854. The Science of Pregnancy Nutrition (What Most Doctors Don’t Tell You) with Jessie Inchauspé

26:49Okay, the best source is still eggs. Actually, the best source is liver, animal liver. And one of the reasons that everybody's so choline deficient today is because we don't eat organ meats anymore. So really, liver is a superfood. That being said, check with your doctor because there are recommendations of how much liver you can have because it's high in vitamin A. Actually, those studies are being overturned, but regardless, you check with your doctor. Then if you don't eat any animal foods, to get the amount of choline in one egg, you would need to eat two pounds of soybeans. To get the amount of choline in one egg, you need two pounds of soybeans.

27:25So you have to supplement if you're vegan and you don't eat animal foods. So in the book, I talk about all the supplements and stuff. But honestly, throughout this research, I realized, wow, being vegan is not the ideal pregnancy diet because you need so much money and so much education to make sure you get all the stuff that you need if you don't eat animal foods. This was a big realization for me. It's pretty powerful. Were you mostly plant-based before? No, not at all. Okay. Not at all. I saw in my work that people who were vegan sometimes had a harder time with blood sugar management because it's pretty carb-heavy naturally.

28:00But when I read these studies, I realized, okay, there's something about pregnancy. Being vegan is very difficult when you're pregnant. Interesting.

28:10Lindsey Simcik:You mentioned supplementation. I think we can deep dive in a little bit. But just as far as the choline goes, is a supplement form of choline just as good? You absorb it less effectively, efficiently, but it still has a huge benefit. So you want to supplement if you're not getting choline from whole foods. There's actually really fascinating clinical trials on choline supplementation. So I'll give you an example. There's a test that scientists use to measure a baby's intelligence, in air quotes. It's a very narrow form of intelligence, but this is one of the tests they do. They put the baby, like under one-year-old, they put the baby on the mom's lap in front of a computer.

28:49And then they... That's it. They're like, input this Excel. They're like, do this first pivot table. That's hilarious. No, they've got images on the screen and they measure how quickly the baby reacts to the new image. Interesting. So it's a reaction time test. And the reason they use this is because this is correlated to adult IQ. So the faster you react to images on this silly test, the higher your IQ as an adult. That's an association. And so these scientists were like, okay, let's supplement two groups of moms with different amounts of choline and see if we can measure a difference in the baby's reaction time.

29:27So one group of moms got the minimum, which is 450 milligrams, and the other group got double that. They were wondering if choline forms a baby's brain, maybe more is better. And lo and behold, the high choline group was getting double the recommended amount. They had a 10 % faster reaction time in the kids on average. so just so people understand this a very simple supplementation during pregnancy led to measurable impact on the baby's brain development in the first year of age so imagine all the stuff that we can't measure because this we're measuring one small thing but that's not the only thing that's being impacted by choline choline forms the parts of the brain that have to do with memory learning and attention wow memory learning and attention so what did i do i called my mom i was like mom did you have any eggs in 1992 she said no honey i ate special k with a lot of sugar on top i was like well now i can get it It doesn't make sense now.

30:34That's why I'm so stupid.

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32:06Lindsey Simcik:Okay, so I have to share something that has been such a game changer for my mornings, especially Paleo Valley's bone broth protein. I love it in chocolate. I share about it all the time. This is replacing my coffee in the morning. It's just so nourishing, so yummy. If you're like me and you care about gut health, skin, hair, joints, but you also want something that's really clean and easy, this is it. It's made from 100 % grass-fed bone broth, and it's so simple to add into your routine. I throw it in with hot water and it's delicious, but I can also add it to my coffee. I add it to smoothies for myself and for my son.

32:42Lindsey Simcik:It's delicious. What I love is that it's not filled with junk, no weird fillers, no artificial ingredients, just real nourishment that actually supports your body. And it's gentle on digestion, which for me is everything. I found that when I was waking up and just having coffee first thing, it was not the vibe. Okay. And this is something that is both gentle, but also giving me a ton of protein. I had two scoops to like a nice big mug with hot water. And sometimes I'll add a dash of milk, but you don't need to because there is, I believe, coconut milk powder in this that is just so yummy. It makes it creamy, but it feels like it's one of those small upgrades that really adds up.

33:22Lindsey Simcik:My younger self would have benefited from something like this so much in my mornings. If you want to try it, head to paleovalley.com slash almost 30 or use code A30 at checkout for 15 % off your first purchase. Again, my favorite is the chocolate, but they have other flavors that are just so delicious, check it out. PaleoValley.com slash almost 30 or use code A30 at checkout for 15 % off. Gosh, that's such a good question. I think that's where a lot of people get a little tripped up where they're like, well, my mom had special K and sugar and she's fine. And I'm fine. And I'm fine. They'd be like, I'm glucose goddess and my mom had special K and sugar and I'm fine.

34:02What do you say to people that kind of say that? I mean, yeah, I'm fine. You're like, you only see me this hour. I've had a lot of mental health issues in my life. I had a lot of emotional regulation issues that I had to work through. Could I tell you today, I have the perfect brain. I feel amazing all the time. Zero issues. Absolutely not. Maybe if my mom had had more eggs, maybe my brain would feel a bit different today. maybe it would feel different to be inside my brain. And maybe not. Who knows, right? But that's not the point. The point is, if you know this is important and you like eggs and you have access or you have access to supplements, there's no reason not to do this.

