Real Food for Pregnancy

By: Lily Nichols

Narrated by: Lily Nichols

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Prenatal nutrition can be confusing. A lot of the advice you have been given about what to eat (or what not to eat) is well-meaning, but frankly, outdated or not evidenced-based. In Real Food for Pregnancy, you will get clear answers on what to eat and why, with research to back up every recommendation. 

Author and specialist in prenatal nutrition Lily Nichols, RDN, CDE has taken a long and hard look at the science and discovered a wide gap between current prenatal nutrition recommendations and what foods are required for optimal health in pregnancy and for your baby's development. There has never been a more comprehensive and well-referenced resource on prenatal nutrition. With Real Food for Pregnancy as your guide, you can be confident your food and lifestyle choices support a smooth, healthy pregnancy.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Lily Nichols (P)2018 Lily Nichols

Well researched recommendations

Listened to on x1.4 speed. I tried to do some of my own research about nutrition during pregnancy and where the advice came from to avoid certain foods such as raw fish, red meats, soft cheese, shellfish and raw eggs. From what I could tell that advice stemmed from only two actual risks which are 1) food poisoning and 2) heavy metals. Those recommendations don’t say anything about what are the nutritional needs of a baby, nor was it obvious to me that those were good recommendations to mitigate the risks.

Lily’s booked helped dispel me of those concerns. Early on she warns that her advice is not in line with the recommendations of American healthy authorities. For me, that was a good sign for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because I live in Sweden and the advice here is that you can basically eat whatever you want, and secondly, what I’d learned about dietary science is that most of it has major deficiencies and questionable recommendations.

Lily has clearly done her research and her advice is pretty consistent with I’ve heard from other sources that I consider trustworthy. There are 33 pages of references which shows she has done a lot of research on the topic and she takes great care to demonstrate it. That is an important point when considering her advice which not consistent with the “conventional wisdom”.

Generally speaking she recommends reducing sugars and carbs and increasing meat protein and animal fats. Oily fish such as salmon are also on the menu because they are also high in levels of selenium which binds mercury. That is great news for my wife who loves salmon. But size counts and it’s still best to avoid large fish such as tuna and swordfish. Some reviews complain that her recommendations are not vegetarian friendly, but she does go to some lengths to explain how vegetarians can meet nutritional needs for pregnancy, but she freely admits it’s quite challenging.

The strengths of the book are discussing nutrition, but it also discusses other subjects such as exercise and other modern concerns being around certain chemicals in food packaging or shampoo or nail polish. Where the nutrition parts of the book seem empowering and satisfying, the concerns about PCBs and other chemicals that are unavoidable in every day life felt stressful and depressing. Good thing I’ve already forgotten about those parts and mostly remember the good advice in the book.

Get this book

I just finished this audio book and only wish I had it prior to my first pregnancy. At least I feel better informed when trying to conceive #2 and feel much better about providing my growing children with the nourishment that they need. I think all Americans should read this book, not only women, and not only pregnant woman. I'm saying this because the "Standard American Diet" is pathetic. I have been a self-proclaimed foodie for over 20 years. I love ethnic foods and have a great respect for cultures that focus on fresh ingredients and actually cooking. I love that the book references other cultures and the foods they incorporated during conception and pregnancy. I think our culture has become one that relies on a quick pill to fix everything and a vitamin to nourish us. If you are someone that enjoys food and cooking and wants to provide the best for your body and your baby's body, read this book! My only regret is that I didn't buy the hard book as it would be a great resource to refer back to with future questions.

Interesting information not well presented

The Good: There is some good research that's been presented in this book. The consumption of full fat dairy, fish and other animal products are well researched suggestions. She also suggests moderating carbs, but not in an extreme way. This is what I think you could sum this book up as: Minimize high sugary foods and focus on eating less processed foods such as whole vegetables, whole fruit, full fat dairy and responsibly sourced animal products.

The Bad: This book is definitely made for a very particular audience and its advice is inaccessible to most. It is made for Americans who have the purchasing power and local access to the foods she describes in this book. If you're vegetarian or vegan, this book will not be helpful in the slightest. If you can't afford to buy organic, grass-fed meats and organic dairy products, please don't read this.

She makes "alternative" suggestions but only after she's done telling you all the damage you will do to your baby on a cellular level for about 20 minutes. No joke, on my entire drive to and from my son's daycare I listened to Lily Nichols present her information against vegetarianism in such a horrid way it seemed that it was impossible to be a vegetarian and have a healthy baby. I mean, chill, just suggest a B12 supplement and move on 🤷‍♀️. The fear-mongering is absolutely terrible. I say this as a woman who can afford to spend on organic products and who is quite the carnivore. I couldn't imagine having my friends listen to this who are living paycheck to paycheck or who choose alternative eating styles. All this book would do is instill fear and disappointment.

All of this is made worse by Lily Nichols tone. Her reading is monotone and sarcastic. She's passing hardcore judgement with every breath. So much so that even I, a reader who typically eats the way she suggests, was extremely uncomfortable.

