The Basic Diet
The Brewer Pregnancy Diet: the Basic Plan
This is the basic, carnivorous diet plan from The Brewer Pregnancy
Hotline.
About this Program:
This program is designed for you if you are
expecting one baby and you have no significant additional protein/calorie
requirements, based on your responses to the Brewer Pregnancy Nutrition
Profile.
* Excerpted from The Brewer Pregnancy Hotline Chapter 2, Part 3 by Gail Sforza Krebs and Dr. Tom Brewer
| Group | Type of Foods |
|---|---|
| 1 | milk and milk products |
| 2 | calcium replacements |
| 3 | eggs |
| 4 | meat, seafood, and meat substitutes |
| 5 | dark green vegetables |
| 6 | whole grains, starches, carbohydrates |
| 7 | vitamin C foods |
| 8 | fats and oils |
| 9 | vitamin A foods |
| 10 | liver |
| 11 | salt and other sodium sources |
| 12 | water |
| 13 | snacks |
| 14 | supplements |
The Basic Plan At a Glance
| Group 1 | (milk and milk products) - 4 choices |
| Group 2 | (calcium replacements) - as needed (2 per soy choice) |
| Group 3 | (eggs) - 2 choices |
| Group 4 | (meat, seafood, and meat substitutes) - 6 choices |
| Group 5 | (dark green vegetables) - 2 choices |
| Group 6 | (whole grains, starchy vegetables and high-carbohydrate fruits) - 5 choices |
| Group 7 | (vitamin C foods) - 2 choices |
| Group 8 | (fats and oils) - 3 choices |
| Group 9 | (vitamin A foods) - 2 choices |
| Group 10 | (liver) - 1 choice per week |
| Group 11 | (salt and other sodium sources) - unlimited, to taste |
| Group 12 | (water) - unlimited, to thirst |
| Group 13 | (snacks) - unlimited, to appetite |
| Group 14 | (supplements) - optional |
If your first reaction is "I can't possibly eat all that food," you are not alone. Nor have you yet arrived at the point in your pregnancy when your appetite zooms and you find yourself hungry an hour or so after eating! Remember, you don't have to eat all the foods on the list every day -- just those you select to fulfill the required number of exchanges. One day's sample menu and snack plan from Isaac Cronin's Eating For Two shows that while it seems like a formidable amount to eat, proper spacing through the day makes it possible. One thing you will notice immediately is that there's hardly any room for anything that's not on the Brewer Pregnancy Diet list. If you are accustomed to a daily ration of junk foods, you will find yourself making changes to get all the nutrients you need. Start gradually to wean yourself from empty-calorie foods, and you'll be pleasantly surprised to find more than enough room for the best foods.
Group 1
One exchange provides approximately 8 grams of protein plus considerable
amount of calcium, fats,and other essential vitamins and minerals. For
each soy milk or other low-fat milk, yogurt or cottage cheese exchange
you choose, add two extra exchanges from Group 7 (fats and oils). In
addition, for each soy exchange, select two from Group 2 (Calcium
Replacements). For every three soy exchanges, add one extra selection
from Group 9 (Vitamin A foods).
Daily Exchanges: 4
Foods Portion Size for One Exchange:
|
|
Group 2
There are other foods that contain a considerable amount of calcium,
but because of other factors present in those foods, such as oxalic
acid, the calcium is unavailable to the body.
Daily Exchanges: as needed based on soy exchanges chosen
(2 per soy exchange from Group 1)
Foods Portion Size for One Exchange:
|
|
Group 3
One exchange provides six grams of protein, and vitamins and minerals
in abundance, including one milligram of well-assimilated iron and 600
units of vitamin A, the anti-infection vitamin. Added together, the milk
and egg exchanges provide a baseline of 44 grams of protein and a
vitamin, mineral and calorie foundation for the rest of the diet.
Daily Exchanges: 2
Foods Portion Size for One Exchange:
|
Group 4
Foods in Group 4 are exceptional sources of high-quality protein. One
exchange provides approximately 7 grams of protein. Vegetable sources
of protein are mixed in proper ratios to make their amino acid patterns
equivalent to or surpassing those of animal sources. However, if you
rely exclusively on grains, seeds, beans and other plant foods, you may
be consuming fewer calories than are required in pregnancy, since these
foods are low in fats. Therefore, for each vegetarian meat substitute
you chose, except peanut butter, add two extra exchanges from Group 7
(Fats and Oils).