34:45And also call your mom and see what's up. It's interesting. And of course, I can't tell you for sure that if you have these eggs, your baby's not going to have any mental health issues. Of course not. But you know you're optimizing for something that really, truly matters. So, Colleen was the first of the pillars. What is the second pillar? It's this little molecule called glucose. Oh, never heard of it before. Yeah, so I learned a lot of stuff about glucose that I didn't know. Wow. A lot of stuff. As you guys know, most of my work has been about this. And I understood that glucose management when you're an adult is important.

35:25You want steady glucose. You don't want big spikes and big dips. because those increase inflammation in the body and they lead to fat gain, right? Your body turns excess glucose into fat. And just to recap, glucose is found in carbs. So things like pasta, rice, potatoes, oats, or things that are sweet, like a chocolate cake, an apple pie, a fruit juice, etc. So when your baby is developing in the womb, he actually needs some glucose for energy. It's very important. And he can't eat carbs on his own, so he depends on you, the mom, to eat carbs. And the glucose goes into your bloodstream and then it goes into your baby's bloodstream.

36:03I learned something I had no idea about, which is that my bloodstream and my son's bloodstream were actually much more connected than I thought. There's this organ called the placenta, which you grow during pregnancy. And for each pregnancy, you grow a new one. And then you give birth to it, which I didn't know before, which is such a trip. And so people eat their placenta. Different topic. Huh? That's la baby like people buy each other's placenta they sell it in an airport so funny and the placenta is not actually a filter the placenta trusts that whatever is in the mom's bloodstream belongs in the baby's bloodstream the placenta is not there controlling what goes into the baby's blood and what stays out placenta trusts yes so what does this mean if you have high glucose levels your baby in the womb will also have high glucose levels.

36:59And we see this in studies. So there's a study from Oslo University where they asked 200 moms who were going to have a C-section if they could draw some blood during the procedure. So they drew blood in the mom's arm and then they drew blood in the umbilical cord after the C-section and the umbilical cord is attached to the baby's belly button and that's attached to the placenta. And when you measure blood in the umbilical cord you're basically measuring the blood in the baby. It's all the same. And they find a perfect correlation. Low healthy glucose levels in the mom, baby has low healthy glucose levels.

37:33High glucose levels in the mom, baby has high glucose levels. Some babies have double the glucose levels of other babies. Double. So we're in a situation where your glucose levels are actively influencing your babies throughout the entirety of pregnancy. And when your baby has a glucose spike in the room, well he registers the same consequences as we do inflammation and turning that glucose into fat which is why when a mom has very high glucose levels during pregnancy and that's called gestational diabetes the baby is born with more fat mass because that fat is a sign he had to adapt to the high glucose and transform into fat to protect himself okay so this is very interesting stuff but why does this matter for us because it doesn't stop the moment the baby's born when a baby has been developing in the womb with high glucose levels, he is more likely to get diabetes as an adult.

38:28So what's going on in the womb is setting up your baby for life. And in fact, when you have sex and you make a baby, the DNA is set. Your baby's DNA will never, ever change. Half from the mom, half from the dad. However, what's not set is something that's called epigenetics, meaning these tiny little microscopic sort of light switches on your genes that decide which genes are on and which are off and that's impacted by the food that you eat during pregnancy so as you're pregnant you are influencing your baby's epigenetic programming and high glucose levels lead to epigenetics that lead to higher risk of diabetes as an adult that was a lot of

39:11Lindsey Simcik:information wow this is really important no this is so i i feel like but i also how can we kind of walk moms through because we're going to have moments where we're going to have the cookie we're going to have the things i guess what realistically did you do or what do you recommend i mean all of your hacks but i think specifically so specifically i think what we should do is we should look at the world health organization recommendation which is limit your amount of sugar per day to 25 grams. I think this is a very good, very reasonable recommendation. Today's surveys show that pregnant moms have about 80 grams of sugar per day, which is more than when they're not pregnant.

39:55So most moms eat more sugar during pregnancy than when they're not pregnant because we're told you can eat for two. You're going to get weight anyway. So like it's the perfect moment in your life to eat whatever you want. So what should we do? I think we should look at this guideline and try to respect it. And so 25 grams of added sugar per day. That means one big glass of orange juice, one cookie, you know, half a chocolate bar, each, huh? Each contained 25 grams. And in the book, I explain, I have a whole list of like what 25 grams look like. It's completely unrealistic to tell a mom, don't eat sugar when you're pregnant.

40:28Like it's gone. Like you're nauseous. You feel like crap. You want to eat a cookie. So try to see where that falls in the 25 grams limit and then use my hacks, my glucose hacks because these allow you to eat sugar in a way that creates a smaller spike and in a way that doesn't exacerbate the cravings and create a craving cycle that so many of us are on so to recap the hacks we have savory breakfast nothing sweet in the morning and put four eggs in that breakfast for the choline make a shashuka two hacks in one baby two hacks get the recipe guides Yeah, amazing recipes in the book. So savory breakfast.

41:05This really helps, especially if you're nauseous, especially if you're tired. It's really the key. It's going to help you so much. Then when you do want to eat a cookie, a donut, whatever, have it as dessert after your meal, after lunch or after dinner. Try to not have it on an empty stomach or as a snack because this is going to make a smaller spike for you and for your baby in the womb. Everything is connected. When you can, have veggies at the beginning of your meal. Veggies first. And I sent you a hat. I sent you a Veggies First hat, Krista. Yes, I did. Yes, it's a very good review that got a Veggies First hat.

