbs, light spices, and condiments, the traditional way. “Healthy” fats and organ meat are important to health, particularly to mother and her fetus. I spoke about the benefits of “good” fats, which include monounsaturated fatty acids from olive and avocado oils; polyunsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3 from fatty fish, walnuts, flaxseeds, chia, and nuts and omega-6 from sesame, borage, and primrose oils; medium chain triglycerides (MCT) from coconut oil; and animal fats from grass fed beef and lamb. Animal fat has long been maligned by mainstream medicine for clogging the arteries with cholesterol plaque. The real culprits are fat from corn-fed beef, given hormones and antibiotics and vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, canola oils…), margarine, and hydrogenated fats, which are health and heart damaging trans fats.

For millenniums, our ancestors enjoyed animal fat without restriction or doubts about its supposed “dangers” to health. Inhabitants of cold climates eat blubber and cooked in suet to give them warmth and energy to move and sustain freezing weathers. Yet, they lived well and healthily to reach hundred years and over, without the clogged arteries or vascular disease of today, requiring stents and open-heart surgeries. This only started when we switched to vegetable and seed oils and hydrogenated oils, which are carcinogenic and heart damaging. The effects of trans fats and simple sugars appear on the fetus, which develops less than optimal features and bone and facial structures.

According to Shanahan, overcooking meat on high fire creates toxins, destroys nutrients and makes the meat tough, chewy, plastic-like, and indigestible. Charred meat turns toxic, carcinogenic, and threatening to health, which harms both mother and fetus. Not only charred meat, chicken, and fish are harmful, but also undercooked and raw meat, chicken, eggs, fish, and soft cheese (blue cheese, camembert…) cause food poisoning and diarrhea.

Due to her sensitive health at this period, she should make sure that fruits, raw vegetables, salads, and leafy greens are well washed, soaked in water with vinegar before serving.

Another option when in doubt, squeeze lots of lime, lemon, or vinegar to kill bacteria, which could cause food poisoning or bacterial infections (salmonella…). Vomiting and diarrhea during gestation could trigger miscarriage or early contractions and preterm delivery, let alone nutrient and mineral losses and dehydration. The food mother eats should be freshly cooked with fresh and uncontaminated ingredients (milk, eggs, fish…) to avoid complications.

Unless she suffers from constipation, mother should reduce vegetables like squash, fruits like prunes, figs, pears, and mangoes, laxatives, and milk of magnesia, which increase bowel movement frequency. To avoid constipation during this period, she should increase her water intake, as most of her body fluids go to make the amniotic fluid around the fetus.

While consuming good portions of nutrient-dense live foods (whole organic fresh fruits, non-starchy vegetables, and vegetables juices) is important, simple sugars, refined carbohydrates, too much salt, trans fats, processed, fast, and fried foods made with taste enhancers, colorings, preservatives, and sugar substitutes could harm mother’s health (diabetes, hypertension) and fetal development. According to Shanahan’s book, sugar in soda drinks stops intercellular signaling, suspending the metabolism for hours and suppressing immune functions.

A harmful substance to stop is alcohol, as it leaves permanent damage on the brain of the fetus and alters its features and facial and bone structures, resulting in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. These happen due to malnutrition in the mother, as alcohol disrupts the assimilation of nutrients. A healthy balanced nutrition and prenatal supplements are critical to the mental and physical development of the fetus, starting from the preconception period up to the first 10 weeks (I believe more) of the pregnancy.

A photograph of an alcohol-affected baby in Deep Nutrition showed smaller eye openings, longer and narrower skull, flat midface, thinned lips, shorter nose, fattened cheekbones, and more. Due to damaging cell membrane, sugar and trans fats also leave similar effects. Because alcoholic beverages contain lots of sugar, they, too, block intercellular signaling, impairing fetal growth. Ethanol in alcohol also affects the brain cell membranes of the fetus. These substances should be avoided totally to prevent such undesirable outcome.