So, for all my friends with a uterus that this book wasn't written for let me tell you this:

You are awesome. The fact that you are looking up pregnancy nutrition means you love and care for your baby. If you cannot afford organic products don't worry, you can buy conventional vegatbles and meat. Your baby will not be severely challenged for the rest of their life because you chose conventional over organic. If you're vegan or vegetarian, do your thing. Just make sure you get your doctor to check your B12 and iron levels occasionally so you can supplement if needed. There are some really great high quality vitamins out there these days such as Thorne prenatal, smartypants gummies, ECT. that have highly absorbable forms of all the nutrients you might not be getting. is it better to get them from food? Sure. Do you not want to eat 20lbs of kale everyday? Don't want to eat animal products? Fill in the gaps with high quality supplementation where needed.

Finally, something REAL!

Finally, something REAL! I have been looking for an updated guide on nutrition for women of child bearing years. This is IT! Mrs Nichols shares ideas for preconception, pregnancy, and for breast feeding (which is often overlooked). I am very pleased with the research she has put into creating this guide. This is my new "go to" and it is the book I shall recommend to friends and clients.

EVERYONE should read this!

This book is filled with amazing information about nutrition that is great for anyone to read, not just pregnant women.

Info missing from PDF

I thought this was a great book and it gives you a lot of fantastic information. However the included pdf really missed a golden opportunity to give a list of recommended micronutrients. In a non audio book you could scan the sections for this info, but it is all the more challenging with an audio book.

Essential read!!

I read this book twice while pregnant with my first daughter during Covid; adjusting my diet as I learned. My experience was that, with all these important nutrients drenching my system, I almost never had strange food cravings, almost no nausea, felt very vibrant, and had no other worrisome conditions…& that’s after 5 miscarriages & 9 years of trying. My baby was and is physically and mentally strong.
I appreciate this book more than I can say and I recommend it to people often!

Best prenatal nutrition book

I don’t usually write reviews but this book is truly amazing. Evidence-based information for having the healthiest pregnancy and postpartum based on real food nutrition and traditional diets. If you are pregnant, thinking about becoming pregnant, or in the postpartum period - read this book. 100% recommend.

Awesome

What an amazing source of information. Wow. This literally gave me a very detailed guide to my health and my baby's health.

Must read for new parents!

Great information for pregnant mothers and everyone in general!! Food is medicine for a healthy life!

Very informative and Eye opener

The book is very informative and realistic.
In response to the vegetarian review, please not I have myself tried the daily intake of eggs and collage on my pregnancy and this was not unaffordable at all.
I find that my baby is very intelligent and healthy, whilst I wasn’t following everything in the diet as I had a bad nausea while pregnant and I mostly consumed carbs.
Nevertheless I was always encouraged by my next in kind to eat more of the recommended foods in this book and it did really help me and my baby who had a tongue tie and ended up losing a bit of weight, below 7% of body weight, until it was resolved around 2 months old. Being exclusively breastfed and me continuing to take collagen and minimum 2 daily eggs I found I was able to cope better than the days I wasn’t taking as much proteins.
Eggs aren’t unaffordable and the collagen can be phased to suit your money issues but it wasn’t expensive either at £15 monthly expense. Definitely cheaper than eating more meat when this isn’t an option in a daily basis.
I also couldn’t eat red meat, though I tried, I mostly ate salmon and we were able to find in reduce section of the supermarket.
I think this book is an eye opener and it is worth listening before allowing the vegetarian review putting you off.
I believe your child health should be more important than the animals in the world vegans and vegetarians want to save.
There should be a balance in the importance of life, being you and your child the priority.
Also it doesn’t recommend liver 5 times a week, says it can be mixed on a shepherd’s pie, and you only require a small amount which I’m not exactly remembering.
So get the book and assess yourself before allowing the reviews putting you off.
I also felt the book is very easy to listen to as I seem to be falling in a meditative state while driving, both focusing on the book, the road and remembering the content better than when I listen to it in other places.

AN AMAZING BOOK!

Trite anti-carb black&white thinking

I'm a vegetarian with hyperemesis and BORED by the advice and info here, pedastaling hunter gatherer habits which correspond back when we had babies at age 11 and died by 28.

It just seems unbelievable when nutritionists say things like "eat liver at least 5 times a week or else your baby will have brain damage".

This book is entirely focused on micronutrients in isolation and feeds into the carb scare trend unhealthily. Oversimplified and totally unholistic.

Furthermore, this white privileged American author takes NOTHING about economics, sociology, accessibility into account with recommendations. It's not only obnoxious and unhelpful but it is guilt inducing and has nothing to do with reality for most people.

Lily is clearly well-researched and impressively comprehensive. But she does a terrible job of explaining the background of the science; cites pretty unhelpful studies about deficiency. She made me SO mad when she repeated the same message over and over again about the importance of eating organ meat which is extremely unrealistic and gross for 90% of women!

My respect was won at times, and I'm glad I stuck through reading it, like around contaminants. This part is very important. and I was grateful for the approach to post-partum healing.

I was also refreshed when finally Lily got to the chapter admitting that if you vomit for the first 20 weeks of your pregnancy, a tiny piece of egg (1 egg) feels heroic.

I appreciate her comprehensive approach but it would be a much better book if she explained things with wisdom instead of just reading off medical lab articles.

Came across this book at the right time..

Discovered this author while researching about GB for one of my patients. Read it twice and absolutely loved it. Incredibly eye-opening...every woman who is pregnant who would like to get, should read it.

Excellent. Must read for all planning a family

It’s was lovely to listen to Lily read her own book. So much information I will listening again.
Thank you for a well researched book.