41:37That's so true. I wear it all the time. So Veggies First. And these are the three really important ones. And in the book, I have more hacks. But I know it sounds scary, but I also think this information is really important. It's really important. And I know what it's like to be pregnant. I know what it's like to want to eat sugar because you feel awful. I know what it's like to survive for four months on pastries. So, you know, if you're feeling guilty right now, just picture me eating pastries for four months straight, even though I know all this stuff intimately. It's okay. Your baby will be okay.

42:08But when you can try to reduce the spike, it's a very good idea. Well, do we know what's happening in first trimester where moms are so nauseous? Why is that so common? So it has to do with the hormone that the baby and the placenta produce. Interesting. And the theory is that this is helpful because it prevents you from eating stuff that could be poisonous. That's a theory. Like raw fish or green juice. Yeah, wow. Interesting. Because carbs are like safe. Interesting. But to be honest, I'm like, okay, biology. Like, I get you're trying to maybe project me, but come on. It's pretty extreme. Well, you're like, okay, biology, I guess I'll eat it.

42:47Of course, on again. Your biology is like, no, I don't want you to eat like raw fish.

42:52Lindsey Simcik:Well, why the spectrum of like... We don't know. Well, the leading theory is that... So we used to think this was caused by a hormone called HCG, which is the hormone that a pregnancy test detects. Now scientists believe it's another hormone called GDF-15, but this is very relevant. And they think that depending on how much GDF-15 you had in your body pre-pregnancy, you're going to be more or less sensitive. So if you already had high levels, the big increase during pregnancy is not going to affect you so much. If you had low levels, the big increase is going to be like, whoa, whiplash. I wonder if you could test for that.

43:28Probably. Yeah. But it's not something that I looked into in terms of testing. And it's just not standard. Yeah. And today you can't do much. Like if you have extreme nausea, they'll give you a medication. I'm nervous for that. Yeah. My mom said she threw up like every day. My mom told me she was never nauseous. So here I was thinking I was going to not be nauseous. I want to talk to her about that. I'm like, mom. I want to check. Sometimes I think they're too far away from it that they forget.

43:53Lindsey Simcik:She's like, it was beautiful. My mom said that too. My mom was like, I loved being pregnant. I threw up every day in first trimester, but the rest of it I loved. I'm like, what about motherhood? But it sucks. There's not two ways around it, huh? Yeah. It's tough.

44:12Lindsey Simcik:Okay. Can we talk about aging for a second? You know, I love to talk about this. I feel like in your 30s and 40s, you start noticing little things. Sleep isn't as deep or energy isn't as consistent, maybe just some changes in your physical appearance. And you're like, wait, is this just how it goes right now? Healthy aging is something I care deeply, deeply about. I think ever since becoming a parent, I'm like, I want to feel as good as possible for as long as possible. And I've spent a lot of time trying to get ahead of it instead of reacting to it. That's why I am so excited about C15 from Fatty15.

44:47Lindsey Simcik:It's the first emerging essential fatty acid to be discovered in more than 90 years. It was actually discovered by co-founder Dr. Stephanie Van Watson while working with the U.S. Navy to improve the health of older dolphins. That's right, dolphins, which is really incredible. Based on over 100 studies, we now know that C15 strengthens our cells and helps slow aging at the cellular level. This is what I'm interested in. Let's get to the cellular level of everything. When our cells don't have enough C15, they can become fragile and age faster. And as many as one in three people may have lower levels.

45:24Lindsey Simcik:So I've been taking fatty 15 consistently, and I love that it feels like I'm supporting my long-term health in a foundational way. It's vegan friendly, 100 % pure C15, and even comes in a gorgeous reusable glass jar. Fatty 15 is on a mission to optimize your C15 levels to help support your long-term health and wellness, especially as you age. You can get an additional 15 % off their 90-day subscription starter kit by going to fatty15.com slash almost 30 and using the code almost 30 at checkout. Again, that's fatty15.com slash almost 30. Use the code almost 30 at checkout. One of my favorite snacks and favorite breakfasts and favorite things to have on the go is a protein shake from cachava.

46:06I love the variety of their protein flavors. Strawberry has been such - It's so good. A hit for me. I've always been chocolate, vanilla, boring. Now I'm having strawberry shakes all the time. It is so hearty and blends really well, has so many of the things that I need. And I've just really loved having it in my pantry.

46:26Lindsey Simcik:They have a new flavor that I'm obsessed with, their coffee flavor. Premium decaffeinated Brazilian beans in it. Usually I have a little slump in the middle of the afternoon. I need a little pick me up. I need some nourishment and the coffee's been great because I don't know. My brain just says, oh, it's a coffee. It's delicious. This is a all in one, very clean, high quality shake. Super, super clean. There's no artificial anything, no artificial flavors or colors or sweeteners. And two scoops gives you 25 grams of protein. That's pretty amazing. It's plant-based protein. You get six grams of fiber, greens, adaptogens, electrolytes, nutrients that support your energy and digestion and cognition and immune health.

47:08Lindsey Simcik:It is packed. It is a full meal, a full experience for your bod that it's going to love. They also have seven total flavors that you're going to, mint chocolate chip was my favorite. Chocolate chip is good. Acai is interesting. Yeah. I think coffee is my, my new fave. So treat yourself to the flavor and nutrition your body really craves. go to cachava.com and use code ALMOST30 for 15 % off your order. That's cachava, K-A-C-H-A-V-A.com. The code is ALMOST30. So you were eating the first trimester. For anyone thinking about first trimester and the first trimester, you were eating a lot of sugar and carbs more than usual.

