Hi Kristen!
I just found your blog after googling and I have a question I was hoping you could answer. I just found out I'm 5 weeks pregnant and my diet is mostly raw, no dairy, no meat, and I always start my day with 2-3 organic raw (kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, celery, cucumber, and apple) green juices I buy from an organic juice press shop that uses the Norwalk press. I would like to know if it is safe to continue to drink my beloved juices daily and my Sunwarrior Ormus Supergreens? Everyone says something differant and I'm confused. I would like to keep my mostly raw healthy lifestyle because it is what works best for me. I also was wondering which were the best supplement suggestions you can offer, ... chorella, spirulina etc. Are these safe during pregnancy? Please help! All the best, G
Great question! For starters, you know I'm not a doctor or midwife. I'm a chef who reads a lot - lol - and has a passion for nutrition and health. That being written, here is how I handled the situation when I was pregnant.
There is indeed a risk of contamination when consuming raw foods while pregnant (well, anytime really, but for pregnancy it has its own dangerous implications). However, I wasn't about to give up my raw foods. Therefore, while I was pregnant, I did not consume any fresh juices unless I made them myself (except on perhaps three or four different occasions while traveling). It wasn't worth the risk in my opinion. In fact, even making them myself was not risk-free, but I believe it was greatly reduced because I thoroughly washed and scrubbed my ORGANIC produce. To wash them, I often used food grade hydrogen peroxide (this is the not the stuff you buy in the drugstore). The same rules applied for salads and other fresh foods that I didn't prepare. I had them on occasion at a restaurant, but I knew the possible risk of doing it, so I didn't do it often. And, for the times I did do it, they were usually vegan or raw places that didn't serve meat products which is helpful (exception - the veg burritos with fresh salsa and guacamole from Chipotle - lol - I had those a few times).
Overall, my pregnancy was mostly high raw with some times that were all raw and some times that were moderately raw. I stayed away from green powders because they (at the time) had an ingredient or two that just didn't seem good to me in a pregnant state after researching all the ingredients. That being said, I have read about a number of women drinking green powders while pregnant. If I were to become pregnant again, I would probably consume Greener Grasses because that is a powder that seems both nourishing and gentle (I am drinking this now while breastfeeding and it's wonderful). Again though, this is just how I would do it. There are many others who might differ in their successful and healthy pregnant experiences.
As for supplements, I wrote about them in a previous blog post here. I can't claim their safety because as you'll notice they probably have labels warning against taking while pregnant or lactating. However, I was excited to take chlorella because of its recognized ability to take toxins out of breastmilk according to one study (details here). I also took wheat grass tablets, probiotics, prenatal, and others. My most important supplement suggestion would be to take Vitamin D. I encourage you to get your levels tested. I would read The Vitamin D Solution for recommendations on how much to take while pregnant. The amount in your prenatal are not enough in many professionals' opinions. (I highly recommend that book to everyone reading this post.)
Thanks for your question!