Daily Exchanges: 6
Foods Portion Size for One Exchange:
|
|
Group 5
Foods in Group 5 are rich in vitamins and minerals such as A and the B
complex, which is necessary to aid your body in making use of the
protein provided by other foods. This is a reminder of the importance
of a complete diet: All of the nutrients are needed to assist the others
in making their full contribution to your well-being and that of your
baby. This group also contains food fiber to promote normal digestion
and bowel movements -- significant during pregnancy when constipation
can sometimes be a problem.
Daily Exchanges: 2
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
|
|
Group 6
Foods in Group 6 are prime sources of the carbohydrates you need to fuel
your body. Each exchange provides approximately 12-15 grams of
carbohydrate. If you consume too few carbohydrates, your body burns the
protein you eat for energy, thus robbing you and your baby of the
building blocks needed for tissue growth and repair. Grains are also
sources of B vitamins. You may also obtain moderate amounts of
carbohydrates from nuts (each ounce provides anywhere from 5 to 10 grams
of carbohydrate) and other fruits and vegetables not in Group 6. These
foods, while containing moderate amounts of carbohydrates, also provide
other essential fats, vitamins, and minerals. Note: Outside of Group 6
there are two other major sources of carbohydrates. The first is
prepared foods such as frozen entrees, batter-dipped products, bottled
gravies and sauces and other condiments, canned main dishes and soups
(most of these contain added sugars and other carbohydrates in some
form -- fructose, glucose, sucrose, corn syrup, cornstarch and other
thickeners -- total carbohydrates per serving are noted on the labels).
The second source of additional carbohydrates is the occasional non-diet
soda pop, sweetened tea or coffee, candy, sugar, chips, snack foods,
pudding, jams and preserves, honey, or baked goods, ice cream and frozen
yoghurt, or gelatin desserts you may indulge in AFTER all your other
exchanges for the day have been satisfied. These items would fall under
Group 13 -- Snacks.
Daily Exchanges: 5
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
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|
Group 7
Vitamin C is important for the body's manufacture of collagen, the
connective substance that holds tissues together. Without adequate C,
your uterus is less strong and may not perform well in labor. Vitamin
C is also crucial in the body's defense system against infection.
Daily Exchanges: 2
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
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|
Group 8
Needed in your diet to help your body absorb the fat soluble vitamins,
A, D, E, and K, fats and oils also contribute to fine-textured,
well-functioning skin. They are also a concentrated source of calories,
the food energy for which your need is greatly increased during
pregnancy.
Daily Exchanges: 5
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
|
|
Group 9
Vitamin A is known for its role in preventing infection. During
pregnancy, when the pressure of the growing uterus on the bladder is
constant, extra vitamin A helps protect you against bladder and kidney
infections. During breastfeeding, it helps keep you free from breast
infections.
Daily Exchanges: 1
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
|
|
Group 10 - Optional
Liver is a powerhouse of nutrition, however today there are serious
concerns about consuming these detoxification organs since commercially
raised animals receive so many more hormones and antibiotics and other
additives in their diets. Liver is not an ESSENTIAL component of the
Brewer Diets. Note: Apart from the additives issue, liver is often
poorly prepared and therefore unpalatable to many people. Isaac
Cronin's Eating for Two: The Pregnancy Cookbook (New York: Bantam, 1983)
has an entire section devoted to making liver more enticing. If you
choose not to eat liver, add 4 additional ounces of protein per week.
Recommended Weekly Exchange: 1
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
|
Group 11
Salt your food to taste. Cutting back on salt can cause a fall in the
amount of blood circulating through your placenta, thus reducing the
supply of nutrients passing to your baby. Too little salt in the diet
leads to leg cramps as well, since all the muscles of your body require
sodium for efficient functioning. Note: If you grew up in the recent
"no-salt age" (when all were advised to avoid salt in order to prevent
hypertension and heart disease, your mom cooked without it, and it was
never on the table, or if it was, you were frowned at for using too
much), you may be accustomed to the unseasoned taste of foods and may
not pay attention to your body's signals for more salt until they become
extreme. The practice of adding salt to your food during pregnancy may
take some getting used to, but it is an essential part of expanding and
maintaining your extra blood volume throughout pregnancy.
Daily Exchanges: unlimited
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
|
|
Group 12
Drink to quench thirst, but do not force fluids. Fruits, vegetables,
and juices all contain a goodly proportion of water plus additional
nutrients. Forcing water may fill you up without giving you much
nutrition - a hazard in late pregnancy, when you have to make every
bite count and you have less and less space in which to put the food.
