I just found out my friend (vegan) is pregnant (YAY)....?!
Answers: Any of you vegans (or your wives) been pregnant while vegan? Any advice?
I haven't, but my vegan sister has. She was vegan throughout her second pregnancy (healthy pregnancy, healthy baby, now a strapping lad).
During her third pregnancy she felt very rough, and one day in Tescos thought 'If I don't have that chicken sandwich, I'll throw up!'. Bought it, ran to her car tearing off the wrapper and wolfed it down. After that, she ate meat regularly throughout the pregnancy (healthy pregnancy, healthy baby, now a strapping lad). After the birth, she went back to a vegan diet.
None of this proves anything of course, except that you can have a healthy pregnancy and baby as a vegan, and that you should listen to your body.
Yes - tell her not to take it too hard if she has cravings for non-vegan food. During pregnancy cravings are so bizarre, unscheduled, inexplicable and random that it's impossible to stick to a vegan diet sometimes.
When you crave something when you are pregnant you HAVE to have it, you will drive for six days without sleep to get it (exaggeration but it's pretty intense).
I had meat a few times because I had one week in my pregnancy where I craved meat - the rest of the time I was averse to it, like REALLY averse to it, but that one week the craving was there. I had a weird pregnancy where I'd go through week by week phases... prepare her for the phases! I had a week where I had to have something pumpkin flavored every day - luckily it was October so lots of pumpkin stuff to go around. I had a pickles phase, a peanut butter phase, saltine crackers with mustard phase (I still don't get it), Tofutti-stuffed jalapenos phase, etc.
Anyway, just tell her that it's not the end of the world and not to feel guilty and just enjoy her time, gain weight at a moderate and healthy pace and let herself indulge and have cravings. Other than for one crazy week I was vegan through my whole pregnancy.
P.S. If she hasn't been eating a very balanced diet as a vegan up until now, it's especially important for her to learn about how to balance her diet now that she's eating for two.
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/veganpregna...
http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-pregnancy...
http://essenes.net/Vpregnancy.htm
a personal story (not mine!) http://jivdaya.org/vegan_pregnancy.htm
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/real...
my sister in law was vegan through both pregnancies. Both pregnancies went perfect, both deliveries were complication free.. outside of hospital, attended by midwifes.. not so much as a tear.. both chidren have been vegan since conception and are VERY healthy and have just the right amount of weight for their age/size..
All a pregnant vegan needs to do (besides what they always should be doing-eating a very well balanced healthy diet) is take normal pre-natal vitamins, and make sure they get extra amounts of certain nutrients, same as a meat-eater needs to watch for..
They just need to make sure they eat enough calories, as vegan food can be very healthy and low-cal