Customer Reviews

Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy, Revised Edition: The Complete Guide to Eating Before, During, and After Your Pregnancy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book after returning a vegetarian pregnancy book, and I'm really pleased with it. I find the nutrition information detailed, easy to read and understand, and well-organized. The author is positive about vegetarian diets (many pregnancy authors are way too conservative about this, in my opinion). She makes easy to follow dietary recommendations for each stage of pregnancy--it's very easy to fit "your own" diet into it, including a vegetarian diet. I really appreciate the tables listing calcium-rich foods, iron-rich foods, etc.

Though there is useful information about the nutrients in different food groups, I got this book at the same time as a "mayo clinic on healthy weight" and the differences were striking. Somer appears to base a lot of nutritional advice on the US RDA and "old school" food pyramid, which has been subject to lobbying by farmers and large food corporations rather than sound medical advice, and the latest research by health-based, rather than profit-biased, scientists.

Also, the author tends to leave the subject matter and speak on other pregnancy health issues. Since this wouldn't have been the only book I buy to learn about my pregnancy, much of the information was redundant and less well-informed than books that make overall pregnancy health their goal.

If you'd like something more concise, I'd recommend "Eating for Pregnancy - an essential guide to nutrition for the whole family" which has a shorter section on nutrients and their use for the baby, then a whole slew of recipes with their nutritional content. Then for the overall pregnancy health to fill in the gaps, "Mayo Clinic guide to a healthy pregnancy", with medical advice and information about the baby's development at each 4 week segment.

My wife and I came to this book for advice on our first pregnancy and had to work hard to get to the useful stuff.

Let's start with the chapter on "Nutrition During the First Trimester" (which is where we were when we bought the book). There's a section called "Optimal Weight Gain" where the author talks a lot about gaining too much weight and not gaining enough, but little on what is just right. There's plenty of Cosmo-esque "advice" ("You are eating for two, but that second person is a baby not a linebacker", "If you want that prepregnancy little black dress to fit after pregnancy...") before you get to anything useful ("Aim for a 25 to 35 pound gain, but don't worry if you're short or over this mark as long as you are monitored by a physician.").

The author advises pregnant women to not obsess over their weight. This advice would have been helpful for the author, who open each pregnancy chapter with a long section on weight gain. These sections contain a lot of harping on "don't gain too much!" and "don't gain too little!" without the corresponding "just right" information.

Ironically, the author clucks her tongue at pre-liberation women who would obsess about gaining too much weight. I wonder if the author realizes how much she perpetuates such obsessions with her "little black dress" references. As you read the book, you get the impression that she's a little obsessed herself and you find yourself wanting to comfort the author that you fully understand the perils of too-much-or-not-enough weight gain, and could we please change the subject?

Also annoying is Somer's tendancy to talk down to her readers. Lots of advice is doled out with a "Do this" or "Don't do that" attitude, sometimes falling annoyingly short on the reasons why.

That's not to say the book isn't useful. Once you get beyond the unnecessarily stylized content, you'll get a good education on supplements, what foods to avoid, and foods that are especially helpful during pregnancy (or "SUPER FOODS!!!").

But the overall tone of the book is more fashion magazine than professional (especially compared to the far superior "What to Expect When Expecting" books). It is pretty telling that the "about the author" credits list "The Today Show", "Good Morning America" and "Shape" magazine first. It reads like something stylistically packaged that occasionally contains useful information.

Elizabeth Somer's Pregnancy Nutrition Book is a breath of common sense that is much needed. Most nutritionists spend all their time trying to persuade everyone that all that is needed in pregnancy is the proverbial good balanced diet. Most nutritionists badmouth supplements for fear that people will just swallow pills and eat junk. As a reaction to the overuse of supplements most academics decry all supplements. (The official RDA of folate was lowered from 0.4 mg in 1970 to 0.2 mg in 1980 just because it is difficult to get more than 0.2 mg in the diet, so they lowered it so not to have to admit the need for supplements, even though the early reports from England about neural tube defect sparing were already published.) Somers never fell for that nonsense and has always encouraged sensible supplements in addition to a "good" diet. She always recognized the need for folate and iron supplements and was the first nutritionist to recognize the need for fluoride supplements in pregnancy. She anticipated, by four years, the present recommendation (Aug,'97 prelim; March'99 final) of the Food and Nutrition Board that pregnant women get 3 mg of fluoride a day. As the average diet in the US contains 0.5-2.5 mg, supplementation is necessary to meet this new Dietary Reference for Adequate Intake. Elizabeth Somer deserves great credit for her foresight and for the best pregnancy nutrition book on the market.

