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Vegan Pregnancy
Vegan Pregnancy - My Own True Story
By Hita Bambhania-Modha
In the summer of 1996, after six months of meditating over John
Robbin's book Diet for a New America, my husband and I became
vegan. The true tales of loving and intelligent animals, shocking
details of cruel, wasteful, and unhealthy factory farming, and the
heart-piercing argument--"we become what we eat" all touched us deeply
and influenced our decision. Already vegetarians since birth, we
decided to exclude dairy products as well from our diet. A vegan diet
essentially consists of plant-based foods and excludes all animal
products such as chicken, fish, beef, pork, eggs, honey, and dairy
products.
Article continues below
Upon hearing of our seemingly abrupt decision to become vegan,
concerned friends and family asked, "What will you do when you become
pregnant?" "Wouldn't you need extra supplements from animal products?"
Honestly, I didn't have any answers--either for them or for myself.
Fortunately, I stumbled upon Dr. Michael Klaper's book `Pregnancy,
Children, and a Vegan Diet' which gives a thorough analysis of
nutrition in a vegan diet. After reading this book from cover to
cover, I was convinced that I would not give up vegan diet even in
pregnancy.
Well, in 1998, I did become pregnant. Although I had great moral
support from my husband, parents, and midwife, I felt quite alone in
my quest of going through a vegan pregnancy. I felt that I needed to
talk to someone who had done this before successfully. All the
mainstream books that I read on pregnancy stressed that vegetarians
have to be extra cautious. The message I derived was "Vegans Beware".
Everybody that I met was concerned that somehow my vegan diet will not
be sufficient for the nutritional needs of my growing baby. Their
argument was seemingly sound: "lack of good nutrition can cause birth
defects in a child". Furthermore, if something goes wrong in formative
days, it will be impossible to correct later on. I felt encircled in
fears and apprehensions of people around me, and, perhaps, sadly,
adopted their fears as well. My most haunting nightmare became "What
if I had an abnormal baby, say, with a missing ear or a missing finger
or weak bones?"
However, instead of sinking in the whirlpool of fears, I decided to
take charge. Re-reading the `Pregnancy, Children, and a Vegan Diet'
assured me that if I ate a wide variety of foods from the vegetable
kingdom, plus some vegan supplements I will have a perfectly healthy
and normal pregnancy. While mistakenly a vegan diet is thought of as a
diet that lacks nutrients in fact exactly the opposite is true. A good
vegan diet has an abundance of all nutrients that our body needs. I
ate a variety of colorful, seasonal fruits and vegetables that gave me
plenty of vitamins and minerals. I ate different legumes and beans
with grains and rice, which fulfilled my needs for protein,
carbohydrates, and fibers. I snacked on nuts, seeds, sprouts, and dry
fruits. I drank plenty of water, fruit juices, and soymilk (fortified
with B12). I also took vegan multivitamins with folic acid. Toward the
end of my pregnancy, I took vegan iron--Floradix.
To be more precise, my usual diet included foods from India. My
typical meal was dal (split toor soup), rice, vegetable curry,
chapatis (a flat tortilla-like wheat bread), and salad. In place of
dal, I sometimes ate other variety of legumes and beans. Often, I made
khichadi with split mung/toor and rice/cracked wheat. I ate vegetable
sandwiches with whole wheat or sprouted grain bread, taco/burrito,
falafel, pita bread with hummus and taboli--to name just a few. I made
vegan deserts using egg-replacement powder, soymilk, and vegan
margarine. My list here could go on and on. Driven first by fear, and
then by determination, I left no vegan shore untouched. I truly
discovered that delicious and yet nourishing vegan dishes are only
limited by one's imagination.
Two things I had to be careful about were: (a) to avoid foods with
empty calories such as fried foods and certain desserts and (b) to
plan a good protein dish in every meal--especially toward the latter
part of my pregnancy. This is probably true for a non-vegan diet as
well.
In addition to a healthful diet, I nourished the baby and myself by
reading good books, by listening to good music, by walking, by doing
yoga and by talking to the baby.
After a healthy full term pregnancy and a normal labor at our home in
San Jose, CA, on May 25th, 1999, I gave birth to a perfectly normal
baby girl, Paramita Peace Modha. At birth, Paramita weighed 6 lb. 6
oz. Paramita is now 2 and a half. Paramita began teething at 8 months,
and reached a full set of teeth well before she was 2. Skeptics
chanting "vegans suffer from Calcium deficiency" were -- once and for
all -- silenced. Paramita is truly a vegan child. Perhaps surprisingly
and quite reassuringly, in her entire time on planet Earth, we have
never had to visit a doctor even once!
I went through a very similar second pregnancy, only this time I took
no additional supplements. My second child, a boy, Sohum Bodhi Modha,
was born on May 15th, 2001. Sohum was also born at our family home. At
birth, he weighed 7 lb. 5 oz., and was very healthy as well. Sohum is
now 6 months old and is exclusively on my breast milk, which I have an
abundant supply of. As of today, even Sohum has not visited a doctor
even once...
Hita may be reached at hita.modha@gmail.com.
This article is updated from the original which was published in December 2001 in Jivdaya Digest
http://jivdaya.org under 'Inspiring Lives.'
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