Is It Healthy?

[KDdid]

Obviously I'm new here & I haven't yet done a TON of research but some of the things I'm reading seem a little unhealthy. I mean, my preference next time around is a girl but more than that, I want a healthy baby and pregnancy. I understand that TTC can be a long process and some of the things I'm reading seem like they could be pretty unhealthy over a period of time. For example, have there been any studies showing any long-term effects on mother or baby of the an acidic pH for an extended period of time (pink sway) or effects of an unusually large sodium intake for an extended period of time (blue sway) or effects of starving the body of nutrients for an extended period of time (pink sway)? I want to do this right and have already started the parts of the sway that seem healthy to me (losing weight, cutting sodium, increasing calcium, etc.) but I'm really wondering what the risks are of the other things. Anyone have any answers?

[atomic sagebrush]

I will answer this more in depth at a later time (just poppped on to check something) but I want to put your mind at ease that the swaying that ~I~ encourage and promote is perfectly healthy. I have put a great amount of effort and time into improving swaying and making it safe for people to do for as long as they like and please know that the info on this website is not the same as it is on some of the other sites.

Personally I don't agree with the extreme sodium intake amongst the blue swayers at all and while I do call for some reduction in some nutrients for pink sways, my "Low Everything" diet has adequate levels of protein, fat, calories, and nutrient intakes and the sources that I use for this info are the advice of reproductive endocrinologists, Web MD, the WHO, and other reputable sources. I personally believe my swaying diet (both pink and blue diets) is/are actually better for health than the typical Western diet is and you can tweak the pink diet to be even more healthy if you want to by substituting whole grains for refined ones.

It is literally impossible to acidify your body in the ways that people claim you can. Please read this for more info.http://www.quackwatch.com/01Quackery...SH/coral2.html I never advise people to drink anything more than dietary amounts of aspartame and I have tried to find the safest supplements available which is why I advise sane amounts of baby aspirin rather than massive amounts of cranberry for acidity.

I'd be careful with the high calcium and magnesium intake too because that carries its own set of health risks in the long term.

[atomic sagebrush]

ARGH I just wrote a big long answer to this and my baby turned the computer off and deleted it. I feel a little frustrated right now and I'm going to step away from the 'puter before I throw it through the window haha. I'll be back on Friday to answer this more indepth.

[atomic sagebrush]

To reiterate, swaying that I promote is not always the same as is promoted on some of the other sites.

1) Re acidic pH - as I stated above, it's literally impossible to alter the actual pH of your body. Your body contains very tight regulations of its pH and the only way that ever goes awry is due to serious life-threatening health conditions, not anything you eat or drink. The pH of your CM and urine changes based on what you eat, but never fear, this is a temporary change and in no way indicative of anything happening within your body.

On some other websites, they encourage drinking insane amounts of aspartame and taking extremely high doses of cranberry supplements AND baby aspirin (often mixing this with Sudafed which is very dangerous and I tell people not to use Sudafed at all). I do not believe in that and prefer that people limit aspartame to a dietary amount 1-2 cups a day (which is approved before and during pg by the FDA) and use baby aspirin, taken anywhere from once a week to one a day, which is believed safe in early pg and may even help a baby to implant.

2)Re high sodium intake - The mineral ratios are part of the French Gender Diet which is not my preferred sway diet. I agree with you a million percent about the super high sodium intake and I also do not like blue swayers cutting out cal and mag OR pink swayers eliminating potassium and cutting out salt all together. However, just like with the pH, your body has mechanisms at play that regulate the levels of these electrolytes in your blood and it's very good at making do with whatever you are getting and whatever it has stored. Thousands of people have done the FGD both for boys and girls at this point and while it's not my fave diet option, I do believe it's safe enough.

Also, keep in mind that regardless of what is healthy or ideal, most people get way more sodium than is good for them anyway and yet most babies are born perfectly healthy. There is very little difference between the sodium intake of the average person TTC and the recommendations of the FGD.

Please check out this essay (read parts 2 and 3 as well, links are at the bottom of the first one) to learn more about why calcium supps may not even sway the way some claim. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...-CONTROVERSIAL

3)Re cutting out nutrients - While I do believe that restricting nutrients somewhat is good for a pink sway, low nutrients does not mean NO nutrients. If you follow a Low-Everything style diet based around fruits, vegetables, grains, and small amounts of skim dairy, you will get ample amounts of water soluble vitamins and micronutrients. Your body also stores plenty of fat soluble vitamins and many minerals (plus you'll be getting these via diet as well). You do NOT need to take prenatal vitamins to have a healthy pregnancy (other than folic acid which everyone should be taking.) Socrates, Shakespeare, and Einstein were all conceived and carried by moms who were not taking prenatal vitamins prior to or even during pg. A lot of the promotion of prenatal vitamins are coming from vitamin companies who have a vested interest in scaring you into taking their products for as long as possible.

