LC and pregnancy
RobinK228
Posts: 63 Member
Does anyone have any experience with LC and pregnancy. Hypothetically, just wondering if it is something I should keep up with or if I will need to up my carbs...again, just hypothetical at this point.
Any insight from people who have experience would be helpful...
Any insight from people who have experience would be helpful...
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Replies
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You'll probably have to dig for them at this point, but there are a number of threads in the archives that discuss this topic.
Here are my thoughts:
Low carb in general is perfectly safe during pregnancy. In fact, it's still the go-to treatment of gestational diabetes.
Ketones are not, in my opinion, dangerous to the development of the fetus (though there is not much in the way of "official" research on this, because ethics). I draw that conclusion from the fact that many women suffer from various levels of morning sickness, which almost always results in the production of ketones in the mother's body. Additionally, the body will do whatever necessary to supply the proper nutrients to the fetus, including jeopardizing the long-term health of the mother (it's very common among western mothers to lose bone density and develop cavities from pregnancy, due to the demands for calcium, vitamin D, K2, and other nutrients vital to bone development and maintenance.
I've seen several anecdotes that pregnancy was all-around easier while low carb, very low carb, or even carnivore, than on other diets. Grain of salt, here, since all pregnancies are different in general (and I suspect that it depends more on the mother following the ideal diet for her), but I've little doubt that the greater availability and density of nutrients help keep hormones stabilized and prevents the triggers of the common pregnancy symptoms.
The hard part, though, may be maintaining the diet in the face of food aversions and super-nose. For example, in my last pregnancy, I could detect the milk going off a good three days before anyone else could. I also didn't touch hamburger in any form the entire time, because even the thought made me gag (first thing I ate after I gave birth, as soon as I could get my hands on it, was a burger).
Eat all the eggs. They're packed with all sorts of nutrients crucial to development -- choline, folate, cholesterol, saturated fat...
Drink lots of water. I personally found ice water (the colder, the better) to be great for my nausea.
If you're not comfortable with being very low carb, consider "falling back" to a Paleo/Primal way of eating. It focuses on meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds (and dairy, if Primal), and allows for more carbs, but from fruits and vegetables, so it's still nutrient dense, whole food sources, but can still be lower in carbs without issue.5 -
Thank you @Dragonwolf Exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for!
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In my last pregnancy, my diabetes was very difficult to control and I was by default pretty much low crab, only able to eat meat and veggies. Any grains or sugar made my blood sugars go crazy. i gained only 15 lbs and my son was born perfectly healthy at 7 lbs and at 39 weeks (only because I was a repeat c section)2
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I was going to say the same about gestational diabetes. I have it when I am pregnant and had to eat low carb per my dr. So I don't think it would hurt even if you don't have diabetes. But of course ask your dr first. 2
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Dragonwolf wrote: »You'll probably have to dig for them at this point, but there are a number of threads in the archives that discuss this topic.
Here are my thoughts:
Low carb in general is perfectly safe during pregnancy. In fact, it's still the go-to treatment of gestational diabetes.
Ketones are not, in my opinion, dangerous to the development of the fetus (though there is not much in the way of "official" research on this, because ethics). I draw that conclusion from the fact that many women suffer from various levels of morning sickness, which almost always results in the production of ketones in the mother's body. Additionally, the body will do whatever necessary to supply the proper nutrients to the fetus, including jeopardizing the long-term health of the mother (it's very common among western mothers to lose bone density and develop cavities from pregnancy, due to the demands for calcium, vitamin D, K2, and other nutrients vital to bone development and maintenance.
I've seen several anecdotes that pregnancy was all-around easier while low carb, very low carb, or even carnivore, than on other diets. Grain of salt, here, since all pregnancies are different in general (and I suspect that it depends more on the mother following the ideal diet for her), but I've little doubt that the greater availability and density of nutrients help keep hormones stabilized and prevents the triggers of the common pregnancy symptoms.
The hard part, though, may be maintaining the diet in the face of food aversions and super-nose. For example, in my last pregnancy, I could detect the milk going off a good three days before anyone else could. I also didn't touch hamburger in any form the entire time, because even the thought made me gag (first thing I ate after I gave birth, as soon as I could get my hands on it, was a burger).
Eat all the eggs. They're packed with all sorts of nutrients crucial to development -- choline, folate, cholesterol, saturated fat...
Drink lots of water. I personally found ice water (the colder, the better) to be great for my nausea.
If you're not comfortable with being very low carb, consider "falling back" to a Paleo/Primal way of eating. It focuses on meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds (and dairy, if Primal), and allows for more carbs, but from fruits and vegetables, so it's still nutrient dense, whole food sources, but can still be lower in carbs without issue.
1,000,000% agree.
I had GD with my last pregnancy. The dr put me on the ADA diabetic diet and I still needed meds. I reduced carbs, but it just wasn't low enough. I was still prediabetic after the baby was born. So I went under 100g. Cleared up entirely in 3 months. Too bad I wasn't bright enough to keep that up at the time.
If I could redo all 4 kiddos, knowing what I know now, I would have done all pregnancies, and my entire adult life, LCHF.
Your only concern with diet and LCHF would be, IMO, making sure you achieve enough calories. And that's the only concern as well if you breastfeed after. Get enough calories to fuel your body, and it takes care of the milk production just fine.1 -
I supposed I should have added that I'm already a T2 diabetic.
Thanks everyone for your insight. It's something I plan on discussing with my OB0 -
I'm currently expecting (27.5 weeks). I was on keto levels of LCHF pre-pregnancy, but when I got pregnant my OB told me it was ok to flex my carbs back up to around 100-150g/day (+/- based on morning sickness...she was the doctor who put me on LCHF to help with conception in the first place). That bump in carbs ended up being a huge blessing, because I was majorly on the struggle bus with nausea & LCHF before I raised my carbs back up...and carbs were the only things that didn't make me queasy.
I'm allowed to sustain at the "higher" carb level, as long as my glucose tolerance tests keep coming back ok (I get tested for Gestational Diabetes ever other month because of my PCOS). If I were to fail a 3-hour, she wants me back close to keto levels of low carb...not necessarily in ketosis, but low. I have been on Metformin the whole time both pre-pregnancy & for the entire pregnancy (1000mg XR b.i.d).
I'm not a T2 Diabetic, but I have PCOS with Insulin Resistance....so I was originally headed towards that path.
Once our daughter arrives, I'm totally going back to LCHF full-time. I miss it.
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I don't have much experience, but i am pregnant and low carbing, and my bp has come down a bit, and i did well on my glucose tolerance test, but i did a 24hour urine and the doctor noted i had higher than normal levels of protein in my urine. i assume it's from low carbing?0
