Beautiful Babies: Nutrition for Fertility, Pregnancy, Breast-feeding, and Baby's First Foods

Eating along the lines of what this book teaches has been important in my family for the last 5 years, shortly before we had kids. I'm continually looking at this subject of nourishing foods, and this book even for me was very helpful to reexamine some choices we've made for convenience off and on, when I've been tired or busy. I especially appreciated the discussion about genetic momentum as it's something I've considered often in the last few years. Each generation is less healthy than the last, and we're running out of the nutritional physical benefits that our ancestors have had. What can I do to build a strong physical foundation for my children? A lot! I'm currently pregnant with our third child, and reading in the book how crucial nutrition is in pregnancy has helped me make some immediate better choices for the benefit of my child. Having milk kefir daily, homemade broth daily, buying grass fed gelatin and having it daily, having cod liver oil daily,having liver weekly. Since I'll admit, I'm just not going to be cooking and eating liver and organs, I'm satisfied in buying Dr. Ron's Organ Delight capsules, a blend of 8 organs from grass fed animals. Now, I fail on a lot of those but I'm happy if I get all that 3-4 times a week though my goal is daily. I definitely have raw milk daily, and am a firm believer in its benefits over risks. In addition to the above items that are important to have in my diet, there are other things I am being careful about AVOIDING. I haven't bought vegetable oil for years and will not be doing that again, but I am watching more closely for additives that I've overlooked before that contain MSG (her chart was helpful in that regard). Also, it was new information for me to have it so clearly laid out the nutritional differences between commercial meat and grass fed meat. While we can't always afford to buy premium meat, I believe buying more during pregnancy will serve myself and my baby well. I was amazed at the ratio difference in omega 6 to omega 3 that she laid out. I will never be able to completely avoid grocery store meat, but adding in grass fed where I can is doable. If you feel overwhelmed reading this book yet are compelled to change what you eat or what you feed your family, take it slow and do what you can one step at a time. Her descriptions of the different tiers of what you might be able to afford or have available to you with regard to dairy, meat, etc would be a helpful guide. Our whole approach these last few years has been to prioritize where we put our resources when it comes to food, both regarding time and money, and forget the rest and don't stress. I don't see myself ever making homemade sourdough while I have small children, but I do find myself able to put time into broth, kombucha, kefir, yogurt and occasional fermented vegetables, in addition to making much of our food from scratch. There are other things I could do or should do that just can't happen, and I'm ok with that. I started putting the time and money needed to provide these food items one at a time, when I felt ready and able to put my energy into it. Start with what you need to take out, what garbage food you should literally throw away. Then look at a couple things you can buy differently, and where to find it. Consider an item or two you could start making at home, and master that and move on to something else. In the end, this was an excellent book worth reading, buying, referring to, passing around, loaning out and giving as gifts. It broaches the subject of nutrition, traditional food and modern food in a very readable format. I don't think it would be too complicated for the average person to understand and mull over, and it's a well researched topic. Overall, this isn't new information that author is presenting, but she's putting it together in an understandable way, for a particular audience, on specialized topics that concern many mothers. This information has been available to us for decades, but many do not realize that our food has changed so significantly over the years that this topic should be examined. This is a badly needed book, and I'm so glad it's here. We can ultimately thank Dr. Weston A. Price for his valiant research, and we can thank Kristen and many others for keeping this research alive and at our fingertips.

