Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hello

I have been on a vegan diet for last 2 years (not necessarily WFPB, but fairly healthy). At present in my 7th month of pregnancy and have been pursuing plant based nutrition course at Ecornell and Colin Campbell foundation.

I gather that during pregnancy, the protein requirements are almost double than any adult requirements. Firstly I would like to know is 70 to 80 gms of daily protein needs is correct during pregnancy?

If so, how do you advise to meet this?

Hi,

I just finished a healthy McDougall pregnancy (currently have the end-product napping on my chest hehe).

I actually found that i think the recommendation was 1.1g/kg of body weight? Check on the world health organization website for the exact number. Anyway, for me that meant about 59g of protein per day. I focused on potatoes, quinoa, and oats to meet those requirements, as well as green veggies. I don't digest beans well otherwise i would have used lentils as they are very high in protein. There were a few times i also used TVP to boost those numbers even though that generally wouldn't be recommended by Dr. McDougall or Jeff.

I did log my food on cronometer for a few weeks just to make sure i was generally meeting the recommendations. Most of the time, as long as i ate enough calories (2000+) i would log enough protein. I had to keep the fruit calories a bit lower, since that adds negligible protein (though i learned that some fruits, like peaches, are surprisingly high in protein).

I will say my pregnancy was fantastic and uneventful, i managed a long unmedicated labor and delivery, my son is super healthy, and breast-feeding is going very well, so i would say the diet i ate must have "worked".

i am a longtime strict (by choice)MWL (gluten-fre)follower and had a great pregnancy 9 years ago .i gained 20 pounds total, exercised daily right up until the birth and my delivery was medication-free,uneventful yet best day of my life!! baby was a healthy weight of 7 pounds 3 oz.my 20 pounds came off without effort in 2 weeks.back on my treadmill 2 weeks post-birth. i highly recommend the mcdougall plan for pregnancy and life!!