Going Vegetarian During Your Pregnancy

Now that you’re pregnant, you’re wondering if your decision to become vegetarian can still be carried out successfully during your pregnancy. And while it is possible for you to obtain all the nutrients your body will need during pregnancy through a well-planned, nutrient-dense vegetarian diet, careful planning and observation will be crucial to your overall success transitioning to vegetarianism during your pregnancy. In other words: take it slow and be smart!

A good vegetarian diet has a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, lentils, and nuts and some eggs and dairy or their equivalent if you so choose. Fast food, highly processed junk foods, and canned fruits and vegetables are eaten rarely if at all. It’s imperative that you make wise food choices at this crucial time, since a pregnant woman only needs approximately 300 more calories per day and about 10-16 extra grams of protein; however, the body's need for certain nutrients increases significantly. Every bite you take is important when you're pregnant.

While the RDAs (recommended daily allowances) for almost all nutrients increase, especially important are folic acid, iron, zinc, and vitamin B-12. Attention to adequate amounts of vitamin B-12 is crucial for vegetarians who choose not to eat eggs and dairy.

Work closely with your health care professional during this transition. The changeover from a meat-eating to a vegetarian diet can be rough on your body as it actually goes through a detoxification process during the transition. So, you want to ensure your baby is getting all the nutrients it needs at this time, and is growing and developing at a healthy rate. Start very slowly; perhaps only one or two days per week eating a vegetarian diet.

Gradually work in soy and plant-based proteins into your diet, and little by little use them to replace proteins obtained from eating meat products. Be sure to adequately supplement your diet with a quality prenatal supplement, and get adequate amounts of exercise and exposure to sunlight to promote your body to naturally produce vitamin D.

With careful planning, observation, and your health care professional’s guidance, the transition to vegetarianism during your pregnancy can be a cleansing and healthy start for both you and your baby to a lifetime of optimal health.

Related Articles:

Sample Daily Menu Routine For Pregnant Vegetarians

Can You Really Switch To Vegetarianism During Your Pregnancy?

Sample Daily Menu Routine For Pregnant Vegetarians

Though your nutritional needs increase now that you’re pregnant, your pregnancy vegetarian diet shouldn’t have to change all that much. With some careful planning to ensure your caloric, vitamin, and mineral needs are met, you can still enjoy a rich variety of nutrient-dense delicious foods and help give your baby a nutritious jump-start.

Consider the following daily menu for ideas and inspiration.

Breakfast:

1/2 cup oatmeal with maple syrup
1 slice whole wheat toast with fruit spread
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup calcium and vitamin D fortified orange juice

Snack:

1/2 whole wheat bagel with margarine
Banana

Lunch:

Veggie burger on whole wheat bun with mustard and catsup
1 cup steamed collard greens
Medium apple
1 cup soy milk

Snack:

3/4 cup ready-to-eat cereal with 1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup soy milk

Dinner:

3/4 cup tofu stir-fried with 1 cup vegetables
1 cup brown rice
Medium orange

Snack:

Whole grain crackers with 2 Tbsp peanut butter
4 ounces apple juice

If morning sickness is giving you fits during your pregnancy, try eating low fat, high carbohydrate nutrient-dense foods. These are digested more quickly and stay in the stomach for less time giving less time for queasiness. Remember to eat often. Sometimes nausea is really hunger in disguise.

Be sure to drink juice, water, or soy milk if you can't eat solid food. Keep trying to eat whatever you can. If you’re unable to eat or drink the appropriate amounts of foods or fluids for 24 hours or more, get in touch with your health care provider.

Pregnancy and Vegetarianism - Special Needs to Consider

It’s apparent that your nutritional needs increase when you are pregnant. However, you only need approximately 300 more calories than normal during this time, so it’s imperative that you make wise food choices and eat nutrient-dense food.

A good start is to ensure that you’re eating plenty of protein. Your need for protein increases about 30 percent during pregnancy, but most vegetarian women eat more than enough protein in their regular diets. Soy proteins, beans and legumes are wonderful vegetarian sources of protein.

You need to also step up your calcium intake. Each day you need to be eating at least four servings of calcium-rich foods like broccoli, calcium-fortified soy milk, tofu, and dark green leafy vegetables.

Sunlight stimulates your body to naturally produce vitamin D, and it’s probably the easiest way to ensure you get an adequate amount each day. You only need about 20 minutes directly on your face and hands two to three times per week, when the sun is weakest. If you aren’t able to get out into the sun, be sure to incorporate vitamin-D rich foods into your daily diet by choosing fortified cereals, or using a supplement.

Take a look at your iron intake, as it’s a vital mineral during your pregnancy, especially the last half. Choose beans, dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds, or fortified breads and cereals. You might also want to consider supplementing to ensure you get the required amount.