4)Re cutting back on calories, protein, and fat - in my LE Diet, I do have a recommendation of 1500-1800 calories, with 40-50 g of protein and 20-30% of cals from fat. The caloric intake is recommended by reproductive endocrinologists as a safe caloric intake to lose weight while maintaining fertility. The protein is a perfectly adequate protein intake as reported by many reputable sources (most people eat way too much protein and it's very difficult to eat 1500-1800 calories without getting that much at least) and the fat limitation is actually considered heart-healthy.

5)You may need to make your peace with the idea that for TTC a girl, you WANT to be slightly unhealthy...by which I mean, you are going for your fertility to be slightly supressed. Of course, if you are trying for optimum health, you're not going to want to sway in this fashion but the best science we have at our disposal seems to indicate that declining maternal condition = girls.

My is that people have almost made a cult out of "good health" nowadays, esp. where pregnancy is concerned (I don't mean that in a negative way and I'm not trying to offend you, it is natural that you be concerned about your health and that of an unborn child). "Health" has become almost like this mystical ritual where if you follow the right procedures, take the right pills and eat the right foods, you are guaranteed a healthy baby. But the fact is that healthy pregnancies happen all the time in circumstances that are so much less ideal than even the most restrictive sway diets are. Like, the slums of Third World Countries, and pretty much the entire run of human history until like 20 years ago. A lot of our moms smoked and drank and were told not to gain more than 5 pounds during pg or ever exercise even though we know all those things are wrong now. Even with my first son born 20 years ago, prenatals were never taken before pg or even early in pg - you had to get them by prescription only and only after pregnancy was confirmed. Yet most babies were born perfectly healthy and wonderful anyway.

Conversely, we all know that there are many people who do everything right during their pg and still have things go wrong that are in no way their fault at all. In fact, the majority of birth defects/health problems are due to genetic factors or pollutants in the environment at large, that have nothing to do with anything that any of us can control and are caused by unhappy accidents of fate.

So while thinking of your health and that of your child is admirable and understandable, I just mention this to maybe keep in perspective that you really do have a lot of wiggle room between the "ideal" and doing anything that can actually cause harm to you or your future child. There is a huge difference between eating a sway diet for a few months and let's say, drinking radioactive waste or more seriously, following a true starvation diet for many months before TTC.

[KDdid]

Gotcha! I think perhaps I was getting a tad confused by looking at the actual diets of some of the ladies doing a sway rather than the recommended diets. I read of several girl-swaying ladies eating pretty much nothing all day but one meal of pasta, getting in maybe 1000 - 1100 calories per day and pretty much no nutrients for an extended period of time. This may work in the third world and may have still allowed the human race to continue over thousands of years in the past, but mortality rates there/then aren't/weren't pretty. But I think I get it now--it's low everything, rather than NO everything. Thanks for your reply.

[Out of the Blue]

But I think I get it now--it's low everything, rather than NO everything.

Well said! I was right where you were last spring but once the true info settles in your brain, you'll find the best way for you to sway. Best of luck to you.

[atomic sagebrush]

Gotcha! I think perhaps I was getting a tad confused by looking at the actual diets of some of the ladies doing a sway rather than the recommended diets. I read of several girl-swaying ladies eating pretty much nothing all day but one meal of pasta, getting in maybe 1000 - 1100 calories per day and pretty much no nutrients for an extended period of time. This may work in the third world and may have still allowed the human race to continue over thousands of years in the past, but mortality rates there/then aren't/weren't pretty. But I think I get it now--it's low everything, rather than NO everything. Thanks for your reply.

Yes, that is not as I recommend and I am trying to be more vocal about that.

I do want to address one thing tho - there is still a world of difference between someone who was born and raised on a nutrient rich, high calorie Western diet, went on a strict diet for a couple months, and who go onto eat a nutrient rich, high calorie Western diet during pregnancy, and the kind of chronic, life- and pregnancy-long nutritional deficits that are present in the Third World or in ALL the world until a very short time ago. Even though I don't advise that people crash-diet and I am not endorsing/recommending that anyone do so and it is far from ideal, a crash diet followed for a short time is vastly superior to the diets that most people eat/have eaten throughout history. Again, not ideal, I do not endorse or recommend it, but I don't want anyone to misinterpret the words "mortality rates" and feel like they harmed their baby.

Also, infant mortality rates are not great in people who are very obese and have a very high caloric intake dense in sugars and saturated fat.