Whole Food Supplements
Posted by jenniferhughes on Mar 31, 2007 · Member since Aug 2006 · 1828 posts
I want to take a prenatal whole food supplement (no synthetic or isolated vitamins, more likely to be vegan etc.) during my pregnancy.
Does anyone know of a prenatal whole food supplement??
I can only find New Chapter Organics (for prenatal) and I'd like to compare some other brands first.
Or does anyone take a regular whole food supplement that they love?
I have a doctor's appt on the 3rd and I'm gonna get the vegan grilling. So I'd like to have the whole food sup before then (or at least a print out of the label LOL) so that when she trys to prescribe me prenatal vitamens I can say, "OH LOOKIE I already have some! And how wonderful they are!"
How 'bout Baby & Me?
http://www.alternativesdirect.com/baby%26me.html
Wow, Baby & Me looked great... until I read that I'd have to choke down 6 tablets!!
Plus, wow... that's a lot of money!
Baby & Me = 6 tabs a day (180 in a bottle) $67.95 per bottle... THAT'S $611.55 for my whole pregnancy!!!
New Chapter's Perfect Prenatal = 3 tablets a day... 180 tablets in a $55 bottle... $275... also a lot...
Hmm... Should I just get the free crap my doctor's gonna give me???
I'm so careful about having a balenced diet that I'm not so worried about even taking them at all... But I don't know...
OPTIONS:
1. Take nothing.
2. Take crap prescribed, free, possibly non-vegan (though I may be able to get vegan ones if I request it) vitamens
3. Take whole food supplements and pay thorugh my nose (plus the likelihood of me taking all 6 pills a day is slim...)
Are there any other options??
Okay... so I think I'm gonna go for these...
http://www.alternativesdirect.com/essprenatmini.html
9 per day is suggested (they are the size of a pencil eraser.... I can do that...I think...)
BUT since I am so careful about which nutrients I eat and getting a variety... I may not take ALL 9 each day... that way I can stretch them out... I mean 800 mcg of folic acid (which is what's in the serving of 9 pills) is TWICE the reccomended amount for a pregnant woman anyway... so I don't need ALL of that...
That makes some sense, right? ::)
Any thoughts?
That sounds like a good plan to me. I looked at the nutrient list and it looked like goes a little overboard on a lot of stuff. You could basically sit around and eat twigs and still get enough vitamins if you take these. :o
Since you are already very conscience about getting what you need in your daily diet you could probably just take three or four a day and be fine.
I didn't get a chance to say it before but congratulations!!! :D :-* :D
Yeah, I saw the number of pills & the price for Baby & Me. I don't think I could swallow six pills a day.
There's also: http://www.wholefoodvitaminsandsupplements.com/prenatal_vitamins.
I was looking at their website one time because it says "wholefood", but I can't determine if that applies to everything they sell. They have two prenatal vitamins, but there's nothing obvious in the description that says they're derived from whole foods.
I think prenatal supplements are as protective of the baby as possible, so they are designed for the fast food mothers who may be getting little to no real nutrients. If you're eating good food already, I think you're right about not having to take all of the pills each day.
they are designed for the fast food mothers
LOL! true! Thanks for all your help finding those humbolt_honey!
I ended up finding a prenatal 70% whole food sup by rainbow light with 270 pills in a bottle for around $40 that I can stretch out with my slow food diet ;)
Congratulations! :) :)
I used to work in a health food store, and there are two important things to consider about prenatals:
Folic acid is vitally important early in pregnancy - a deficiency in the very early weeks is related to spina bifida birth defects - so start on a folic acid as soon as you can (vegan foods are a good source, especially lentils, spinach, orange juice, etc - so you are probably good to go so far, but doesn't hurt to have the "insurance" of supplementing) If I remember correctly (double check on this) it's 400mg per day minimum.
Iron is a major component of prenatals, and it tends to be very constipating. Not to mention that digestion is sometimes a little shakier when pregant, anyway. So, don't buy too much of a brand until you can try it and see how you like it, and how your body tolerates it.