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Virtual Counseling for Reproductive Nutrition

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Supporting women and couples throughout their reproductive years.

Providing nutrition guidance for fertility, pregnancy, postpartum & breastfeeding.

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Interested in becoming a client?

Schedule your free discovery call now

Location: Virtual Practice based in Chicago, IL

Email: hello@rachellemallik.com

Phone: (415) 640-6148 - Fax: (855) 781-4098

Heartburn - another fun side effect of pregnancy. It’s especially problematic in the third trimester, when your baby/uterus is taking up a lot of real estate in your abdomen and pushing up on your stomach! Data shows it affects up to 45% of pregnant women, but there are dietary changes that can help prevent or at least reduce heartburn. Join me this Wednesday (tomorrow!) at 11am CST where I’ll be answering my top 5 questions/concerns/complaints from clients in their second and third trimesters, including prenatal-safe ways to prevent and manage ❤️🔥.

Now for what you can do to risk your risk for gestational diabetes. The other day I discussed screening and testing for GDM, including non-modifiable risk factors like age and ethnicity, so today I’m talking modifiable risk factors.
1. Follow a Mediterranean-style diet pattern (which emphasizes vegetables, fruits, legumes, olive oil, whole grains and fish), which has been linked to a decreased risk for developing GDM. On the flip side, a less healthy diet with high intakes of red and processed meat, refined grains and fried foods has been associated with an increased risk of GDM. This doesn’t mean absolutely no bacon or donuts - nutrition and health is not that black and white - but make those occasional rather than frequent foods.
2. Get moving! According to an article on exercise and gestational diabetes in the July 2019 issue of @todaysdietitianmagazine, @acog_org and @amdiabetesassn recommend 20-30 min of moderate-intensity physical activity most days of the week. In late 2018 Canadian medical professionals released guidelines endorsing 150 min of moderate-intensity exercise a week spread out over 3+ days, noting aerobic and resistance training have the most benefit, but gentle yoga and stretching may also be beneficial. (If you want more challenging but still prenatal-safe yoga classes in Chicago, try @amyowenyoga’s class at @yogaview and @zenyogagarage. Also shout out to @pilatesandcoffee - all of their classes can be safely modified for pregnancy.) 3. Don’t try to “cheat” the test by changing diet habits just in the days leading up to it - if you’re not going to stick to more healthful habits, you’re not doing yourself any favors making changes just to pass the GDM screening.
4. Work with a registered dietitian who specializes in reproduction prior to conceiving or at any stage in pregnancy to help you make health-promoting choices that fit your unique needs and lifestyle.
5. Join my prenatal nutrition webinar *this Wednesday* at 11am CST (#linkinbio to register). I’ll be tackling the 5 most common questions/concerns/complaints I get from clients, including what can I do to prevent gestational diabetes? You don’t have to be in Chicago to join!

Me 3 weeks ago in my midwives’ office, gulping down 50-grams of pure, cloyingly sweet dextrose to screen for gestational diabetes (GDM). Recently I’ve heard some women are refusing the glucola test, arguing that they don’t typically eat that much carbohydrate at a time anyway so it could trigger a false positive and/or that they don’t want to drink a bunch of chemicals. While it is your right to decline medical interventions, including during pregnancy, I want to clear a few things up:
1) The research is limited on how the body adapts to a low-carb diet and how that may affect glucose metabolism
2) Hormonal changes during pregnancy can lead to insulin resistance, which diverts glucose to the growing baby
3) There are risk factors besides diet for developing GDM, including being 25 yo, having a pre-pregnancy BMI 25, being a member of an ethnic group with higher rates of diabetes, and having a relative with diabetes.
4) You would need discuss an alternate way to check your blood sugar with your healthcare provider since elevated blood sugar during pregnancy is risky to both mother and baby.
5) The “GlucoCrush” I was given contained no artificial dyes or BVO, so there are some slightly better options, even if it’s far sweeter than anything I would enjoy drinking.
As a dietitian, I highly encourage women to make healthy lifestyle choices prior to and during pregnancy, which can reduce your risk, but not everything is within your control and you can still develop GDM even if you’re low risk. I also had a lengthy convo with my midwife about testing for GDM, and she explained that her patients usually can’t skip the test because midwives have to prove their patients are low-risk. She added: “Testing for GDM with glucola is the standard of care and is recommended by all obstetrical governing bodies. The downsides of undiagnosed GDM are significant for both mother & baby. While alternatives to glucola have been considered, none have been adequately studied to be considered evidence-based at this time.” To learn more about GDM testing, check out @ebbirth’s article https://evidencebasedbirth.com/gestational-diabetes-and-the-glucola-test

Treats like ice cream can be a tricky food for many parents. To support my child’s intuitive eating skills, I try to avoid bribing him with treats, whether to behave or finish his vegetables. The research shows this can negatively affect a child’s innate ability to know when they’re hungry or full. Here are a few ways how exerting too much control over a child’s diet can backfire, according to research (I pulled these quotes from a Today’s Dietitian article): ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• “Pressuring to eat can lead to restrained and emotional eating and may erode the ability to stop eating when no longer hungry. Encouraging children to eat more of a certain food can increase their dislike for that food.
• Offering palatable foods as rewards or pairing them with positive attention (such as making a big deal out of going to get ice cream) increases liking of those foods.
• Restricting food or types of food, or even labeling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ can lead to an increased desire to obtain and eat ‘forbidden’ foods, resulting in excessive consumption when food is available, eating in the absence of hunger, and emotional eating, especially when highly palatable foods are restricted.”
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I want my child to have a positive attitude towards a variety of foods. Here’s what I’ve found encourages him to choose nutritious options more often (I’ve been doing #3-5 since he started solids!): ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1. Offering choices like “Do you want nuts or yogurt” instead of asking open ended questions “What do you want for a snack?” He’s empowered by getting to choose, but I’m setting some boundaries.
2. Getting him to help with meal prep, from picking the vegetable to measuring spices, or simply pressing a button on the oven.
3. Providing foods that he may not like right away more than once.
4. Encouraging him to try foods on his plate without coercing or bribing; not forcing one more spoonful or bite.
5. Sitting down for meals as a family so he sees how much his dad and I are enjoying the food.
6. He also loves squeezing lemon or lime on his food, so we use citrus a lot! (tacos, Thai curries, fish, etc)

Reference: https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0318p14.shtml
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