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US consumers consistently say they want more sustainable products (and services) but are often unwilling to pay a premium; consumers care about a company’s sustainability and ethical sourcing efforts and may reward it with brand loyalty, but they generally don’t want to pay more for the products (6). In other words, the idea and allure of procuring all our produce from the farmer’s market, fish from the local fish monger and grass-fed and finished beef from the rancher who sells at the very same market sounds great, but when the rubber hits the road, is the followthrough there with this mindful intention…. But it’s not until more of us support local and organic and conscious providers that the local producers have enough demand to produce more and begin to garner enough profit upon which they can sustain their businesses and support their families. None When we purchase local, in season produce, it’s less expensive to begin with because we’re not paying in arrears for shipping and handling

This little guy was probably born a very short time frame before this shot was taken; I’ve been attempting to memorize what babies look like at every stage from our extensive research above and beyond the work we’re doing with our doula, our childbirth class teacher and our midwife Simply put, it is a business and not only are we not given all the information we need in order to make an intelligent decision about how and where we’d like our babies to be born, we’re also presented with the notion that it will be traumatic, it will be so painful that we will want to be medicated and quite possibly could be the most awful thing we’ve ever experienced. Certainly, there are times when, for example, a C-section is a medical necessity when mother or baby’s health or life is at stake and ’m not anti-medicine by any means and acknowledge that I’m writing this prior to giving birth. The umbilical cord is often immediately cut in a hospital setting (5); cutting the cord too soon after birth might stress the baby’s heart, increase the risk for bleeding inside the brain, and increase the risk for anemia and iron deficiency (6).

Sourcing more of one’s daily calories from fat provides numerous health benefits including a reduced risk of heart disease, breast cancer and type 2 diabetes (3), a substantial risk reduction for developing dementia versus those with diets favoring carbohydrates for whom the risk for dementia dramatically increased (4), improved mental focus and clarity thanks to steady blood sugar levels, a cleaner burning fuel during athletic feats… and not just those performed at a low heart rate. In his blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, Mark Sisson puts it quite succinctly when he states, “most MDs, the USDA and virtually every RD program in the country can’t seem to grasp why a lower carb approach to eating is a better choice for health and fitness is because their fundamental paradigm, the core theory that underpins everything else in that belief system is flawed. One easy way to start is to shift your percentage of calories away from carb-heavy foods (even something as seemingly benign as too much fruit as well as the obvious bad guys- the “white” foods and corn syrup containing culprits) and slowly begin upping your varied sources of natural fats, while simultaneously eating an abundance of local, in season leafy greens and moderate portions of mindfully sourced proteins. Do your research, throw in a bit of common sense and let that be the foundation upon which you decide whether eating three bagels, two bananas, cookies, brownies, chocolate milk and Swedish fish really sounds like a good idea of strategic, intelligent ways to fuel your body to perform a feat such as running a marathon.

When I began searching for reliable, authentic resource upon which I might rely to glean some solid, fact-based information for a women who prefers to eat real food (not food byproducts which come highly recommended by the USDA), ample fat and promote an optimal gut biome for her developing baby, answers were few and far between. Once I learned about her work, I bought her second book, Real Food for Pregnancy, (2) immediately and later learned it was her second piece, the first being one dedicated to prevention and treatment of GD (gestational diabetes), once again, through food, Real Food for Gestational Diabetes (3). I was sold before I even began the book itself; by page five of the intro, in which she does a side by side comparison of a conventional nutrition sample meal plan, one which would be recommended by the USDA as well as many US-trained, Western Med based docs to what she calls a Real Food for Pregnancy sample meal plan. If, on the other side, you’ve sought nutrition advice in an effort to become healthier yourself during pregnancy, are hoping to prevent GD or simply don’t quite buy the advice doled out to you at your biweekly 10 minute OB visit (such as one of the many sage pieces of advice I got: take a baby aspirin each day to ensure adequate blood flow to the placenta), I highly recommend this book.