Bait And Switch
See, you think this article is a reasonable look at women who have unrealistic expectations and diet during pregnancy and deprive their fetuses of nutrition and all that, and then you get to this:
"'There’s a lot of confusion about how much weight women should gain in pregnancy,' [Toni Steer] says. 'What they don’t realise is that it depends on how much they weigh at the outset. If they’re slim, they should gain more; if they’re obese, they should gain less. The notion that anyone should eat for two is misguided — at best, they should eat an extra two slices of toast in the last trimester.'"
Two slices of toast in the last trimester! At best! Not exactly promoting a healthy attitude there, Toni Steer. But really, mostly the article is very sensible about moderate and reasonable weight gain. I don't know why they threw in this crack-smoking quote right in the middle.
"'There’s a lot of confusion about how much weight women should gain in pregnancy,' [Toni Steer] says. 'What they don’t realise is that it depends on how much they weigh at the outset. If they’re slim, they should gain more; if they’re obese, they should gain less. The notion that anyone should eat for two is misguided — at best, they should eat an extra two slices of toast in the last trimester.'"
Two slices of toast in the last trimester! At best! Not exactly promoting a healthy attitude there, Toni Steer. But really, mostly the article is very sensible about moderate and reasonable weight gain. I don't know why they threw in this crack-smoking quote right in the middle.
posted by mo pie at 9:59 AM
4 Comments:
That is wrong, wrong, WRONG! Maybe "two extra pieces of toast" is the rough caloric equivalent of what a pregnant woman needs, but it's so off the mark in terms of her nutritional needs as to be laughable.
A pregnant woman needs an extra 300 calories per day and an extra 10 grams of protein (which means 40 of those calories need to be protein calories -- something you won't get from toast). She also needs double the iron, 50% more folic acid, and 25% more zinc. (Of course, a prenatal vitamin helps cover dietary deficits, but it's best to get as many nutrients as possible from real food.) Fiber helps, too, especially if the mother is constipated. She also needs 8-12 cups of water per day.
Oh, and a study earlier this year showed a possible link between mothers who eat chocolate during pregnancy and happier babies!
I was born in an Army hospital in Germany in 1972. At that time, women were being told to gain no more than 25 pounds. The reasoning? Doctors were trying to create low-birthweight babies. The thinking was that smaller babies equaled fewer complications at birth. Now, it's been pretty conclusively proven that low-birthweight babies have a host of problems, including higher death rates. At 32, I am inches shorter than both my sisters (gestated in more reasonable circumstances) and by far the heaviest. Which could just be coincidental. But still, it makes you think.
The hospital forced all the pregnant women on base to come in once a week for a weigh-in to keep them from gaining weight. Mom tells hysterical stories of the women who'd pee before weigh-in, wear shorts and tanks in the middle of winter, and hide from the doctors if they gained. Then, they'd all run to the hospital commisary and pound Hershey bars and donuts in preparation for the next week's deprivation.
I'm proud to say I gained a healthy 27 pounds during my pregnancy, which my doctor was very pleased about. My whole thing about being pregnant wasn't eating for two or dieting, but eating healthy. The last 13 pounds I gained was pure water weight and I peed it all out after my daughter was born! LOL
My co-worker was pregnant at the same time I was, and even though we had the same doctor and she ate as well as I did, she was put on a stricter weight schedule due to past pregnancy complications. Our doctor recognized that we are DIFFERENT people and would have different ways of meeting the goal of a healthy pregnancy. I wish all doctors were as thorough.
So you'll know I'm not anonymous,
Treva
What really gets to me is that everyone feels entitled to ask me how much weight I've gained with my pregnancy. I'm about to hit 32 weeks, and though I should feel proud to say that I've put on a respectable and healthy 24 pounds so far, I feel so defensive and "none of your beeswax"-y every time someone pops the weight question. I mean, really, my weight was none of anyone's business before I got pregnant, so why is it suddenly considered a matter of public record?
It's especially hard to deal with this question when posed by my mother or my mother-in-law, both of whom, though quite skinny, were put on excessively restrictive pregnancy diets (their doctors felt it better if they produced smaller babies to fit through their hips--a BIG misconception, but a popular one at the time). They're still stuck in that mindset, and would be horrified--HORRIFIED--if I told them the number of healthy pounds I've put on. Not to mention that it would soon become a topic of conversation with their family, friends, etc.... I just say "The midwife says I'm gaining just as much as I should," and leave it at that.
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