I'm pregnant with my third child and decided to look into the Weston A. Price diet since hearing so much about it in the past few years. I first heard about the ancestral view on health from Tim Ferris's book " The 4 hour body" where he talks about how he uses scientific principles to analyze the merits of different diets. The basic premise is that there is so little that we know about nutrition (consider for example that we are only just beginning to study the gut microbiome in detail, now widely considered as your second brain. Or the relatively recent discovery of vitamins! New nutrients and compounds are being discovered all the time) that it would be wisest to look at fertility as the most accurate barometer of true health. Therefore we should look upon ancient cultures around the world who managed to survive across hundreds and thousands of generations to understand what is truly healthy to eat. I came across this book after doing some research on my favourite healthy living blogs like "wellnessmama", "mommypotamus" and "thehealthyhomeeconomist". I just can't believe how incredibly intelligent this author is! Being able to summarize decades of research that Weston A. Price did, not to mention the ENTIRE food industry in just a few short chapters. I've been following a Paleo style diet for a few years and have also tried various diets for digestion like the low FODMAPs diet. Yet still I learned a ton reading this book. I kept telling my husband fact after fascinating fact about nutrition that I learned from this book. There are also plenty of recipes at the back of the book to get you started. I also love that I've learned an easy method for making pretty much everything probiotic! (by making my own whey and culturing various foods with it) There are also some recommendations on natural remedies for babies and breastfeeding success. If you want a great summary of Weston A. Prices philosophy (founder of the American Dental Association) and his research findings then don't hesitate to buy this book. His research began after noticing declining oral health in his children patients and he was privileged to travel all over the world to study different populations. He found a wealth of knowledge that we could all benefit from. Unfortunately doctors receive very few hours being trained in nutrition and this information is not getting out to the public on a massive scale. That is why books like this are invaluable to spreading the message.

The title of this book kind of feels a bit deceiving. However, after struggling to even crack the book open, barely reading the first words without putting the book down again, the author drew my interest slowly before realizing a whole day had passed without setting the book down for a break. I was intrigued and probably a little short of obsessed. I was fascinated and this is also why I recommend the book to you, and suggest you recommend it to all of your family and friends; I know I have. Not only does the book serve to educate one considering getting pregnant (or already pregnant), it achieves multiple degrees of education by tying in some history, science, nutrition, current affairs, civilizations, and personal experiences all into one book presented in a concise manner. The citations and endnotes are worth further research. When I began reading the book it was overwhelming. I felt like I had already made enough sacrifices in regards to things that I consumed on a daily basis--I had been cooking from scratch and opting for organic for about a year and a half prior to reading the book. In addition to that, I have had high cholesterol since I was 21 (no, I'm not fat, I'm actually underweight if anything) so my diet has mainly consisted of fish, poultry, and lots of greens. As I went along in the book I felt like I had to do more, like nothing I had done was enough, and nothing I could do would be good enough. So I put the book down and took a step back to digest everything and put it all into perspective. Subconsciously a lifestyle change had begun. I went to my spice cabinet, turned bottles around, and threw out anything that had monosodium glutamate or corn. I had no idea that those two things were in so many things, products that should not even contain corn. It was a start. I became more attentive to labels and was always looking for "and other flavors", other names for sugar, GMOs, "and other additives", etc. I spent a while in the pasta aisle looking for spaghetti noodles that didn't contain corn. I would hunt for whole Vitamin D fortified grass-fed cow milk. I would be in a grocery store for a lot longer just googling the different ingredients in foods that contained so many ingredients in such a simple thing like coffee creamer or canned tomatoes. Ignorance was no longer bliss. Ignorance meant that I was going to live a slightly shorter life and be on medication sometime in the future. I didn't know that a future of pill popping could be avoided. Reading the book has changed my life and the life of my family. We are more conscientious about what we eat and what enters our home. A friend of mine is pregnant and has headaches everyday so I shared with her the theory of magnesium oil. A few hours after buying it and applying it her headache went away. She became a believer, and so did I! For all things pregnancy, I turn to this book. I had a blood test done two weeks ago. When the nurse drew it I told her that I have never seen my blood more dark red. She replied by saying that it was a good thing and that I must have been eating a lot of leafy greens. She asked if I had kale recently. I happily told her that I had! If you can relate to anything that I have said here then I highly recommend that you purchase this book or gift it. Everyone can benefit from the information contained here, not just pregnant women. Happy pregnancy!!

I was looking forward to this book, and it is really very good and based on good nutritional science, but like most such books it doesn't include much information about foods and herbs that support milk supply. My own book continues to be the main resource on that account. I look forward to the day when no book on nutrition for mothers will be without a lengthy chapter on both the history of lactogenic foods and their usefulness in countering milk supply issues and supporting mom's and baby's health. That said, we are moving in a direction of better information for mothers, and that is to be applauded. Good job!