Diet beverages, coffee, teas, and imitation fruit drinks should be
avoided for the same reason. If you are thirsty drink water or
something nutritious (real juice or a milk beverage) or an occasional
tea. Note: If your drinking water is from a well, you may wish to have
it tested by your health department before drinking it during pregnancy
to make sure it does not contain contaminants such as MTBE, PCBs,
and/or organisms such as giardia that can cause chronic intestinal
upsets. Reports from the EPA published in 1999 and 2000 on water
quality in the United States indicate that more than a third of all
wells in the U.S. (some of them supplies for municipal water systems)
contain higher than permissible amounts of these contaminants. Based on
the results of your testing, you may wish to filter and/ or treat your
drinking water.
Daily Exchanges: a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses of beverages per day
to unlimited
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
|
Group 13
If you are still hungry after eating everything on the above lists
first, you may eat more exchanges from Groups 1-11, or as much as you
desire of other fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, dried
fruits or home-prepared baked goods and desserts such as custard,
pudding, fruit tarts, fruit whips, milkshakes, or novelty breads. For
recipe suggestions, see the BlueRibbonBaby.org web site.
Daily Exchanges: unlimited after completing Groups 1-12 daily
Group 14 - Optional
Supplements
Vitamin pills and other dietary supplements are not for everyone. If
you are following the Brewer Pregnancy Diet diet to the letter, you
probably don't need them. However, there are many women for whom a
vitamin-mineral supplementation program is appropriate, especially
with today's processed foods and depleted soils. If you find yourself
bruising easily or your gums bleeding when you brush your teeth then
you might do with some extra vitamin C, a gram or two a day. If you
lost a good deal of weight before you became pregnant, if you were
underweight before you conceived, if you were taking birth-control
pills and not adding extra B vitamins (especially folic acid) to your
diet to compensate for losses due to the Pill, if you bruise easily,
if you are carrying more than one baby, if you are under stress, if
you are a vegetarian, if you have any flu, colds, or other infections
during pregnancy -- then you would be a candidate for supplementation.
But even under these special conditions, it is preferable for you to
eat more of the best foods than to rely on pills. Some researchers
studying how well most commercial preparations are absorbed point out
that most brands are incomplete and unbalanced in their formulation,
making them of questionable help to you in attaining your nutrition
goals, anyway. Despite these drawbacks, Dr. Brewer provided standard
prenatal vitamins to mothers in the Contra Costa (California) Medical
Services toxemia prevention program. The supplements were included in
the service package for mothers attending the public prenatal clinics.
He looked on the supplements then as an "insurance policy" -- in case
the mother went off the diet for a day or two when she went visiting
somewhere, or if her food supplies became scarce toward the end of the
month, or just because she happened to be an individual with higher
nutritional requirements than some other people. The primary thrust,
though, remains to encourage mothers to have all the foods needed first
and to view any supplements strictly as additions to an adequate
pregnancy diet, not as substitutes for one. Because of increased media
coverage of all aspects of nutrition, more people are aware that B
vitamins are helpful in stress situations, that vitamin E can relieve
varicose veins and painful breast lumps (cystic mastitis), the needs
women have for more iron than men (due to menstruation), and the
controversies about how much protein is adequate and what are the best
sources.
Protein
There's no denying that protein needs to increase dramatically in
pregnancy. The best sources are foods, not powders, pills, or potions
- especially when you price them and discover that the same amino acids
can cost four to ten times as much in pill form as in milk, eggs, nuts
and grains, or meats and seafood. Also, much literature boosting
pill-protein seems to accept that somehow a mother can make it through
a pregnancy on half of the NAS-NRC Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs)
for a non-pregnant woman! It is of no clinical or intellectual
interest to determine the absolute minimum intake of nutrients that
will keep a mother and baby just barely alive. Instead, the goal should
be to ensure that every mother and baby will have nutrition adequate
for vibrant good health and a chance to make a contribution to society.
Bertha Burke, a nutrition researcher at Harvard University in the
1940s, showed conclusively that when mothers' dietary intake fell
below 75 grams a day of high-quality, complete protein, their rates of
serious pregnancy complications rose proportionately. In her studies,
all the sickly, underweight babies came from mothers whose diets had
been found deficient in protein and other vital nutrients. So, in the
Brewer Pregnancy Diet, 75 grams a day is the clinical "floor" for
protein intake. Childbirth educators who incorporate the Brewer
nutrition approach in their classes do protein-calorie checks at
least twice during each series to keep the issue alive in the minds
of their students as they go through pregnancy. The message bears
repetition! If you use the exchange system on this diet, your protein
portions are already determined, and you will obtain all you need from
high-quality sources. The figure, in grams, runs between 100 and 120 a
day, depending on the specific food choices you make. That's the amount
in the foodstuffs, but since certain proteins are assimilated less well
than others, the total protein actually available to your body for
tissue growth and maintenance is less. So, the end result is to
approximate Burke's 75 grams and thus keep mothers and babies protected
from protein-calorie deficits.
