# Will you critique my pre-pregnancy supplement and diet plan?



## CrunchySmurf (May 22, 2008)

I'm new to this forum, and fairly new to this board. I am planning to TTC my first this summer or early fall. I have PCOS, but have had mostly regular cycles for several months now. I have lost nearly 40 lbs in 7 months, and am still exercising like crazy. Now that we have hit the first of the year, I want to buckle down in other ways to get myself pregnancy and baby ready.

Here are what I am planning to take supplement-wise:

1 T/day organic blackstrap molasses (noon - w/lunch)
1 cup FertiliTea twice/day ingred: chasteberry, RRL, green tea, ladies mantle, nettle leaf, peppermint leaf (am/pm)
500mg Vitamin C (am)
200mcg Chromium (am)
1 dose FertileCM ingred: 100 mg vit. c, 51.6mg calcium, 1610mg blend of L-Arginine, N-Acetyl Cysteine, Coral Calcium, GSE, Lactobacillus Acidophilus (am)
50 mg Zinc (am)
600 mg Omega-3 Fatty Acids, incl: DHA (300 mg) and EPA (150 mg) (am)
800 mg Chasteberry (am)
Cal-Mag ingred: 1000 mg Calcium and 500 mg Magnesium (pm)
***1 dose FertilAid multi-vit ingred: 4000 IU Vit. A, 85 mg Vit. C, 400 IU Vit. D3, 100 IU Vit. E, 1.5 mg Thiamin HCI, 1.7 mg Riboflavin, 20 mg Niacin, 2 mg Vit. B6, 600 mcg Folic Acid, 6 mcg Vit. B12, 10 mg Pantothenic Acid, 18 mg Iron, 150 mcg Iodine, 320 mg Magnesium, 15 mg Zinc, 70 mcg Selenium, 2 mg Copper (am)

Do you see any problems with my supplement plan? Am I missing anything important? Need more of anything? Need less of something?

***I'm planning to take this for one month, then I will be switching to a general prenatal that has mostly all the same things, but more of most of them. Good plan?

Another supplement question: I am currently taking the vitex (chasteberry), and have for several months. I have not started any of the others yet. Should I wait for my next cycle to start, so that it coincides with a hormone shift anyway? Or is it ok to start now? I worry about tossing my cycle out of whack. FWIW, I'm expecting my next cycle in ~week.

Diet question:

I have planned, what I think is, a healthy diet. Too simplistic? Not getting enough of any key food groups? LMK how it looks. FWIW, I lean NT/traditional foods, and have trouble getting enough protein, in general.

Breakfast 6 days/week: .5 a sprouted grain english muffin w/ butter and one egg (usually fried, sometimes hard boiled) -- Once a week I will eat a light breakfast out, it will vary, but I will at least make sure to get some protein.

Lunch 5 days/week: 1 T molasses and a green smoothie w/ 1 c spinach, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 c pure fruit juice, 1 banana, ~.5 c fresh-frozen fruit (usually mixed berries) -- 2 days a week I will eat lunch out, once will not usually be way healthy, but will be light and the other time will be quite a bit more substantial but usually very healthy

Dinner 6 days/week: Something well balanced and varied. On average, out of, say, 12 days, we would eat beef about 4 days, chicken (from a whole chicken) about 6 days, pork about 1 day, and vegetarian about 1 day. We try to have two veggies each dinner, at least one green, and one starch. I'm not totally great at always pulling that off though - we do like starches. I aim for healthy ones. A sample regular dinner (from tonight) tandoori chicken served over a whole grain/wild rice blend, steamed asian blend veggies (broccoli, snap peas, mushrooms, water chestnuts, mushrooms, onions) and garlic naan -- so one veggie and two starches tonight, but at least one of the starches was healthyish. Another regular dinner (from last week) spaghetti from sprouted grain noodles, beef, and a really good (healthy) sauce, served with a tossed mixed greens salad, (lightly) honeyed carrots, and sometimes garlic bread or rolls (not last time though).

Meal critiquing?

Ok, I know this is really long







, but I would really appreciate some input from those wiser than myself!!









TIA!


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## thomatuttle (Jul 1, 2008)

Have you thought about adding any fish to your diet? I know that fish is pretty good for you and has a lot of healthy omega fats. Just something to consider?


