Why we need fat and cholesterol in our diets

I have been pleasantly surprised to read that the book by Gittleman and my Nutrition textbook have a lot of similar suggestions on nutrition. This is good because I have always thought that there was too much conflicting information out there. I hope that this will make it easier for me to get a well rounded view on what is a healthy diet for mamas during their pregnancies.

I love this quote:
“I emphasize variety, ensuring consumption of a wide range of vegetables, fruits, protein, low-fat and full-fat milk products, and complex carbohydrates. This means putting lean meat and eggs back into your diet; it means using all the available sources of calcium, like green leafy vegetables, not just dairy products. Variety will give your body maximum exposure to all the essential nutrients from food sources without risking the problems of excesses-gluten intolerance, yeast infections, and degenerative diseases”. Pg. 50

This quote sums up what my idea of a healthy diet should be. I feel like, instead of putting so much energy into cutting out things, that we should put more energy into finding and adding more of a variety of foods into our diets. An example would be that people have become afraid of red meats, and have therefore cut them out of their lives and now are having hard times coming up with good sources of b-12 and iron, or that our saturated fat intake (which isn’t evil, just needs to be curved) is up because people are forgetting about the vegetable sources of calcium in our diets like dark leafy greens and are consuming so much dairy products that they are eating too much saturated fat from dairy.

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time reading about cholesterol….dun dun duhhhhhh (that is supposed to be suspenseful music, if you couldn’t tell). What I learned is that there are actually two kinds of cholesterol, dietary and blood. Our body actually creates and need cholesterol and is considered “so vital that it is contained in practically every cell of the body and aids in cell membrane repair” pg.52. What I am finding is that our body actually makes most of its own cholesterol and takes very little from the dietary cholesterol stores. There are also studies that suggest that it is not necessarily the cholesterol in food, but the oxidized cholesterol after you cook it that poses the problem: “it is not pure cholesterol that creates artery-clogging plaque, but rather the toxic substances produced by the oxidation of cholesterol. Oxidized derivatives of cholesterol are unstable and decompose into free radicals, which damage blood vessel walls.” Pg. 55

My conclusion at the end of these chapters is that we need fats in our diets! Fats provide energy, it provides warmth, cushion, and allows our bodies to ingest those ever important fat soluble vitamins. It is needed for hormone production and body development, so cutting fat out of our diets completely is actually detrimental to our health. I am going to make the conscious effort to eat a better variety of foods so that I will be more likely to get all of the nutrients my body needs. Next in the book is about the role that sugar and carbohydrates play on our bodies. Until next time!

Let Nutrition Month Begin!!

I have decided to make this my official “Nutrition Month”. What does that mean? It means that for 30 days (and maybe longer) I am going to be concentrating my studies on nutrition. I am not just going to focus nutrition during pregnancy, but nutrition in general!!

I am trying to gather some really well rounded sources. Obviously I tend to lean more towards the “crunchy” side of thinking, but I really want to know what the best and healthiest options for mothers and families are. I am willing to have my mind changed about what I think to be healthy!

I have a few books that I will be reading, as part of my studies. Super Nutrition for Women by, Ann Louise Gittleman; Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy by, Elizabeth Somer; Prescription for Nutritional Healing by, Phyllis A. Balch; Prescription for Dietary Wellness by, Phyllis A. Balch; Nourishing Traditions by, Sally Fallon; The Natural Pregnancy Book by, Aviva Jill Romm; and Understanding Nutrition Custom Edition for Oklahoma State University by, E. Whitney and S. Rolfes. I really hope that these books will give me a well rounded look.

I have begun reading the Super Nutrition for Women by Ann Louise Gittleman. It isn’t a very long book, but it seems to be packed full with information. Gittleman talks about the dangers of living on the American low-fat/no-fat diet. We have deprived ourselves of a vital nutritional element from our lives. Without fats, our bodies cannot utilize the fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Let’s look at what some of the vitamins help with:

Vitamin A: needed for new cell growth, healthy skin, hair, and tissues, and vision in dim light.
Vitamin D: promotes absorption of calcium for healthy bones and teeth
Vitamin E: protects red blood cells and helps prevent destruction of vitamin A and C.
Vitamin K: necessary for normal blood clotting and synthesis of proteins found in plasma, bone, and kidneys.

This is just on a basic level, what these vitamins do for us. I am only two chapters in, but am finding out reasons not to be so scared of fats! I will continue to post as I learn more. I am hoping that I will have this book read by the end of the week. It just depends on how much the kids will let me read 

On a different note, I want to say that I am working on a blog post about my miscarriage with Gabriel. So much has happened and I have learned so much from my experience and time with him that I want to make sure I am able to truly express what his life and death has meant to me. I promise that I will not leave everyone hanging for very long. Until next time!