Vegetarian and pregnant - advised to eat fish/meat

[GuppieK]

I wonder if anyone can help. I've been vegetarian since the age of 10 and have always assumed I eat a pretty varied and healthy diet - lots of fruit, vegetables, pulses, seeds etc and tofu, 'Quorn' products, soya etc.

Recently me and my partner have been trying to get pregnant and I've had 2 early miscarriages and am now pregnant (7wks) for the third time. This has coincided with me seeing an osteopath (who is also a nutritionist) for a shoulder injury and he has started to look into my diet as he thinks I might be lacking in protein which could be the reason my shoulder isn't getting better quickly.

He seems to think my diet is pretty unhealthy, lacking in vital fats and protein, and that I should really at least eat fish and preferably meat. Today he has said that the reason for my miscarriages could be that my body isn't up to carrying a child so aborted the pregnancies. We've come to the compromise that I'll take a hemp protein supplement (I already take flaxseed oil and a multi-vitamin) and also reduce my soya and 'Quorn' consumption, as he says they're heavily processed foods and not good for us. But I'm super paranoid now, and I was already paranoid because of the miscarriages! I feel like it's possible to be a healthy vegetarian and provide a baby with everything it needs to grow, but after 24 years of being vegetarian my beliefs are being severely tested and I'm wondering whether I need to start at least eating fish.

Has anyone here had a healthy vegetarian pregnancy, and what types of food did you make sure you got lots of? Thanks :)

I just wondered whether you were underweight? You mention being slim and your diet sounds very healthy but low on calories?

Susie, carbs don't have protein in at all. Some food that is mainly carbohydrate also contains protein, but it is not true to say that carbohydrate is the same as protein.

How much is enough?

Health professionals suggest men should eat 55.5g protein a day and women 45g. In practical terms, eating a moderate amount of protein - in one or two meals every day ? should give you all the protein you need. Most people in the UK eat far more protein than they actually need.

You should eat two to three servings of protein every day from both plant and animal sources. Here are some examples of one serving (about the size of a standard pack of playing cards):

100g boneless meat (eg lean beef, lamb or pork)
100g boneless poultry (eg chicken or turkey breast)
100g fish (eg salmon, sardines or tuna)
2 medium eggs
3 tablespoons of seeds (eg sunflower or pumpkin seeds)
3 tablespoons of nuts (eg almonds or walnuts)

I strongly disagree with all this obsession with protein intake; it's a 1960s attitude of what vegetarianism means in practice. You have to be a pretty avid fruitarian to become deficient in protein. Milk products provide almost perfect proteins for human beings. It's vegans who sometimes run risks of protein deficiency.

Vegetarians & vegans are susceptible to iron deficiency, if Guppie wants to think carefully about quality of her diet I'd focus on that, first.

SecretSquirrels - I don't think I'm underweight, although I might check with the doctor when I go this Friday. I've pretty much always been between 8 1/2 - 9 stone and am 5ft 5 and I'm sure in the past a doctor has said I'm within a normal range. I guess my calorie intake could be on the lower side - maybe if this pregnancy sticks to the 3 month stage I'll try to count what calories I'm taking in to make sure it's enough. Saying that, I do eat cake pretty regularly!

Cake has plenty of calories, fat, some iron & protein (eggs+flour, butter).

Your diet did not cause those m/cs, Guppie. Improve your diet if you want to for your overall general health, but do NOT do it because you're fretting about fertility.

Diet for a Small Planet is a good read for understanding the nutrition questions in vegetarianism; but also do read the follow up book which basically says that there's very rarely need to worry about it all, anyway!! I imagine both are available via public library.

I'm another vegetarian who has had healthy pregnancies and babies. I never eat quorn or soya 'meat' products.
My main sources of protein are -
nuts
lentils
cheese, [especially cottage cheese], yoghurt, milk etc
quinoa
beans, chickpeas etc
You also have to remember that protein is actually found in most foods, so as others have said it is almost impossible not to eat enough protein, as long as you don't have a very restrictive/faddy diet.[a healthy/varied vegetarian diet wouldn't come into that category]
I never even count how much protein I am taking in, but I know it is sufficient as I am putting on visible muscle.

I also had a perfectly healthy veggie pregnancy. In fact, I got told I had the iron levels of a man. I put it down to eating lots of spinach. I do think there is a lot of misinformation about vegetarian diets even among professionals who should know better.

I was vegetarian for 15yrs when I got pregnant with DS. I was also slightly underweight and my midwife made me see a consultant because of it, but my periods were regular as clockwork so it never caused a problem. Was at the gym every week too.

No problems with 2 pregnancies in 2yrs. Never anaemic, although I have always taken multi-vits and continued to take them during pregnancy.

The one thing I did do was to cut back on tea a little, about 2 cups a day, and make sure I took the vits at a different time as caffiene apparently inhibits iron absorbtion.

However I did crack at the end of my second pregnancy and ate organic chicken, the craving had been unbearable for weeks .

Are you pregnant at the minute? My understanding is flaxseed oil isn't recommended in pregnancy and you should switch to a seaweed derived omega supplement. I think the one I took was called opti 3.

I had a healthy vegetarian pregnancy. I also had a miscarriage of a previous pregnancy. It was not linked to being vegetarian. Your osteopath is a charlatan.

Globally millions of people are life-long vegetarians and obviously reproduce.

An accupuncturist always told me I'd be healthier if I ate meat, which I chose to ignore. A different accupuncturist told me that stress was what had caused my miscarriage (on the day I had the "bad news" scan). Everyone likes to think they know the answers don't they. Have had several mc and 2 healthy pg whilst being veggie, it was getting treatment for NKC that helped not changing my diet.

