Nutrition advice

Body: 

Hi ladies,

I am still pregnant (!!) and revamping my vegetarian (dairy included) diet to include nutrients from real food instead of from supplements.

Two problems:

1. Omega-3 and DHA: So far I have eggs (algae fortified), chia seeds, walnuts and occasional flaxseed as my sources. I am weary of fish. I gagged down some salmon and was not happy. But I am also weary of isolated supplements (DHA) and how fish/algae oil is made. I eat nuts and seeds for Vit e, potassium, etc which are prone to having Omega-6 and am not willing to eliminate those from my diet. How can I boost DHA in particular in as close to a real food form as possible? The best solution I have come up with is to continue my food sources and supplement with DEVA Vegan Vitamins Omega-3 DHA liquid, BUT if the Omega 3/6 ratio is based more on omega 3 than solely DHA, then with the chia seeds and eggs I may be getting enough.

2. B12: I eat organics eggs, organic whole milk and fermented organic whole milk byproducts-homemade yogurt and homemade kefir, mozzarella, feta, and nutritional yeast (red star). Do you think this provides enough B12 if I eat a variety of these foods during the week? IF B12 is truly not heat stable, then my sources will not include eggs as I do not feel comfortable eating raw egg yolk.

It has been surprisingly easy to ditch all the supplements I depended on so much in favor of a real food balanced diet. And awesome side effect: my bladder is much less irritable, I am no longer getting up to pee during the night!

Thanks for any advice!

Mindful

Forum:

It is a rocky road, trying to ensure that we get optimum nutrition, at the same time wading through the propaganda about what is good and what is bad for us. A lot of the information we receive is along the lines of make sure you get enough of this or that. How much can a woman eat? I think the answer often is to actually just eat less of the things that are damaging, rather than adding more food to redress the balance.

If we ate less omega 6 and omega 9 we wouldn't need to eat all the extra oily fish to balance up the ratio with the omega 3.

Eating less overall may be a good step. Less is often more. Put the money saved by not buying supplements into a retirement fund, or into fresh foods.

Louise