Iron
Iron, as previously discussed, is adequately provided by the foods on
this diet. However, many women have not been eating this way before
they became pregnant, so their iron stores are not what they should be.
The use of cast-iron cooking utensils two or three times a day (for
your morning eggs, your grilled cheese sandwich at lunch, and your
evening vegetable), plus making sure to eat a food containing vitamin
C with these dishes (orange juice with the eggs, a tomato in the salad
with the sandwich, an avocado-based dip just before dinner) to boost
iron absorption, will make it less likely that you will need to take
iron supplements. If you are anemic at the beginning of your pregnancy,
it may not just be a deficiency of iron that's wrong. It's pretty hard
to be deficient in a single nutrient unless you are subsisting on an
experimental diet in a laboratory somewhere. Your entire diet may need
upgrading since it takes more than just iron to make red blood cells.
We discuss the problems surrounding pregnancy anemias later on, but
anyone who is anemic at the beginning of pregnancy needs a complete
dietary work-up, not just a prescription for iron.
Vitamin E
Doses of vitamin E in the range of 200-400 milligrams per day alleviate
many problems with varicosities of the legs, vulva, and anus
(hemorrhoids) without any deleterious effects on the pregnancy.
The B Complex
B vitamins are a family of nutrients that work together in many
biochemical reactions in the body. They should be supplied in
supplement form only in correct proportion, one to another. Few
B-complex tablets do this, instead offering a uniform 25 or 50
milligrams of each B vitamin. Milk products, meat, and vegetables
are excellent sources of these vitamins, so supplementing them isn't
usually necessary, except in cases of severe nausea and vomiting
(which sometimes responds to B6) or numbness and tingling of the
hands (also B6), as indicated by the work of Dr. John Ellis of Texas.
Other Supplements
Vitamins, herbs and supplements are hot topics among the general
public, childbirth professionals, and expectant mothers today. Many
midwives prescribe calcium/magnesium tablets to ease labor, alfalfa
to prevent hemorrhage, curb late pregnancy contractions and boost
vitamin K levels in breastmilk, and herbs to reduce hypertension.
The question arises: How often can you pinpoint and treat a particular
deficiency to achieve a given outcome? While many of these treatments
seem to be effective in practice, all are indicative of deficiencies in
our overall diets. All the nutrients are vital to optimum health -
during pregnancy and beyond. All of them are involved in thousands of
complex chemical reactions every time we eat, and deficiencies in any
of them have disastrous consequences. Deficiencies of single nutrients
are very rare - find one deficiency, you'll find many more - and all
are sign of general undernutrition. The necessary vitamins and minerals
should be available through the food we eat, and they are best
assimilated by the body when they come from food sources...but that is
not always possible today because of poor eating habits, food
processing and depleted soils. That is why Dr. Brewer has always
recommended that pregnant women look upon their prenatal vitamin as an
insurance policy, but not the main source -- and do a good job in
getting most of their nutrients from foods.
Other Supplements that are also foods
Foods Portion Size For One Exchange:
- Brewer's yeast 1 Tbsp
- One tablespoon a day gives you around 300 micrograms of folic acid -- about a third of your daily pregnancy requirement - and 0.4 milligrams of zinc, a mineral that's easily lost because the body has no reserve in store and it leaves the body in perspiration. Just for good measure, it also gives you 3 grams protein, 1.4 milligrams iron, and a generous distribution of the B vitamins. Sprinkle it on cereal.
- Molasses 1 Tbsp
- The darker, the better: One tablespoon of blackstrap sends 3.2 milligrams of iron your way. Spoon it on a bran or corn muffin or stir into baked beans. Sunflower or safflower or walnut or wheat germ oils 1 Tablespoon Three to eight times the amount of vitamin E of corn or soy or other vegetable oils is provided by these. One tablespoon of safflower oil has 8.5 I.U., sunflower 10, walnut 13 I.U. and wheat germ oil 28 I.U. Combine with olive or canola oil for salad dressings and reap the benefits.
- Wheat Germ 1 Tbsp
- One tablespoon (toasted is fine) gives you B vitamins, 0.5 milligrams of iron, a couple of grams of protein, 3 milligrams zinc, and 4 I.U. of vitamin E -- an impressive assortment in such a small quantity of crunchy goodness. Sprinkle on cereal or into pancake batter.