After miscarrying my first pregnancy I was told I had a hormonal imbalance that was possibly PCOS (though I don't fit the standard profile) and it would be necessary for me to use fertility drugs to have a "strong" ovulation. After 8 months of following the recommended low-fat, calorie counting diet that many physicians adhere to, 3 rounds of fertility drugs and 2 failed IUIs, my husband and I were feeling hopeless and helpless (not to mention broke as we had spent some of our house savings for fertility treatments). At the end of February I pre-ordered this book and took your online "Beautiful Babies" course. I started the course right away and made several immediate changes, most importantly adding in more good fats to my diet as I learned about the important role of cholesterol in hormone production. My TSH(thyroid) levels equalized after 5 months of being elevated and I felt much better. My other hormone levels began to equalize as well (all confirmed by blood test). I ovulated on cycle day 15, whereas I previously ovulated around day 21. My progesterone levels after ovulation on unmedicated cycles used to be around 7 (too low) and this time was 22! Today, April 7, I got a positive pregnancy test! And this was an unmedicated cycle as we had decided to take a break from fertility treatments. My husband and I are ecstatic and excited to continue making changes in our diet and lifestyle, because they are creating very positive changes! Though I am now pregnant, this book will continue to be important during the next 9 months and especially after baby arrives as there is valuable information on breastfeeding and baby's first foods. As a first time mom, I will definitely be needing some references for these next steps! *Disclaimer: I just want to make clear that I do not believe that diet alone may be a fertility treatment for everyone, as there can be many factors that cause infertility. I understand the role that fertility treatments play (as does the author of this book) but I think that for those that do need to undergo fertility treatments that this book can be a wonderful supplement that could increase the likelihood of pregnancy.

Very informative. I buy this book for new mothers as their baby shower gifts. It's nutritional information that every mother should know.

What an amazing book! Kristen has put together an easy to read, straight to the point BIBLE on nutrition for the optimum health for women. Actually, for men too. She breaks down the components of the S.A.D (Standard american diet) and the industry behind it, showing you each part that is broken and dangerous. Then she breaks down the components of a traditional diet explaining the nutritional value and health promoting factors of each. At each step, she explains how all these components affect your health and fertility, as well as the health and fertility of your children (and their children!). For anyone already following the Weston A Price framework for your diet, this is a wonderful refresher course. For anyone on the Standard American Diet looking to improve health in general, this is the perfect place to start. I couldn't recommend this book any more highly!! A few added bonuses: the book is full of traditional, health promoting recipes; there's a whole section on breastfeeding; and she spends a chapter discussing natural remedies for pregnancy, labor/delivery, and baby. Just wonderful!

I've been on the Weston A. Price Foundation (hereafter WAPF) bandwagon for quite some time now, though I always thought most of its constituents committed themselves to the diet blindly and over-zealously; so aside from reading the occasional post at blogs like Cheeseslave, I've stayed away from the "Real Food" movement (a term I take issue with, but I digress). Unfortunately, Kristen Michaelis' book confirmed a lot of what I'd been wary about in regards to WAPF followers. I tried to read this with an open mind, but it's quite possible I was too biased to give it a fair shake. Take my words with a grain of salt. First off, I will say that Michaelis includes very little that is not easily available online. I'm not talking about information that you have to dig around for or that's hard to compile. Almost everything in her book is easily accessible by searching "WAPF, pregnancy." Or "WAPF, fertility." The Weston A. Price foundation has a page of dietary guidelines for pregnant women, and many have made blog posts that contain the essentials. What makes this book unique--or what's supposed to make it unique--is the emphasis on a pre-conception diet. She discusses the eating habits of various traditional peoples, and how folks prepared for pregnancy for up to year by undertaking a specific eating regimen high in specific nutrition. That one, tiny slant is not enough to make this book hold up its weight, but all right, I guess. Another unique argument Michaelis offers (I would like to give credit where credit's due) is that food science and nutrition science is young and therefore we can only trust it so much. A fair point, in my opinion. In terms of food science timelines, we're like, pre Dalton atom model. Every other year, scientists suggest something different about how we should eating. Dairy is good and then it's bad. Eggs raise cholesterol. Oh no wait, only the good kind. Etc etc. Because of this, we should look back to how people in previous generations ate for thousands and thousands and thousands of years, because hey, they found a system that worked, right? It's a compelling argument, though I've been very convinced by certain science writers like Gary Taubes etc that fat is good and sugar is mostly bad (as well as have been convinced by my own lab reports). Further, we really don't know that much about how previous peoples at e. Weston A. Price might have traveled extensively, but not that extensively, and people all over the world have been eating a variety of different ways for a very, very long time. I took issue with Michaelis' judgmental tone and lack of evidence to support her claims. YMMV. I always laugh when I get to the "how do I pay for it?" sections of these books, because they're always assuming you're wealthier than you are. If my partner and I spent any more on food, we could not pay rent, and we already live in a very low-income neighborhood. She mentioned that she feeds her large family on a budget smaller than what's allotted by food stamps, and I rolled my eyes again, because though she was just making a point about expense, the way EBT is alotted does not allow for families to buy huge sections of calves in advance like she mentioned doing. Oh, but I guess when I buy my new house (like she did), I'll go ahead and buy a new giant freezer, too. Again, I digress. Then she mentioned that one way to afford her diet is that her family is vegan 70% of the year for religious reasons, and I'm like -- okay? After you spend a book arguing that the most important foods are raw milk, grassfed and pastured meat, and pastured eggs you throw that out there as your money-saving tip? She seemed to specifically avoid doing a price breakdown of how her family keeps their food budget under control, but it would've been really helpful to see how one manages to keep an affordable WAPF diet. I can only assume that it's a lot of legumes and grains, which alas, I can't eat, because I'm diabetic, and carbs. I hope I'm not being too unfair. I agree with so many of the ideas. I survive on a diet of bacon, raw cream, eggs, and fish myself. When I begin trying to conceive next cycle, I think lots of her advice (which I already knew) will help me give the child the best start possible. I wish that she had spent more time talking about why specific foods were so helpful (why eggs? what vitamins do they have again? A, I think??), how to afford it, and less time fetishizing ancient cultures, which seems to be a hallmark of these texts.

