In early 2009, I became aware of the raw diet and whole-heartedly integrated that philosophy into my family’s lifestyle. A lot of what I read resonated with me and the more I tried the raw diet, the more I craved it. For about one month, I was hard core — drinking cold-pressed vegetable and fruit juices; eating lots of avocados, nuts and seeds; switching to sprouted grains; and making other changes per the suggestions in “The Raw Food Detox Diet” and other books. I genuinely enjoyed the food / meals. I really felt amazing — I had unprecedented levels of energy and mental clarity. It was addictive.
Then, I got pregnant. And everything changed.
My Pregnancy Cravings
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always preferred “light” foods, such as vegetables, fruit, and seafood. It’s just been my preference. I never really cared for meat and fried foods. With my pregnancy in 2009, however, I was horrified at what I was suddenly craving — steak, cheeseburgers and fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, Hot Tamales, Whoopers, … anything with high fructose corn syrup and white sugar — the WORST!
I became quite depressed as the cravings for these unhealthy things felt irresistible. And the cold-pressed juices and any type of vegetable made me want to vomit. At the same time, with all my recently acquired perspective on food and health, intellectually, I really wanted to eat 80 – 100% raw. Physically, I wanted processed foods, fried foods, meat and dairy.
Then a friend (a nutritionist) who had heard about my funk called me. (She started a lovely organization, BeamGreen, which is responsible for opening up my mind to the raw diet, among other things) She called because she heard that I was depressed about my unhealthy cravings and wanted to assure me that my pregnancy cravings were not bad. She recommended a book, “Clean Plates NYC”, to help me find healthier sources for my food cravings. This phone call, coming from a nutritionist and raw foodie, led me to feel better.
Pregnancy and Raw Food
During the summer 2009, while pregnant, I received an email about an online ”raw mom summit.” Moms who had been eating a raw food diet for decades came together online to share their experiences. I was interested to hear that during their first trimesters, a number of them mentioned not being able to eat raw foods. I became quite curious about this, as it wasn’t just me.
Some interesting sections from Natural Health, Natural Medicine: A Comprehensive Manual for Wellness and Self-Care, Completely Revised and Updated Edition
From page 7: There are surprisingly many toxins in the food we eat, both natural and man-made. Celery, basil, the common cultivated white mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), chickpeas, and many other vegetables contain natural toxins; most, but not all, are destroyed by the heat of cooking, which is a strong argument against raw food diets… Alfalfa sprouts, so loved by raw food enthusiasts, contain a natural toxin called canavanine, which is definitely not food for you. Peanuts and peanut butter are usually contaminated with traces of aflatoxin, a very potent natural carcinogen found in a mold that grows on peanuts and other seeds.
From pages 44 – 45: Both raw and cooked vegetables should be in the diet, but you have to know which are good to eat raw and which are not. As I mentioned earlier, always avoid raw legumes and legume sprouts, including alfalfa sprouts. On the other hand, garlic loses some of its virtues when cooked. It is still good to eat, but if you want to take advantage of its ability to fight germs, eat it raw. A salad of different kinds of lettuce, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes is a good way to get some raw vegetables in your diet…
… many vegetables contain natural toxins. The sprouts and green skins of potatoes are poisonous and should always be removed before cooking. Celery, especially when affected by a very common fungus disease called pink rot, contains natural toxins that sensitize us to sunlight and may damage our immune systems. Pink rot is responsible for the brownish patches that discolor many celery stalks. Avoid these.
Most of the natural toxins in vegetables are heat-labile; that is, they are easily destroyed by the heat of cooking. All cruciferous vegetables (the cabbage family), for example, contain such toxins. Small amounts of raw cabbage and cauliflower will not hurt you, but they (and Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, mustard greens, and broccoli) are better for you when lightly cooked. They may then offer some protection against colon cancer by affecting the chemical environment of the colon in a favorable way. Raw spinach, chard, and beet greens contain oxalic acid, which removes calcium and iron from the body and may have other harmful effects; light cooking breaks down this compound. Raw cultivated white mushrooms contain three natural carcinogens. Two of them are destroyed by heat, but the third (agaritine) is not and is enough of a worry that I urge you to be cautious about including these mushrooms in the diet at all.
Here are some guidelines about how to eat vegetables:
NEVER EAT RAW: peas, beans alfalfa sprouts, lentil sprouts, mung bean sprouts, mushrooms, peanuts.
BEST WHEN COOKED A LONG TIME: beans, lentils, chickpeas, eggplant.
BETTER COOKED THAN RAW: beets and beet greens, chard, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collards, mustard greens, winter squash, green beans. Do not overcook green vegetables.
GOOD BOTH RAW AND COOKED: carrots, celery, onions, garlic, chives, scallions, summer squash, turnips, endive, asparagus, sunflower sprouts, tomatoes, peppers.
BETTER RAW: lettuce, other salad greens (arugula, radicchio, watercress), cucumbers, radishes, buckwheat sprouts.
Conclusion
Confused about how to eat? My husband was when I showed him the excerpts from Natural Health, Natural Medicine by Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. The key thing to remember is what the authors of Clean Plates NYC write in their book:
There is a dream diet for everyone — it’s just not the same for each person… We’re all biochemically — genetically, hormonally and so on — different and the idea that this should guide our eating habits has recently begun to excite the leading-edge medical and nutrition community. Experts are beginning to talk about the benefits of individualizing our diets rather than giving advice based on recommended daily allowances (RDA) or the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) food pyramid, both created with the “average” person in mind.
As nutrition pioneer Richard Williams writes in his groundbreaking 1950s book Biochemical Individuality, “If we continue to try to solve problems on the basis of the average man, we will be continually in a muddle. Such a man does not exist.”
Women have especially unique needs since we experience menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, recovery of pregnancy / childbirth, and nursing. Seasons also influence my cravings: I want raw food much less in the cold winter months than I do in the hot summer months.
During my pregnancy, I eventually let go of trying to force myself to eat based on what my intellect was telling me and just gave into my cravings more, which was very little raw food. After reading and hearing more about why a pregnant woman may have an aversion to raw food (to protect the baby from the naturally occurring toxins), I was reminded again at the brilliance of our bodies.
Funny enough, after my beautiful baby girl was born, I immediately (literally) craved cold-pressed vegetable / fruit juices! I downed 16 ounces within the first half hour after the baby was born. I craved this, and craved more (raw and cooked) vegetables and fruit immediately after the delivery. My food preferences changed drastically and immediately. Bizarre. Yet another reminder to listen to my body because it knows what it needs. (Disregarding the cravings for the Hot Tamales and Whoopers!)
Related Content:
- As Mom and Wife, Why I’ve been Exploring A Holistic Approach to Health…
- The Raw Diet: The Husband’s Perspective
- Got Milk? You’ll Live Better Without It!
- The Raw Diet
- Juicing
- Grocery List of Staples
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