Pregnancy Nutrition for a Healthy Birth
Our vision is to provide an informative and holistic change in the way birth is experienced by families around the world. We aim to prepare families in body, mind, and spirit for a healthy pregnancy and empowered birth experience.
My belief is that if we are all unique individuals in this life, then our nutrition should reflect our uniqueness. It should be tailored to our individual tastes, lifestyle, vitamin and mineral status, constitution, body, mind, and soul. With copious (and often conflicting) information out there, how do we know what we should actually be eating for the best health outcome for our bodies and our growing baby’s development? Where does pregnancy nutrition start? Pre or post conception?
Where does pregnancy nutrition start?
A little story…
My grandmother told me that her mum, my great grandma (a woman born in the late 1800s who birthed 5 children), always ensured to eat a colourful plate. She ate whole proteins (unprocessed meat or fish, as we know it today) claiming it was for optimum health and nutrition. She lived a healthy life with no medical complications.
My grandma followed this advice, too, but as the years went on, she incorporated more packaged and processed foods into the diet of herself and her family. It would be hard to label my grandma’s meals as balanced. The sugars, processed grains, and trans fats were substantial. My grandma suffered inflammatory, autoimmune and heart disease, being sick the last 15 or so years of her life.
Growing up, my parents fed us some basic colourful foods, but honestly there was a high amount of processed foods, food colouring, trans fats, processed grains, and sugar. With this diet my parents suffered from what I believe is food impacted illness much earlier in life than my grandma. Remembering that my great grandma did not suffer from these issues left me noting a trend: the quality and variety of food consumed by my family altered their health.
Let’s look at my generation: when I left home the forced menu I had learned as a child followed me for the first several years on my own. With this diet I noticed cavities, acne, and inflammation in my body.
I wanted to feel better and that lead me to the study of holistic nutrition both as a personal passion and to enhance my career. The goal was to find balance, prevent illness, and heal any damage previously done. I decided to alter my food choices to align more with what I imagined my great grandmother ate: lots of whole foods. I am now in my 50s and so far, so good. I feel great, and have no autoimmune or heart disease! The only concern I do have is a low mineral status, which I believe was depleted during my 3 pregnancies and prolonged breastfeeding. We will look more at this later.
My story isn’t based on science; it’s following generational knowledge and my perceived impact on family health due to the modern diet, along with my education in holistic nutrition. My belief is food can harm and food can heal. As a midwife I saw blood lab values change, and health improve with adjusted dietary needs. These changes came in the form of supplements, vitamins and minerals, herbs, and food. I also saw people toss out healthy food choices and choose processed foods with the belief that during pregnancy you can eat anything and everything. I hope to encourage balanced choices for both parent and child.
I believe the state of our nutritional health before conception is important, but can still be dramatically improved throughout pregnancy—so please try not to worry if this pregnancy was unexpected or nutrition wasn’t optimal or of interest before now. Even small changes can make a big impact.
We can only do our best and that’s okay!
What is your relationship with food?
In ‘A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth', Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives’, Dr. Deepak Chopra explores the science behind my great grandmother’s ideas of a colourful plate. Chopra references the book What Color Is Your Diet? by David Herber, M.D., about the visual colours of food and the nutritional benefits of a colourful diet. They point out the appearance of the western diet “[…]with an emphasis on browns and beiges tends to be rather bland from a visual as well as a nutritional perspective.”
Examples of foods of various colours are given below from A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth:
Red – Strawberries, red bell peppers, pink grapefruit, tomatoes, watermelon, beets, radishes
Orange – Oranges, cantaloupe, carrots, apricots, mango
Yellow – Yellow squash, bananas, onions, peach, millet
Green – Broccoli, zucchini, spinach, green beans, chard, lima beans
Blue – Blueberries, blue corn
Indigo – Eggplant, blackberries, plums, prunes, black beans
Violet – Grapes, kale, purple potatoes, purple basil
As a holistic nutritionist, I recommend incorporating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables along with your choice of high-quality fats (coconut, olive oil, avocado, etc) and whole proteins (rice and beans, free range eggs and meats, and seafoods when safe). It can be helpful to incorporate a prenatal supplement and have a focus on the mineral content in your diet. Personally, I did not focus on minerals in my pregnancies, and, combined with prolonged breastfeeding, I myself am now managing weak/poor teeth. I believe supplementing with mixed dried seaweeds, bone broth and other mineral rich foods can potentially increase mineral stores in the body and reduce the risk or bone and tooth depletion.
The bottom line…
Food can lead to health issues but it also has the power to heal the body. It is important to remember everyone is unique, with different nutritional needs. When necessary, a care provider can help to assess your unique needs.
I stand behind the knowledge my great grandma passed down to my family—that consuming a variety of colourful foods, high nutrient dense foods, supplementing when necessary and reducing or eliminating processed foods will benefit both you and your growing baby. I encourage you to get creative and have fun. You know your body best; trust what it needs and remember you are always doing your best. You’ve got this!
Inside the Birthing Freedom class series, we have conversations about individual unique needs, sugar as a problem in the diet, food pyramids, designed far and away from the standard government ideas of food consumption for both plant-based and meat eaters. And, of course, we focus on informed choice, autonomy, loving yourself and creating your best life.
Our vision is to provide an informative and holistic change in the way birth is experienced by families around the world.Follow us on Instagram
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Meet the Author
Angela Rennie, RM, RYT, Spiritual Mentor, Holistic Nutritionist
Angela is the founder of Birthing Freedom, a holistic birth education curriculum and course that encompasses the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. 