47:46Did you also follow hacks to support yourself and reduce the spikes? Like, did you also kind of incorporate things that could support it? Yes. So one thing I did, I tried to have a savory breakfast, but there was no way I could eat a real meal. So what I did is I kept some almonds by my bed. And in the morning, as soon as I woke up before even sitting up, because sitting up made me nauseous, I would eat some almonds. So that helped a little bit and adding protein to as many meals or snacks that I could. That helped me so much. That helped too, yeah. But it wasn't always easy to eat. And very strong ginger gummies.

48:19That helped. Oh yeah, Ginny Gins? That's a good one. No, I used the ones from Fullwell. Oh, interesting. Very strong. Okay. And I was in France and you can only ship them to the US, I think. So I was like, mom, my sister, please bring me some of your suitcase. I was doing a full trafficking situation. Dude, honestly.

48:35Lindsey Simcik:Did you incorporate – I just remember even though I didn't want to do it, when I was able to move my body, even like a walk, just an at-home something, I actually did feel a little bit better. Exercise helps a little bit. A little bit. But why would that be? Probably because it's activating different circuits in your brain. it's like maybe like a distraction for your brain oh interesting which is there's for birth for example that's one of the um tools you use these birth combs which really really hurt and you squeeze them in your hand really hard during a contraction and it kind of distracts you from the contraction pain interesting so if you get to distract your brain yeah i think i remember when i was watching netflix i felt less nauseous yeah yeah honestly yeah honestly just dissociate You're like, just, it's true.

49:23Okay, that's what I do for my life when I'm not pregnant. Okay, so we're choline, glucose. What's the third? There's two more. Two more. Protein. So people think protein, muscle, bodybuilder, blah, blah. I think protein. Khloe Kardashian popcorn. I think, you know, Kraft mac and cheese with protein. All of the classics. But actually, many things in your body are protein. Like, for example, collagen in your skin that keeps your skin nice and supple. It's a protein. Insulin, the hormone that takes glucose and puts it away, is a protein. Your immune system is mostly proteins. Like, proteins are everything.

50:02And by the time your baby's born, if you take away water, he has 50 % protein. So when you're pregnant, you've got to give that protein to your baby. And so naturally, the amounts of protein you eat must increase. But again, this is not something you're told. So in the new studies, they say that in the second and third trimester of pregnancy, you should be at about 1.6 grams of protein per kilo of body weight per day. So just to make that simply simple, I'm 70 kilos. I think that's like 155 pounds. I don't know. So 70 grams of protein. That looks like what? That looks like 10 eggs, okay? Which is quite a lot.

50:47However, if you incorporate animal foods, like some chickens and salmon, etc., it really goes by quite fast. So in the book, I have a nice table where you can measure your amount of protein, etc. But it's very important to give your baby enough protein. Because what happens if you don't give your baby enough protein? And by the way, today, 75 % of moms are not eating enough protein during pregnancy. So what happens? Well, we have some clues from studies done on animals. And they show that when a mom doesn't eat enough protein, her own muscle mass starts to break down because muscles have a lot of protein in them.

51:22Her own muscle mass starts to break down to give her baby the protein in them. So your body has ways to adapt. The butt is gone. Yeah. Well, the butt is gone. Everything is gone. And then it's hard. You know, postpartum is not the time where you're going to be like, I'm going to put on some muscle. I've got nothing better to do than hit the gym and eat my shakes. But then it goes even beyond that because in those animal studies, and we don't know if this is true for humans, but we know in the animals, what happens is those babies are actually born a bit smaller and they're born with less muscle mass also.

51:57It's like there's a little switch in them that says the world you're going to be born into does not have a lot of protein. So keep your muscles smaller. Prioritize essential organs. Don't grow too big and too strong. And in these babies and animal studies, we see that their whole lives, even if after birth they eat enough protein, they have less muscle mass than their peers. And this made me think, maybe this is one of the reasons why two people can eat the same amount of protein as adults, go to the gym in the same amount. One builds a lot of muscle, the other doesn't. Maybe there's a link to the room.

52:29So protein is key. Fascinating, right? What were you eating protein-wise? Did you count? Yeah,

52:35Lindsey Simcik:I ate a ton of protein. I did a lot of like bowls where it was like I would take a block of ground beef or like that ancestral blend or whatever. I would do salmon. I would do just a bunch of eggs, fish, and then I would pair it with like veggies and all of that. But yeah, I definitely over-indexed on protein. I think just I'm in this world, so I think I had a lot of that understanding as a non-pregnant person. And then I was like, wait, I'm growing a human. I should probably keep doing this when I was feeling good enough to do it. My son was, I don't know if this has anything. My son was born three weeks early, and he was like seven pounds, 12 ounces.

53:24Lindsey Simcik:Like, I think he was just, you know, he was ready to rock. And even today, I find that he's incredibly strong. Cool. I don't know. Who knows how it translates throughout his life? But I think so far, I'm like, oh, that's so interesting in terms of just the muscle, the strength, all of that. That's amazing. That's far, yeah. I realized I made a mistake. I said 70 grams, but actually it's 105 grams because I was 70 kilos. And it's about 1.5, 1.6 per kilo. So it's more like 15 eggs a day you need. So it's a lot. Wow. It's a lot. Eggs are not the highest thing in protein. Yeah. I think they're like 6 grams an egg.

