Brewer Diet

lindalee9 · 04-20-2011, 06:41 PM

Is anyone doing this? How are you able to eat all that food everyday? It sounds like SO much. I get full really fast right now, I think because of how the baby is positioned (also getting frequent heartburn as well!).

I guess I've been eating too much in one sitting instead of breaking it up into small meals?

At least I will begin to add some more veggies to my diet based on this list.

19Deltawifey · 04-20-2011, 08:53 PM

I'm doing the Brewers diet, I don't keep track of calories or protein grams though. What I do is focus on getting in my protein via milk, lunch meat, cheese/string cheese, and animal protein. I eat several servings a day, I can tell when I don't get enough protein because I start feeling sick, lethargic, blurry vision, migraines, and fatigued. I basically listen to my body. I don't salt my food because I get enough salt in the foods I eat (animal protein, cheese) but this summer I probably will since I will be sweating more and drinking tons of water. I also eat condensed chicken noodle soup which has tons of salt but like Dr. Brewer says your body will flush out the excess salt by increasing your thirst thus making you drink more water and your body will flush out the excess salt.

I'm a grazer I eat small amounts of food throughout the day. I hate tracking my food but I probably get around 90+ grams of protein a day and the most convenient thing to snack on throughout the day is cheese. If I start feeling sick or not my usual self I just eat about 2 slices of cheese and I feel awesome afterwards. I developed preeclampsia with my other 2 pregnancies and I think this was because I wasn't taking in enough salt and protein. I'm planning a home birth this time and most home birth midwives have their patients follow the brewers diet.

My doula also told me to start drinking pregnancy tea (traditional medicinal) and since I started I've been feeling a lot better. Oops I also forgot to mention that I also eat lots of fruit and healthy carbs. Brewers wants you to eat healthy carbs and some mistake it for a high protein low carb diet which its not. It's a well balanced nutrition plan which has lots of great results and I'm praying I will be able to go this pregnancy without having protein in my urine like my other 2 pregnancies.

I think the BD is the reason why I haven't gained a ton of weight and why I'm slowly gaining at a healthy rate. My other 2 pregnancies I would eat lots of carbs and hardly any protein but now since I'm eating protein I feel more satisfied and over all more healthy.

19Deltawifey · 04-20-2011, 09:04 PM

Here's the link to the Brewers diet if anyone wants to look at it, they also have lots of studies on the site as well.

http://www.drbrewerpregnancydiet.com/id96.html

lindalee9 · 04-20-2011, 11:07 PM

That's interesting about the migraines and protein. I've been getting headaches daily for the past few weeks now. I wonder if I up my protein if they will stop?

19Deltawifey · 04-21-2011, 12:17 AM

It worked for me and sometimes just eating works also. If my calories are too low my head starts throbbing to where I can hardly walk without head pain, usually thats a sign that I need more calories. Also since I started drinking pregnancy tea my migraines haven't come back and my blood sugar seems very stable. Maybe look into pregnancy tea also, I drink a cup in the morning and another at night. Also getting more sleep, lack of sleep causes them also. It's worth a try, next time just eat 2 slices of cheese and see if it makes the migraine go away. Also make sure your getting enough salt also and drink water to thirst.

I'm not a doctor or anything so take my advice with a grain of salt

Goddess Jessica · 04-21-2011, 05:23 PM

I'm in a Bradley class now and they very much endorse the Brewer diet. I wish I would have known about it earlier although I was so nauseous it might not have worked. However, when I increased my protein to more than 100 grams a day, a lot of the worst "all day" nausea went away. So who knows?

Everlasting · 04-21-2011, 06:11 PM

What is 'pregnancy' tea?

I find it hard to stick to a strict anything diet... but I'm going to look at that list and work on more protein in the day. I've been dizzy and have frequent headaches and nausea and I think I am needing more protein in the diet. I've also started to try and steer away from lots of sugars and extra 'white' carbs lately. Going to TRY the Brewer diet and see if I can pull it off, but at least steer close to it and see what happens. My doctor has given me no advice as far as nutrition, weight gain, etc.

Deltawifey, we're at about the same due date!

October babies. This is my first baby though, although I have 2 stepchildrern (ages 1 and 3) so I'm used to diapers.

lindalee9 · 04-21-2011, 07:47 PM

I haven't had a headache today which is a plus. Of course, the day is not over, but so far, the extra protein is working!