Meant to also say congratulations and all the best for a successful pg OP.

Thanks MainlyMaynie, I am 7 weeks pregnant at the moment. I just had a quick Google of flaxseed during pregnancy and it does seem advised to avoid it. I'll get some of the stuff you mention when I'm next at the health food shop...

Please be very very careful if you do decide to try to introduce meat. I have shared this story on MN before. My dp is German and we had dinner with his parents in Germany when I was pregnant. MiL knows I am veggie but decided that it wasn't healthy to be veggie while pregnant so she carefully hid meat in my food which made me very sick. She went to great lengths to hide it (even got quorn type stuff so that the packaging was available to show me), so I know I was sick because of the meat and not because of some kind of psychological cause because I was upset from eating it. I got so so sick that we got concerned that I might miscarry. I had no idea at that stage why I was so ill. That was the only reason she confessed (and even then it was only to dp not to me and she never apologised for it - do I win for terrible MiL stories?!).

Apart from that I have had 2 healthy pregnancies as a veggie so I would think your nutritionist is wrong. There is nothing in meat that you can't get from other sources, you just have to check you're getting the right amount of the right vitamins etc, just as someone who eats meat should. Perhaps you could speak to a professional dietician who can advise you on your protein levels if you're concerned.

Guppie

Just to put things in perspective

DS1 - I was fully veggie he was born at 38 weeks just over 7lb
DS2 - I had already added fish to my diet for other reasons - he was born at 38 weeks just under 7lb

Spot the difference

It really isn't necessary to change from a veggie diet if you don't want to.

I took this when I was pregnant Udo's Choice as it has the right mix of Omega 3, 6 and 9.

I have been a veggie for 28 years and have 2 kids, both veggie with no health problems. I have never been told by any dr, midwife etc to eat meat/fish!

Your 'nutirionist' clearly does not know what he is talking about. I've been a vegan for 29 years. I've had 3 children. Millions of vegetarians give birth every year.

Hi op - another vegetarian of 25 years here who had a perfectly healthy pregnancy. Midwife kept an eye on my iron levels, which did get quite low towards the end, but not enough to require supplements. Also have been bfing ds for 18 months now and haven't yet keeled over, though I do still take a multivitamin and eat a bit more than I would normally. Ds is also vegetarian (and virtually vegan thanks to a dairy allergy), but is thriving and bumping the top of the centile charts.

I would think that if you are eating a balanced diet, eating decent portions, and often enough, you shouldn't be worrying. No harm in upping your protein intake if you feel you need to, but please don't feel forced into eating fish if you don't want to. Growing a baby is a beautiful thing and you don't have to eat dead stuff to do it. Best of luck.

7 weeks pregnant! Congratulations, and I'm not surprised this man's "advice" has concerned you.

Just wanted to say as a committed meat and fish eater that I agree with everyone on this thread that a vegetarian diet is of course perfectly fine and healthy and no probs and this bloke has spoken way out of turn about something he seems to have very "faddy" ideas about.

A member of my family had 3 healthy pregnancies on a strict vegan diet so to your "nutritionist" quite frankly.

Also extremely baffled about how tofu is considered "bad" due to being processed yet miso is "good" despite also being processed. And miso, while delicious, is terribly salty.

I vote cobblers to the nutritionist. Tell him you are paying him to look at your shoulder and you have decided to consult with someone with recognised qualifications about your diet

My iron levels were low through both pregnancies and I needed supplements - and I eat red meat. I think it's just one of those things with pregnancy.

He's talking out of his arse. As per the (more helpful!) comments on here, if you eat a varied, healthy diet and are aware of what you need to include you should be fine. You prob need to get advice from somebody appropriately qualified/experienced if you're worried though. Congratulations and I hope everything goes well for you.

(Been veggie for 26 years and vegan for 13 and am currently cuddling my healthy veggie 7mo DD at the grand old age of 36).

Another veggie who had a problem-free pregnancy here.

Vegetarian all my life, vegan for the last 8.5 years, healthy 15 month old daughter. And several vegan friends with healthy children.

This might be helpful: www.vegetarian.org.uk/guides/motherandbaby/

Oh, and try tempeh if you'd rather not eat the processed soya stuff, it's fermented. Not that you need huge amounts of protein, it's a myth. And the protein combining thing was debunked years ago, there's nothing better about meat, you will get all the essential amino acids from a varied plant-based diet.

It's amazing how many people want to bash the alternative option.

If your shoulder isnt healing & you've had a couple of miscarriages (sorry to hear that) then clearly something isn't quite right.

Absolutely agree that soya is a nutritionally deficient food & quorn is made in big vats from goodness knows what.

If you don't want to go for meat, do you eat eggs ? Go for the organic ones as they should not be fed soya & are nutritionally superior. There is a very good fish oil capsule you could try which is called MorEPA. Can buy it on amazon. Another excellent booster is Feraglobin. Its an easily absorbed iron supplement with added B vitamins. I don't eat red meat but my iron was so low I ate spaghetti bolognese (organic grass fed beef) for the first time in about 25 yrs & my body didn't know what hit it ! A couple of weeks on Feraglobin & iron levels were in the higher levels.

Could you possible consider eating organic chicken for a short time to help heal your body ? Pregnancy really does take it out of you & if you've been eating below par for a while, this will have an impact. And of course it's all very well people saying they were veggie/vegan whatever & have had healthy pregancies.... this is about you.

It's actually quite difficult to substitute the high quality meat protein v the veggie protein.

The other thing to look at is the blood type diet. If you know your blood type, I can check if you are more suited to the vegetarian diet.