54:08Lindsey Simcik:Yeah, 7 grams. And then if we're talking about plant protein compared to animal protein, do both count? Are we thinking about it the same way? Of course, both count. And this is true for adults too. If you only eat plants, you can get the protein that you need. you just have to make sure that they're complete proteins, right? That's the whole thing about, so proteins, if we go into the detail, they're made by these little beads that are called amino acids, right? And you need to make sure that you're giving your body all the amino acids that your body needs. So good, complete source of protein for vegans is soy.

54:47That's a good one. And in my book, I have all this information if you're vegan. But again, it's just easier to incorporate some animal foods in there. I relied quite heavily on protein powder, on whey, whey isolate. I made this snack with like Greek yogurt, two scoops of whey, some nice fruit and berries. And that was just 80 grams of protein right there. So there is these hacks that you can find. I relied on this snack almost every day during my pregnancy. I have the recipe in the book. But like find stuff that you like that works, that gives you choline and protein and keeps your blood sugar steady and just like rock with them.

55:20That's what I did. That's what I teach you to do in the book. Yeah. Choline, glucose, protein. Omega-3s, baby. Omega-3s, baby. Yeah, omega-3s, baby. That's the technical term. Yes. Omega-3s for the baby. Okay. So I would imagine, and I want you to answer, but I would imagine that you expected glucose, you expected protein. Choline was a surprise. Were those two surprises? Were you like, huh? Choline was a big surprise. Okay. I did not expect. I think I expected omega-3s more because I've already been supplementing with omega-3s for many years. Yeah. I don't think I expected the protein to be so much higher, and I didn't expect choline at all.

55:56It was a big, big surprise. So omega-3s, this also builds your baby's brain cells, and omega-3s come from fish. And you want to get the small, fatty, oily fish. So the anchovies, the mackerel, the herring, the sardines, those are really good sources. And to get the bare minimum, you want to get about two servings of fish per week. That gives you the bare minimum amount. That being said, a little bit like Colleen, scientists have wondered, well, what happens if a baby gets more than that? And they did this incredible study where they supplemented some moms with 1.2 grams of omega-3s per day. So that's the equivalent of having fish almost every day or the equivalent of supplementing, right?

56:37And another group with no omega-3s. And then they waited until the kids were four years old and they measured their IQ. And the high omega-3 group had four points higher IQ on average. So again, it's measuring something very narrow, IQ, which is a very narrow way to measure intelligence. But they saw a measurable difference. And I think this is really key. There's what science can measure, and then there's everything else that we cannot measure. How does it feel to be in your brain? You know, how is your mental health? How are you experiencing life? How quickly are you thinking all this stuff?

57:14So omega-3s are key. And again, we have crazy statistics like 75 % of moms are not hitting the bare minimum. So what I did, I did fish two, three times a week and I supplemented with two grams a day just to be safe. And in the book, I talk about how to choose your omega-3 supplement because there's lots of different types and it can be a bit confusing. And the omega-3 that matters the most when you're pregnant is called DHA. There's several types of omega-3s. DHA. And another cool thing, so supplementing with omega-3s reduces the risk of your baby having allergies, eczema, and allergic asthma.

57:49I have significance. You have all of those? Call your mom. Eczema growing up, allergies right now in this moment, and the last thing I bet I have, but I forget what you said. My mom wasn't doing that. So it's when stuff makes you have asthma, like a mold or pet hair. I wanted to have asthma when I was younger because my friend had an inhaler. And it was really cool. And these were cool. And I was like, whoa. Braces were cool. Yeah, like braces. I wanted an inhaler. I was like, oh. We can get you one if you want. Sure. Birthday coming up. I thought I'd be like faster or something. Because she was really fast.

58:27I remember like puffing it once and being like.

58:33What do you think? I guess this is kind of a random question, but you know, you've mentioned a lot of statistics that point to the things that the lack of nutrients that women are, or the things that women aren't getting. So things like DHA, choline, et cetera. What are women over-indexing on? What do they have too much of? Like, is there some nutrient or something that they're getting too much of or that's being in replaced of that? Probably sugar, honestly. Probably carbs. And because naturally, like physiologically, that's kind of what you go towards because of society telling you to do that, because of the cravings, because of the nausea, And as I told you, like in that survey, they found that pregnant moms have more sugar in pregnancy than when they're not pregnant.

59:13But it's a very good question, Krista. And honestly, I think it's just the carbs and the sugar. And a lot of the essential stuff, the problem is more that people are not getting enough versus getting too much. And that's why so many prenatal supplements exist. Because most moms need a lot of these molecules so they don't have enough in their body. Wow.

59:35Lindsey Simcik:Yeah. I wanted to walk into the supplement arena a little bit because I think it's kind of overwhelming. There's so many supplement companies out there. Not that we have to talk about specific, but I just think there's so many options. And we never want to take something that we don't actually need and all the things. And I think a lot of people listening are also currently taking supplements just on their supplement game. So was in your research and in your own experience, were there any supplements that you stopped taking during pregnancy? And then what did you really focus on taking during pregnancy?

1:00:12Lindsey Simcik:And thirdly, just how were you vetting, you know, different brands and just like forms of like an omega, et cetera? Yeah. So most prenatal supplements have the same stuff, but there are some edge cases which are interesting to talk about. So there's this one supplement called folate, which is probably what your doctor, the only thing your doctor will tell you to take because it's so well established that if you're deficient, you have a higher risk of miscarriage. And the form of folate matters. We now know that methylated folate is better at preventing miscarriage than the regular type of folate.