19Deltawifey · 04-21-2011, 10:42 PM

Pregnancy tea is what my doula told me to drink when I told her I developed pre-e with my other pregnancies. The tea is made by Traditional Medicinal and the taste was disgusting at first but now it taste really good and I look forward to drinking it because it helps with my nasal congestion. She thinks it will help me not develop pre-e and my midwife has me following the Brewers diet

Everlast-lol we will be pushing out our babies around the same time

This will be my first pregnancy where I'm pregnant the whole entire summer. Gosh I pray the heat is kind.

I had a migraine this morning. I ate a decent size breakfast and drank the tea, the migraine went away. I don't know if it was the tea or the fact that I needed to eat something. Now that I'm eating more I feel great. I'm also doing hypnobabies home study and the diet they want us moms to use is the Brewers if not similar.

Everlasting · 04-22-2011, 04:42 PM

Deltawifey, I wonder if they health food place in town might have the pregnancy tea. Do you get it at a store or have to order it? My family has history of pre-e so that's something I've been concerned about. Can't afford a midwife or doula though with the insurance we have, so I am seeing a regular OB, though I'm not completely comfortable with all the things they recommend... more into traditional medicine.

I hope its a nice summer too. I'm already feeling so uncomfortable pregnant. Everyone keeps telling me I am going to like it and will miss it after the baby is out, but I am hating it so far... it just feels so uncomfortable! Ugh. I hope I start liking it soon. Maybe once I get a big round bump that I can look at and feel the baby moving it will be more fun.

Goddess Jessica · 04-22-2011, 05:17 PM

Brewers and Bradley both say pre-e can be fought with nutrition but I have significant doubts. Mostly because both Brewers and Bradley can't seem to get their statistics in order and they will quickly say the women who developed pre-e while following Brewers probably weren't "really" on it. That's really fishy to me.

I don't have pre-e (at least, not yet) nor do I have a family history of it. But I will say the general medical advice (small meals, less processed food, lots of fruits and veggies and more protein) just makes me feel good and I'm glad I didn't stress about it.

19Deltawifey · 04-22-2011, 05:27 PM

I ordered mine in bulk from amazon, I'm sure you can find it at the health food store also just call ahead of time to make sure. I forgot how much I paid for mine but the reviews said it's a lot cheaper on amazon. My order came with 6 boxes (16 tea bags (?) per box). The Brewers diet is also good at preventing pre-e, so I've heard. Thankfully my pre-e didn't develop till the 39 week mark but it sucks getting pitocin and those horrible contractions they caused. It was pure **** and some how I managed it without meds and I admit I'd be crazy enough to try it again if I were faced with a induction due to pre-e.

I'm very uncomfortable this pregnancy, my back is so stiff. I love sitting on the floor because it helps prevent constipation but lately when I try to get up from off the floor my lower back near my tail bone area starts to hurt so bad. Maybe I need to work on my posture, also getting into the hands and knees position and leaning on the couch feels really good for my back. I enjoyed my other 2 pregnancies but the 1st trimester for this pg was horrible with the ovarian cyst pain.

Thankfully in CO we have mild summers but it still gets hot and my skin feels so dry due to the lack of humidity here. I've been thinking about food constantly but this pg I've been craving healthy food. I've been craving seafood like lobster, blue crab, shrimp, etc. Processed foods make me feel sick so I'm sticking to mostly unprocessed and eating a well balanced diet.

Goddess Jessica · 04-22-2011, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 19Deltawifey

...but lately when I try to get up from off the floor my lower back near my tail bone area starts to hurt so bad.

Ohhhhh! I have this!

So here's what my OBGYN and doula think -- the baby is posterior and resting on my tailbone and that's leading to some sciatica and back pain. I actually can't do the cobbler's pose (butterfly) for more than 10 minutes a day now. However, I can recommend swimming and a birth ball and if you sit or recline on a chair or sofa, to stop doing that. It has drastically reduced my pain.

As far as having a posterior baby (which I immediately began freaking out about), they told me not to worry until I was past week 34.

And I really hate being pregnant. I know a lot of women who liked it but not me.

19Deltawifey · 04-23-2011, 12:20 AM

My son was posterior for most of my pregnancy which sucked! My babies just seem to love being posterior maybe it has something to do with my cervix they always talk about how it's posterior or tilted. Thankfully I haven't had to push out a posterior baby (knock on wood). Even when I would lean forward my baby would keep turning back to posterior they just seem to love that position.