Vitamin B-12 is also an important nutrient during your pregnancy, but it’s difficult to find in most plant-based foods. Select fortified cereals or soy milk, brewer’s yeast, and consider a multivitamin with an adequate level to ensure your body gets the amount it needs.

And though zinc is difficult to come by in a strict vegan or vegetarian diet, the need for it increases during pregnancy. Whole grains and legumes are wise choices to obtain this nutrient, but you again may need to supplement to make sure you’re getting what you need. As long as you eat a good variety of nutritious foods that provide the right amount of calories for a healthy weight gain, you should have no problem getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs at this marvelous time.

And though many women do choose to take a prenatal vitamin daily, they should not be a substitute for good nutrition. Develop a cooperative relationship with your healthcare provider who supports your vegetarian lifestyle, and consider consulting a nutritionist when necessary.

Two-Day Diabetic Vegetarian Menu

Though the task of planning out a diabetic vegetarian menu might seem a bit daunting, with a little creativity forethought, it can actually be very simple. Consider the following two-day menu for some ideas and inspiration:

Day one

Breakfast: 1/2 cup melon slices 2 slices French toast (made with soy milk and cooked in vegetable oil with 1/4 cup chopped peaches or apricots

4 ounces enriched soymilk

Morning Snack: 1/2 cup fresh grapes
6 assorted low-fat crackers
Sparkling water

Lunch: 1 cup mushroom barley soup with 2 ounces smoked seitan (A chewy, protein-rich food made from wheat gluten and used as a meat substitute)
1/2 cup green and wax bean salad with
2 teaspoons sesame seeds and
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat salad dressing
8 ounces enriched soymilk

Afternoon Snack: 1/2 cup sugar-free chocolate pudding
(You may create this at home with a sugar-free mix like Sorbee or Estee and any nondairy milk.)

Dinner: 1 cup chili with lentils with
1/4 cup prepared Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
over 1/3 cup white rice
1/2 cup steamed or roasted carrots
1/2 cup fresh pineapple slices

Evening Snack: 1/2 cup pretzels
8 ounces enriched soymilk

Day two

Breakfast: 1/3 cup cranberry juice or sugar free cranberry juice cocktail
3/4 cup cooked oatmeal with 1/2 banana and 1 teaspoon vegan margarine
8 ounces enriched soymilk

Morning Snack: 3 cups low fat popped popcorn with 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup orange juice

Lunch: 6" pita stuffed with 2 ounces meat substitute (equivalent to 2 ADA meat exchanges),
lettuce, radishes, and cucumbers
1 cup shredded cabbage with 1-1/2 Tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
8 ounces enriched soymilk

Afternoon Snack: Fruit smoothie made with 8 ounces soymilk, 2 ounces silken tofu, and
1/2 cup frozen or fresh berries, blended together
3 sugar-free ginger snaps

Dinner: Baked eggplant (1/2 cup) with 1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup black beans with 1/3 cup brown rice
one medium baked apple

Evening Snack: 2 Tablespoons peanut butter on 6 crackers

This is just a sample two day diet for diabetics, you can try some other combination also, which suits you better.

Vegetarian Diet Benefits To Diabetics

Diabetics must choose any food they eat very carefully, as each food choice they make has a profound impact on their overall health on a meal-to-meal basis. Diabetes affects people of all ages, both genders, from all walks of life and backgrounds. Untreated, it can cause wounds to heal slowly, infections take longer to cure, blindness, and kidney failure.

Diet is one of the most important ways of controlling diabetes, and a vegetarian lifestyle with its emphasis on low fat, high fiber, and nutrient-rich foods is very complementary.

Affecting more than 30 million people worldwide, this disease inhibits the body from properly processing foods. Usually, most of the food we eat is digested and converted to glucose, a sugar which is carried by the blood to all cells in the body and used for energy.

The hormone insulin then helps glucose pass into cells. But diabetics are unable to control the amount of glucose in their blood because the mechanism which converts sugar to energy does not work correctly. Insulin is either absent, present in insufficient quantities or ineffective. As a result glucose builds up in the bloodstream and leads to problems such as weakness, inability to concentrate, loss of co-ordination and blurred vision.

If the correct balance of food intake and insulin isn’t maintained, a diabetic can also experience blood sugar levels that are too low. If this state continues for a prolonged period of time, it can lead to coma and even death.

Though incurable, diabetes can be successfully controlled through diet and exercise, oral medications, injections of insulin, or a combination. Instead of counting calories diabetics must calculate their total carbohydrate intake so that no less than half their food is made up of complex carbohydrates.

Many diabetic vegetarians have discovered that as a result of their meatless diet, they’ve had to use insulin injections less, which gives them a feeling of power and control over their disease.