1:00:47So I would look for methylated folate in your supplement. What's that face? We're mirroring each other. Yeah. We just crossed the same. We just crossed legs. Yeah, that was crazy. Wow, that was crazy. so methylated folate is key and then most prenatals don't have omega-3s because omega-3s are very bulky and they're very sensitive to light and heat so what i did is i had a full prenatal with methylated form of the molecules and then i took omega-3s on the side in the third trimester i also took iron because my iron stores started going getting really low even though i was eating meat every day etc and that's another moment i was like wow if i had been eating organ meets, probably this would not have happened, but many moms become iron deficient in the third trimester.

1:01:31So I had to supplement. It was very important. My doctor gave me that. And one thing I stopped. So this is the omega-3 thing. So having a lot of omega-3s in your system has actually shown to reduce the risk of preterm birth because it reduces inflammation in your body. And sometimes preterm birth is because you have too high of an inflammation in your body and it leads to early birth and early labor. And so in my last month of pregnancy, I actually stopped the omega-3s because there's a little bit of evidence that shows that if you have too much omega-3s, it can delay birth by a little too long.

1:02:07So that's the only thing I stopped in the ninth month. And other than that, I just kept going with the same stuff and also during breastfeeding, because breastfeeding is a moment in life where the demands are even higher than during pregnancy. So, hey, little baby. Hey, little cat. Hi, little cat. So, for example, for choline, you need even more during breastfeeding than during pregnancy. Protein also, 1.9 grams per kilo per day. Yeah, omega-3s also. When you're breastfeeding. Yep. The entire time. So, if you're breastfeeding for three years, you need that the whole time. Yep. Well, at some point, your baby starts eating solids.

1:02:43So, drinks maybe a little bit less milk. But when I saw this, I was like, what? This makes no sense. And then I thought about it. I was like, well, of course, Jessie. Like you're exclusively feeding a baby who's bigger than when he was in your stomach and your uterus exclusively with your milk. So it does make sense that as the baby grows, he needs more of this stuff. So, yeah, that was a big surprise. Did you find anything about calcium?

1:03:07Lindsey Simcik:I'm curious because I feel like I've heard from especially some second-time mom friends that their bone density has been affected, especially after having two and I'm sure it happens after one as well. I just haven't been tested. But anything? Yeah, so I looked into this a lot and I saw this on many podcasts. I want to look in the data. What was weird is that I didn't find any studies that showed that bone density didn't come back later on. Interesting. So during pregnancy and postpartum it does seem to dip, but then it seems to always kind of come back as you stop breastfeeding. So I didn't find any data that says like forever, if you have kids, your forever bone density will be lower.

1:03:49But it makes sense that during pregnancy, your body would pull from what's in your bones for your baby if there's not enough available.

1:03:56Lindsey Simcik:And like, I guess, supplementing with calcium. Yeah, it could be an option. Eating, drinking. Eating, drinking, calcium-rich foods. So honestly, like animal foods are going to be great. Dairy is going to be great. And in terms of calcium and supplements, it's usually there. so but in my research it was not one of the standout things like everybody needs to like take care of okay versus the four pillars in here yeah but naturally like when you take care of the glucose the choline the protein the dha these are other things that sort of fall into place like we didn't talk about b12 we didn't talk about iodine we didn't talk about calcium but naturally with those four pillars you kind of get the friends with benefits kind of situation where all those levels also go up.

1:04:42Got it.

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1:06:39Okay.

1:06:39Lindsey Simcik:So lately I've been thinking a lot about how I want to support my body in this season of life, in this kind of like preconception mode, conception mode. And it's a season of life that I've been through before. I have one son. I'm just really intentional about what I'm putting in my body and how I am making sure I'm getting the nutrients that I need. So there's so much information out there and it can feel overwhelming trying to make the right choices when it comes to your prenatal. One thing I feel really good about is that in my first pregnancy, I took Ritual's Essential Prenatal. Even if you're just in a phase of preparing your body or being intentional about foundational nutrients, it feels like such a supportive place to start.

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1:08:25Lindsey Simcik:Last question on the glucose. So during pregnancy, you have to take a glucose test in some form in America, at least. I chose to do, and my doctor approved it, like an alternative. I think it was coconut water. No, it's an actual packet of like powdered fruit. Like it was all natural, I guess. I'll link it in the show notes. But I guess what are your thoughts on that? I think some people are like averse to drinking it. Some people don't care. Did you prep yourself? Did you have to take it? I think the test is very late in the game because it's in the third trimester. Yes. And by then, like you've already been pregnant for six months.

1:09:08So I think that you should have your glucose levels checked the moment you become pregnant. And you could check them just with your fasting levels. That's what I'm telling my friends. Like when you find out you're pregnant, go check your fasting glucose and your fasting insulin levels. This is going to give you a good idea of where you're at. Like are you very close to getting potentially gestational diabetes or are you pretty far away? Do you have to really make an effort to manage those glucose spikes or are you in the green zone? I did not take the test. The reason for that being that I wore a glucose monitor the whole time I was pregnant.

1:09:42So I saw in real time, 24-7, my glucose levels. That was a personal decision. And I spoke to my doctor about it. In France, the test is not always mandatory. So I showed him my glucose levels on my glucose monitor. I showed him all my fasting tests that I was doing every month. And we were like, okay, clearly there's no problem here. So we don't have to do the test. But looking back, I sort of wish I had done it just so I have the data to share with people. But I'm glad that I didn't have to drink that horrible drink. Yeah. And something that's interesting on the topic of glucose, if you want to get freaky, as pregnancy progresses, you get bigger glucose spikes for the same food.