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## penguintattoo (Oct 14, 2008)

I could be completly wrong about this so you might want to look it up, but someone told me that a lot of Vitamin C could actually be bad? Again I am not sure on this, but you might want to check on it. GL!


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## Mosaic (Jun 20, 2005)

What exactly would you like to accomplish with your supplementation routine? I'm definitely not an expert in this area, but looking at that list, I don't see exactly how those are treating the roots of PCOS. If I were you, I'd focus more on hormones and insulin:

600mg+ of Magnesium
1000 IU Vit. D
1000mg fish oil
1-2 tsp cinnamon

I'd keep the folic acid, acidophilus, and vitex, but dump everything else in exchange for a run-of-the-mill prenatal multivitamin. Depending on where you live in VA and if you decide to add fish to your diet, I would skip the selenium.

As for diet, I would recommend a diabetic/hypoglycemic diet, heavy on proteins and low on simple carbs which further impact your insulin levels.

Good luck!


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## JMJ (Sep 6, 2008)

I don't know a lot about diet and PCOS, but I do know that most people recommend at least 800-1000 mcg of folic acid when TTC. The time that it will help your baby the most is before you even know you're pregnant, so it's good to have a pretty good store of it in your body before you do get pregnant.

I'm also concerned that almost all of your calcium that you have talked about is coming from supplements. Your body absorbs nutrients from food much better than from supplements, so it is better to get it in your diet. Each cup of milk has 30% of your daily value of calcium (at 100mg/day, though 120mg/day is often suggested). Soy milk, rice milk, nut milks, etc are often fortified with calcium, but you have to read the labels to be sure.

As far as fish goes, I found this great list about which fish have the most and least mercury: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pre...ishmercury.htm Do try to get wild caught fish, though. Farm-raised fish with dye added does not have anywhere near the nutrition of wild caught fish, and the dye adds a load of chemicals. I would also definitely try for organic as much as possible on your meats if nothing else for the same reasons.

Personally, I try (not as well as I should sometimes) to avoid white flour, white sugar, corn syrup, fruit juice from concentrate and most processed foods.

Your breakfast looks good, though a little light. You need enough that you are going to feel satisfied. Otherwise, you feel like snacking all day. If that is all you need to feel satisfied, then that's fine. If you find yourself snacking on foods that you shouldn't, you may be better off increasing the amount of healthy foods you eat for breakfast. You may consider adding some yoghurt (protein, calcium and probiotics all in one! Just watch out for the sugar added) and maybe some fruit.

Your lunch is quite high in carbs and low in protein. If the fruit juice is from concentrate, it is like a processed sugar. More fiber and protein would help your body handle the sugar better. Fruit is good, but you might try spreading it out throughout the day a bit more, maybe eat some with breakfast.

Your dinners sound good in general. I would agree with adding more fish and I would also add more vegetarian (not processed soy product but real beans). Also, watch out for white flour in your garlic bread and rolls. Pay attention to what you are using to season your meals. Many sauces/seasoning mixtures have a lot of sugar and chemicals in them. Getting rid of most of those made me have to actually learn to cook and come up with my own combinations.

You also didn't mention snacks. Are you just eating those three meals a day, or do you snack too? If you do snack, give yourself some healthy snacks that you can feel OK about eating. Consider eating vegetable sticks with hummus, nuts (watch the salt), wheat thins with nut butter, a piece of fresh fruit, etc.


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## CrunchySmurf (May 22, 2008)

Quote:

Have you thought about adding any fish to your diet? I know that fish is pretty good for you and has a lot of healthy omega fats. Just something to consider?
We eat fish very rarely. I don't care for it _very_ much, but I don't completely hate it. Also, my step-daughter is allergic to all seafood. She doesn't really eat what we make usually, but we don't want to take the choice away from her, by serving something she can't have. Can I get enough good omegas from eggs and supplements?

Quote:

a lot of Vitamin C could actually be bad?
In general? Or in pregnancy/TTC? If it is in general, I should be good... I know my personal threshold and I stay under it. It is good for my overall immune system (I'm exposed to a lot of germs/illness.) to take as much as I can on a regular basis. If too much is *extra* bad with preg./ttc, I would love to hear more about that. Thanks!

