GynoFiles

There are benefits and potential negatives to a vegetarian diet. However, vegetarian diets have benefits and for those who might want to try one, there are many on line sources of information. Here is one kit that may be extremely helpful to your efforts?  For those with specific food choices that are beyond just being a vegetarian, the Cleavland clinic emphasizes what food groups will help replace these deficiencies. Especially in pregnancy, there can be negative effects on the growth of the pregnancy if you aren't careful to balance the nutrition many get when on vegetarian diets.

Many excellent sources of nutrition need to be cooked to release their nutrients and to aid digestion. This is only one of a few reasons that eating raw food is not necessarily best for moms, babies and children. Raw food diets, according to NYT article on the raw food movement often lack B12, which can be taken in supplements. For those raw food vegans who don't eat meat, or eat very limited meat, or do not take vitamins,  their B12 status can be measured by blood testing.the other concern is that a raw food diet or a vegan diet may face in pregnancy is thyroid dysfunction. U.S. vegetarians are iodine sufficient. U.S. vegans may be at risk for low iodine intake, and vegan women of child-bearing age should supplement with 150 μg iodine daily according to a study in the Jou rnal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism . So those who have specialized diets need to discuss their nutrition with their gyno before pregnancy. For ACOG's position on vegetarianism and being vega...

  Zinc is potent micronutrient that we need for general as well as gyno health. Health effects on the fetus of being deficient in zinc has been known for over 50 years and some famous studies of dwarfism in Iran had been traced to zinc deficiencies. It is a trace mineral , also called trace elements , widely available in meat and plant sources. Because the zinc is harder for us to chemically extract from vegetarian food sources so there is lower bioavailability in plant sources. In other words, having lower bioavaibility means, its there in your food, but you just can't extract it. Vegetarians and vegans are urged to get approximately 50% more zinc than those who do eat meat. In fact your zinc blood levels will vary depending upon how much meat you do eat. Fish sources have zinc too, and oysters are among the best way to get zinc into your diet. Zinc is necessary for the function of dozens of our body's metabolic enzyme systems; it is important for our immune system, the...