1:10:22Oh, interesting. Why is that? Your body keeps glucose in your bloodstream longer. Oh, I wonder why. as pregnancy progresses the theory is that it's so that your baby has access to more glucose oh interesting as he's developing and this made sense back in the day when people didn't have access to a lot of glucose to keep that glucose in the bloodstream so that the baby could pull from it to the placenta but today since most of us are eating a lot of sugar this can sort of backfire so if you think oh i have to eat sugar and carbs for my baby just know that a little bit It goes a long way. And even at the very end of pregnancy, your baby only needs 70 grams of glucose per day for energy.

1:11:0170 grams is just a cup and a half of rice. Whoa. In the very end of pregnancy when he's the biggest he's going to be. Okay. And much less earlier on. So you need to increase your carbon intake a little bit, but not by more than a cup and a half of rice per day. Just so you get kind of where you stand. You don't have to eat for two in terms of carbs. Did you do anything particular to prepare for birth as it relates to nutrition and all the things? So nutrition, no. There's one belief that says that eating dried dates helps with labor. So the studies are interesting and there seems to be a signal.

1:11:40But the problem with dried dates is that they're incredibly high in sugar. And so six dry dates is over the 25 grams of sugar, which is the WHO recommendation. So I chose not to eat any dates. And I learned there are other things I could do to make labor go faster. So the data is very clear. If during labor you feel supported, you're in a calm environment, you have somebody there with you at all times, labor goes faster. The rates of C-section go down. So if you feel secure and safe, things are likely to proceed in an easier fashion. And in France, for example, most people give births. I mean, honestly, virtually everybody gives birth in a hospital with bright neon lights.

1:12:23The doctor's there, you're on your back, you can't move, people coming in and out of the room. Like the physiologic birth thing is just not prevalent in France. And so because that's what I wanted to do, I had to really look for it. So I moved to a bunch of hospitals, found the one I liked. I got a doula. It was a whole thing. And I also had this weird, I think, ancestral fear around medicalized birth. To the point, Lindsay, where I was crying about it and I wasn't even pregnant. Yeah. You get it? So it was a journey. That was something else to go through. I'm glad I'm not pregnant anymore. But you did end up giving birth in a hospital.

1:13:00I gave birth in a hospital in a tub. So no drugs. I was so hardcore. When the baby was born, I was like, my husband, I'm like, I'm never doing that again. Never. Remind me for the next kid. No. Zero out of ten. Do not recommend. I'm super glad I did it. It was good. I felt very empowered. But, man, was that painful. Drugs are good. I know. How long was labor? Started at 7 a.m. and baby was born at 11 p.m. And we stayed home for most of that time. That was a key thing also that I learned. Stay home, stay home, stay home, stay home. As long as possible. And by the time we left the house, I was like wailing.

1:13:48Yeah, it's hardcore. That's just hardcore. It was so cool. It was so cool. And not to be, I'm just going to share this on this podcast because we're buddies and stuff. And nobody's listening right now. Get a few listeners. So the craziest thing that happened is that I was in the tub and I was fully dilated and I could feel that I wanted to push and so I was pushing. And at some point I just got a moment of panic. I was like, what's going on? What's happening? So I reached into my vagina with my fingers to feel what was happening. And I felt my son's head like not very far. And all of a sudden my energy shifted.

1:14:25I was like, okay, he's coming, everybody. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. He's coming. And everybody was like, are you sure? I was like, don't touch me. and I was like, okay, baby, next contraction. This is it. And I don't know why. I just felt it. And next contraction, I just pushed him all in one go. No way. Yeah, it was cool. I was like on my knees in the tub. Oh, that was cool. That's so cool. It was crazy. It felt like I was pooping a giant watermelon with like millions of razor blades on it.

1:14:53Lindsey Simcik:Did pushing feel like a relief though from the contraction? Oh, my God. Because the contractions are so intense and when you can't push. Does it just feel like a cramp? Yeah, but like way worse. Yeah, it's just like a different – It just hurts a lot. It's a force. I did not enjoy it. Yeah. What happened with the pushing is so, okay, the contraction is like a minute. So for the first – all of the hours minus the last 30 minutes, all the contractions were just pain. And then all of a sudden, the end of the contractions started being pushing. So it'd be like 45 seconds of pain and then no pain and just this massive urge to push.

1:15:33And then they became more and more pushing and less and less pain until I pushed him out. Crazy. That's so awesome. You did that too, Lindsay, no?

1:15:43Lindsey Simcik:Yeah. Yeah, it was the hardest thing ever. And also, like, it's just so cool. Like, looking back, you know, obviously, in the moment, you're like, whatever. You have no words. But were you able to maybe in this moment, I don't know if in the moment of postpartum, but kind of feel the benefits or see the benefits not only for your child, but also for you and how you nourished your body and treated your body during pregnancy in the recovery period? Yes. Although I would say that postpartum, a lot of my habits just went out the window because I was so tired. I just wanted pasta and chocolate. I was like, Mom, can you make me a chocolate cake?

1:16:27You know, that was the vibe. That was the vibe. So she redeemed herself from the lack of eggs by making me a lot of chocolate cake. She's like, this I know how to do.

1:16:39But, yeah, I mean, listen, my son is a very healthy, very happy, very sociable, very strong, amazing boy. And so I don't know, right? I can't test. I don't know if what I did had an impact or if he would have been like that anyway, but I like to think that it had an impact. I like to think so. And so today, you know, what's interesting is that even after birth, the first two years of life are very important for a child's development. And all of these tools and tips also matter. So I make sure that he has an egg every day for the choline that he needs. I make sure, you know, I did breastfeeding for seven months.