The book came promptly and in very good condition. The content of the book is superb and just what I need.

Es una lectura ligera pero provee suficientes datos y consejos bien referenciados; está bien documentado y es aplicable y entendible para mamás y esposas que buscan cuidar de su familia, si te interesa la salud más allá del status quo este libro puede expandir tus horizontes sobre cómo cuidarte a ti misma y a tu familia, de forma autodidacta (como la autora), mas allá de lo que dicen los médicos y las instituciones imperantes. Los únicos dos aspectos del libro que no disfruté es que por un lado la autora escribe para un público lector estadounidense, se siente al leer como si no hubiera considerado que pudiera ser leída por personas de otros países y todas sus recomendaciones están basadas en Estados Unidos, pero más allá de eso no hace alusión en su texto de ninguna manera a que se restringe a proveedores o fuentes estadounidenses ni a que no está considerando a otros países. Si lo hubiera al menos mencionado no me hubiera incomodado, pero al no hacerlo queda la incómoda sensación que se tiene cuando se interactúa con alguien que piensa que Estados Unidos es el comienzo y el fin del mundo. Por el otro lado su tono al escribir es bastante agresivo, al principio del libro ella misma hace referencia a las críticas que ha recibido de gente que no conoce realmente de nutrición tradicional (densa en nutrientes), pero lo incómodo es que pareciera que a estas personas les está escribiendo o como si gente de paradigma institucional fuera su público, cuando es natural asumir que es al contrario; otros que pensamos como ella somos quienes consumimos su libro y es un poco cansino como lector sentirse atacado constantemente por la forma en que la autora manifiesta sus opiniones. Fuera de eso sus datos y recomendaciones están bien y vale la pena leerla.

If you have kids or plan on having them, you need to read this. Every mother wants the best for their children. But as a culture, we've forgotten how much our diet influences their health - and, believe it or not, the health of your daughters' children, because the eggs that will become your grandchildren are formed while that baby girl is inside you. You can do something to change their future.

Great book with lots of good information that’s easy to read. A must have for anyone who cares about their health and especially for moms and moms-to-be.

livro muito bom, dá as dicas de como ter uma dieta equilibrada de verdade, sem comer um monte de porcaria light com adoçante.... Parte dos estudos do Dr. Weston Price feitos em comunidades tradicionais por todo o mundo, e lança a reflexão de "não coma nada que sua (bis)avó não reconheceria como comida".... Leitura importante para todas as futuras mães que estão tentando ter o primeiro, segundo, décimo filho...