Caffeine should not be abused either. It is neither good for mother’s health nor for her unborn. Soda and energy drinks are also loaded with caffeine and sugar.

The mother should not take medical drugs like painkillers, antibiotics, antidepressants, and others, unless she has a serious condition. Only her treating doctor should prescribe them and follow her up. Most medications and recreational drugs can cause impairments in the developing fetus, especially the brain. They should be avoided. Should she need a course of antibiotics for some reason, she should replace the loss of her “protective” intestinal bacteria with nutrient-dense foods and have at least two cups of live culture yogurt, leafy greens, fiber, and good brand of high-cultured probiotic supplements.

Probiotics protect mother from yeast infections and intestinal problems and also make her absorb nutrients from food and synthesize others. According to Dr. Williams Sears, “Probiotics convert the fiber in food into healthy fatty acids that nourish the cells that line the intestines” and prevent gas, heartburn, diarrhea, bugs, preeclampsia, postpartum depression, and more.

According to blogger Jasmine Jafferali, “Babies born vaginally have a higher diversity of gut bacteria in their intestinal tract versus those born via C-section,” as mother’s vaginal canal is rich in “healthy” bacteria that could benefit the baby during childbirth and protect it from allergies, eczema/psoriasis, asthma, diabetes, obesity, colic, and more. That is why mothers of C-section babies should take probiotics during the last trimester of the gestation to reduce the risk of baby developing allergies.

Cigarette and shisha (argila) smoking are harmful to the health of mother and fetus. They produce carcinogenic effects and restrict the oxygen of the fetus, resulting in underweight newborns.

Water is an essential element that should not be overlooked. Good health and sufficient water intake give energy and make mother happy. Water also helps reduce nausea, acid reflux, indigestion, and constipation, which accompany pregnancies.

One precious advice, when you want to eat big quantities of fat — even good fats — you should move, exercise, and be active to burn the excessive amounts. It is never good to consume too much of any kind of food even if it is healthy.

What is healthy in small amounts is not necessarily healthy in excess. It causes imbalances, a condition that leads to weight gain and illness. MODERATION in all lifestyles is key. It is a faulty belief that a pregnant mother should eat for two. She should make good choices of nutrient-rich foods.

I spoke in earlier articles about the mother-to-be to happy, serene, and comfortable. Worries, arguments, and conflict make her unhappy, anxious, and depressed, which is not good for her or her baby. Studies have shown that persons, who enjoyed a wider circle of social support of family and friends, were healthier and lived longer.

I advise young women not to delay pregnancy. The younger they are; the less pregnancy complications occur, as they are healthier in their twenties than in their forties and fertility is higher then. To start a healthy pregnancy, mothers should be well-nourished and strong to sustain the hardship of childbearing and demands of a developing fetus.

Shanahan advises a mother not to start a second pregnancy immediately after the first baby. A malnourished and depleted gestating mother could produce a baby with less than optimal health and bone structure. When depleted after a recent pregnancy, she is left sapped of energy and strength (anemic and nutrient-deficient), with weaker bones, paler demeanor, brittle hair and nails, thinner lips, and acute postpartum symptoms (baby blues).

Shanahan’s book has more detailed information. I seriously recommend young parents-to-be to read it thoroughly.

References:

• Dr. Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan, MD, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

• HYPERLINK “http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937803004952” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937803004952, Probiotics and preterm babies

• HYPERLINK “http://www.parenting.com/users/dr-william-sears” http://www.parenting.com/users/dr-william-sears, Probiotics and pregnancy

• HYPERLINK “http://www.chicagoparent.com/community/healthy-jasmine/2014/probiotics” http://www.chicagoparent.com/community/healthy-jasmine/2014/probiotics, Probiotics and pregnancy

N.B.:

Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.

The previous Health Solutions articles are located at www. arabnews.com

—

Email: [email protected]