I bought this book when I was preparing for my pregnancy. It had excellent tips on healthy eating, not only from a pregnancy perspective, but from nutrition in general. It covers the preconception stage, gearing up for pregnancy, then pregnancy itself, and lastly has a section on what to eat postpartum. One thing I loved about the book is that it explains how eating right will bring you back to your pre-pregnancy shape much faster. I gained 35 pounds with my pregnancy and lost it all within the first 3 months, and I've continued to lose. This book is an excellent resource for nutrition in general, even beyond the pregnancy part.

After reading a few "high level" books on nutrition and pregnancy, I was SO excited to pick up "Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy." (Although I am not pregnant, we are trying to concieve our first child.)

Not only was the text **easy** to read and understand, the author didn't just say "get more iron in your diet" or "eat more whole grain foods" (like other books I've read)- the author actually provided list after list of what (realistic) foods one could add to their diet to get the vitamins and minerals. This was great for a "nutrition newbie" like me!

I have always thought that pregnancy was a time for a woman to eat as much ice cream, candy, pickles, etc. or WHATever she was craving. However, this book was a wake-up call: Nutrition is essential for the baby's health.

I enjoyed learning about what nutrients were essential - and WHEN they are essential - from conception all the way past birth. I also enjoyed learning WHY all these minerals and vitamins were needed for each stage of the baby's development.

Women, if you are even THINKING about trying to concieve a baby, get this book! If you're already pregnant, it's not too late to read up and change your habits for the sake of your health - and your baby's health!

There is a wealth of really useful information about food in this book. Unfortunately, I find the meal plans in this book too unrealisitc for my lifestyle. I cherish the book for the rest of its contents, though!

I found the advice in the book to be preachy and a little too old school nutrition (basic food groups, lean meat, dairy etc.)In a time when there is so much new evidence about alternate protein and calcium choices..Would only recommend this book to someone who is eating very poorly and needs to begin with basic information.

Elizabeth Somer's Pregnancy Nutrition Book is a breath of common sense that is much needed. Most nutritionists spend all their time trying to persuade everyone that all that is needed in pregnancy is the proverbial good balanced diet. Most nutritionists badmouth supplements for fear that people will just swallow pills and eat junk. As a reaction to the overuse of supplements most academics decry all supplements. (The official RDA of folate was lowered from 0.4 mg in 1970 to 0.2 mg in 1980 just because it is difficult to get more than 0.2 mg in the diet, so they lowered it so not to have to admit the need for supplements, even though the early reports from England about neural tube defect sparing were already published.) Somers never fell for that nonsense and has always encouraged sensible supplements in addition to a "good" diet. She always recognized the need for folate and iron supplements and was the first nutritionist to recognize the need for fluoride supplements in pregnancy. She anticipated, by four years, the present recommendation (Aug,'97 prelim; March'99 final) of the Food and Nutrition Board that pregnant women get 3 mg of fluoride a day. As the average diet in the US contains 0.5-2.5 mg, supplementation is necessary to meet this new Dietary Reference for Adequate Intake. Elizabeth Somer deserves great credit for her foresight and for the best pregnancy nutrition book on the market.

I'm in my first trimester and I received this book as a gift from a friend. I think that generally the advice is ok, but not as up to date as another reviewer mentioned. The recipes look good, but there are not that many (I haven't actually made any so I can't review on the recipes). Suprisingly, in her menu section, a lot of days call for fish. I'm not crazy about fish, so that's not helpful. My biggest complaint is that she recomends "diet" drinks or the use of artificial sweeteners. That stuff is pure poison and I would not expose my unborn child to artificial sweeteners in a million years. So if you do decide to purchase the book, I would recommend you ignore that bit of advice.