Quote:

What exactly would you like to accomplish with your supplementation routine? I'm definitely not an expert in this area, but looking at that list, I don't see exactly how those are treating the roots of PCOS. If I were you, I'd focus more on hormones and insulin:

600mg+ of Magnesium
1000 IU Vit. D
1000mg fish oil
1-2 tsp cinnamon

I'd keep the folic acid, acidophilus, and vitex, but dump everything else in exchange for a run-of-the-mill prenatal multivitamin. Depending on where you live in VA and if you decide to add fish to your diet, I would skip the selenium.

As for diet, I would recommend a diabetic/hypoglycemic diet, heavy on proteins and low on simple carbs which further impact your insulin levels.

Good luck!








Hoping to accomplish... stable fertility and overall good health.
Chromium, zinc, and vitex are to help with the PCOS/fertility.
FertilAid multi-vit., FertilCM, Fertilitea, and Omega are for fertility/pregnancy health.
Vit. C, molasses, and CalMag are for general good health.

I'll plan to increase my mag., vit. d, and omegas. I do add cinnamon to my smoothies, forgot to mention that.

I've done ok without doing a strict diabetic diet. Contrary to usual PCOS issues, my blood sugar levels have always tests 100% normal, not elevated at all. I don't generally consume sugars, except occasional raw honey, the daily molasses, and fruit sugars. No simple carbs in this house!









Thank you all so much for your help!


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## CrunchySmurf (May 22, 2008)

Quote:

I don't know a lot about diet and PCOS, but I do know that most people recommend at least 800-1000 mcg of folic acid when TTC. The time that it will help your baby the most is before you even know you're pregnant, so it's good to have a pretty good store of it in your body before you do get pregnant.
Thanks... I'll plan to up my FA then! I knew it was important, but didn't know the goal range.

Quote:

I'm also concerned that almost all of your calcium that you have talked about is coming from supplements. Your body absorbs nutrients from food much better than from supplements, so it is better to get it in your diet. Each cup of milk has 30% of your daily value of calcium (at 100mg/day, though 120mg/day is often suggested). Soy milk, rice milk, nut milks, etc are often fortified with calcium, but you have to read the labels to be sure.
I know I don't get enough calcium naturally. I try to add in dairy where I can... my wife has a dairy intolerance and it partially presents as an extreme dairy aversion -- she can't even be in the same room if I am drinking milk, so bad excuse I know, but it has really cut down on the amount of dairy I consume. I do eat a LOT of fresh spinach, while it isn't a calcium powerhouse, it does count for something. I try to get in one dairy serving a day. If we are eating Indian, I have a serving of yogurt, things like that. If I look ahead to my day and know it isn't likely I will get a serving of dairy some other way, I add a serving of cheese to my morning eggs. We do eat a lot of butter though. So I do try to work some in, but I know it isn't enough.









My breakfast is satisfying for me. I actually *hate* eating breakfast. It is very, very hard for me, so that is about all I can handle.

We don't do processed foods, the "evil whites", or any store-bought juices. Our breads are _generally_ homemade, and always whole, sprouted grains. The juice I blend my smoothies with is squeezed/pureed. The only seasonings we use are pure spices. We don't really use sauces or anything like that, except pasta/pizza sauce. I do buy that, but it is organic and msg/corn syrup free.

Maybe I should add some protein into my lunches though... any suggestions? Hmmm, maybe I could add in a serving of yogurt? My smoothies are way filling... so I want something light.

I don't often snack. When I do: sometimes a hunk of cheese, homemade granola, popcorn most often (hot air popped and served with butter and salt/fresh parmesan cheese).

Thanks for all your help!


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## naturalmom08 (Dec 13, 2008)

It looks like you've got a pretty good handle on things. I would do a little more research on the chromium. I've read some conflicting things about it, but can't remember any specifics. I remember thinking it was not something I wanted to add to my list of supplements while nursing, so that would be especially true while pg. I'd also consider adding in a cinnamon extract supplement, as I have read that it is beneficial for those with PCOS. Other than that, I think as long as you're getting enough EFAs and folic acid, you're on the right track.


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