1:17:16Now he's on a formula. I make sure the formula has omega-3s in it. Like I know all this stuff. and make sure I'm not spiking his blood sugar by just giving him fruit juice. Like all these tools still apply to my baby. And then we'll see what happens as he gets older. And that's a whole other chapter I'm excited to look into. But when I look at him, I'm like, I mean, for sure, his brain got all the stuff he needed. Yeah. He just seems. The best. Yeah. His brain seems like. Very on. On fleek. Yeah. He's just fully present, fully locked in, fully like there, you know. I joke with my husband that if I ever have a second baby, I'm going to do none of the things in this book and just kind of compare.

1:17:57No, I will do this all over again. I will do this 100 % all over again. Oh, bless. Yeah, 100%. For sure. Like if you know, why not? And I enjoyed the very clear guidelines I put in place. It felt very reassuring. I was like, I know this is evidence-based. I know most moms are not getting enough. Like I want to get enough. and that's why I wrote this book because I feel like it's so cool to have this simple four step manual you do this every day and you know in your heart okay this is important stuff that my baby needs and that I'm going to give him to my food it's a big responsibility but again as I said like I hope this helps people navigate that responsibility with real information yes what was something else

1:18:38Lindsey Simcik:that really surprised you in your research it's just this cat just came in hi bubba's

1:18:51the impact of exercise not just on me but on my baby during pregnancy okay so there is this molecule in the brain called bdnf and she's like our bff the bdnf is important for mental health and it helps your brain be plastic meaning that um you create new connections that are it's very important and that's one of the reasons exercise is good for is because it produces more BDNF. And so they did these tests on animals, again, on these little mice, and they took pregnant mice, two groups, exact same conditions. They lived in the same houses, same diet, same lighting, everything, except one group had to walk on this tiny little treadmill for 30 minutes a day during pregnancy.

1:19:38And the other group did not walk on this tiny little treadmill for 30 minutes a day. And then they measured the outcomes in the babies the babies of the exercised moms had 80 fewer anxiety symptoms that was the only difference the exercise and scientists know that actually when you exercise during pregnancy your baby's brain also gets higher levels of bdnf so i thought that was that's fascinating i also i also found it super cool to learn that by the time you're born basically all of your brain cells that process information your neurons have been built and they will remain there for life so the neurons that both of you were born with are still the neurons you have today neurons don't get replaced you have the ones you're born with until they die from age alcohol drugs accidents etc so at birth when your baby is born his brain's fundamental structure is in place.

1:20:41That really shocked me. Now, of course, the connections between the brain cells can evolve throughout life and will grow and then they'll get pruned. But the core base of the neurons are there for life, which is why what happens in the womb has such a lasting impact, which is why I called the book Nine Months That Count Forever. Because truly that setup, that early soil that you create, you're basically creating the soil out of which this beautiful tree that is your child is going to grow. The soil co-creates the tree's genetic plan. You're not an oven. You're the soil and your baby is the tree.

1:21:15And you know, you can take two seeds that are exactly the same. You plant one in a driveway full of gravel and one in a healthy garden. They don't grow up to be the same tree, even though they have the exact same DNA. And that's intuitive. We know that. Well, I want people to understand that's also what's going on during pregnancy.

1:21:34Lindsey Simcik:So good. I'm so excited for people. to have this book. I hope it's in every doctor's office. I hope it's in the hands of every mom. It's just so empowering. Can't wait for your next one. Are we going to talk about kids' nutrition? What are we going to talk about? I'm going to take a hard left and talk about... Nutrition. Yeah. Oh, no. I'm going to talk about, like, I don't know, man. French pottery. Yeah. Hard left. Perfect. We were at a party in LA last night, and they were telling us about pottery where you hug a pot. and you get the, have you seen that? The imprint. Have you seen imprint pottery?

1:22:10We should do that, actually. I was like, wow, this is so LA. We're talking about imprint pottery. Any last words you want to impart on our audience of women that are looking forward to being a mom or a mom right now? Honestly, no. I thought I knew a lot, but I don't really have any advice beyond the nutrition advice in this book. You were in the trenches and now you're mom of the year. Yeah. Like this is my offering. Yeah. and take it if it calls you if it doesn't call you no problem you know it's here and I'm excited for this book like it was it was tough to write it I also wrote it when I was pregnant I finished it postpartum when the baby was three months old I finished it it was very intense so it's been a labor of love but I did it because I knew it was important yeah truly madly deeply well we love you so much we're so excited for everyone to get the book thank you I'm so grateful to have the book and your other books as well and we will see you guys on the next one.

1:23:04Love you all. Bye. Bye. Thank you, Jessie, for coming in. I love you so much. You guys can pre-order the book now, Nine Months That Count Forever, How Your Pregnancy Diet Shapes Your Baby's Future. And you can also grab the other books by Jessie, like The Glucose Revolution. You can also pick up her supplement on her website. You can join the recipe club. You can check her out on Instagram at Glucose Goddess.

1:23:28Lindsey Simcik:Thank you all so much for listening. And if you want to follow us elsewhere at Almost 30 Podcast on Instagram and TikTok, make sure you're subscribed on YouTube. We are on video over there. It would mean the world if you subscribed. And you can follow Krista and I on Instagram as well. We're in our DMs. We'd love to chat with you at Lindsay Simsek. And I'm at It's Krista. All right, y 'all. See you on the next one. See you soon, guys. Love ya. Bye.

1:24:00you