Supporting your Baby’s Development with Diet

So today on this show, I’m chatting about all things, food and pregnancy. This episode is for you if you’re pregnant or you’re going to become pregnant hopefully in the future. We’re going to chat about what foods to avoid during pregnancy, foods to help you with your first trimester and that feeling of nauseousness or morning sickness, and foods to help with your baby’s development. And most importantly, we’re going to discuss simple ways to include these nutrients in your busy life, which don’t involve heaps of preparation or pre planning.

So I’m excited to have Kaylee Slater on the podcast today and Kaylee is an accredited practicing dietitian and nutritionist. And she’s a dietitian at the Dietologist. She’s based in Sydney, Australia. Kaley is absolutely determined to help as many women and families to optimize their health and nutrition before, during and after pregnancy. Kaylee knows that what you eat before conceiving plays a direct role in your child’s future risk of some of the most common lifestyle related conditions that we face in modern society, including asthma, allergies, type two diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Kaley is an expert on all things preconception and pregnancy nutrition, having published her work in 2020, showing the majority of pregnant women and not meeting their requirements for critical nutrients from folic acid to add on, zinc, and fibre.

So alongside her work at the Dietologist, Kaylee is also pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy, so a PhD, investigating the impact that diet and lifestyle changes can have on preventing heart disease amongst women who experienced high blood pressure or preeclampsia in their pregnancies. So I’m super excited to have Kaylee on today and stay tuned because this is a brilliant episode.

But before I do jump into this episode, I just want to let you know about the 7-day free trial of FitNest Mama. In these seven days, you get access to weekly live Pilates classes. You can do as many on demand classes as you’d like. There’s guest expert speakers discussing topics the pregnancy, childbirth and recovery including hypnobirthing, induction, breastfeeding mindset, and more. And there are also heaps of Q&A sessions with myself on all sorts of topics such as abdominal muscle separation, pregnancy related pelvic pain, caesarean scar massage, mastitis, and more. All you need to do is head to www.fitnestmama.com/free.

Alright, let’s dive into the show.

So hello, Kaylee. And welcome to the FitNest Mama Podcast.

KAYLEE SLATER

Thanks Kath. I’m really excited to be here. So thank you for inviting me.

KATH BAQUIE

So we’re going to be chatting old things, diet during pregnancy. What are the foods that is great for you growing baby? What are the foods that are good feed you? So it’s really lovely to have you on. Could you please start off by introducing yourself and let us know who you are and what you do?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, of course. So I am an accredited practicing dietitian I’m based in Sydney but I work for the Dietologist. So Stefanie Valakas, if any of you have heard of her or do follow her, she is our pregnancy fertility dietitian. We see women and couples virtually around the world. Sydney based Melbourne based, Australia based, world based. So yeah, we work with women and couples really to optimize their diets for fertility, and then also through out to pregnancy and postpartum as well. And I’m also completing my PhD on preeclampsia. Anyone has heard of that. And cardiovascular disease risk later in life. So really working in the pregnancy states.

KATH BAQUIE

Wow, that’s interesting. So you’re obviously on food, diet and preeclampsia?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yep, so more so diet after preeclampsia, so really reducing the risk of heart disease later in life for women who have had preeclampsia or also gestational hypertension.

KATH BAQUIE

So a lot of my listeners are pregnant, or they’ve had a baby. But if they’ve had a baby, they might be going on to have future babies. So let’s start off with why is it so important to pay attention to our diet and the food that we eat during pregnancy?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, so I guess there’s two main reasons why, first of all, because what mum eats during pregnancy, as well as before pregnancy really can have a long lasting impact on the baby. And that’s through something known as epigenetics, if anyone has heard of that, it’s a bit of a scientific term that basically describes how nutrition but also other environmental factors can influence the way that your genes work, and ultimately, the health and wellbeing of yourself, and then your future children later in life.

So epigenetic changes, which are unlike genetic changes don’t actually change the genetic makeup. But they kind of changed the way that our body reads these genes and the gene sequences, research basically shows us that we have the potential to modify these epigenetic changes through nutrition, really. And then that impacts our baby’s future health, and also risk of other diseases like heart disease, and obesity and diabetes, and those kind of things. So we really do know that inadequate nutrition, but also over nutrition can then basically increase mum’s risk of pregnancy complications, and also baby’s complications. Like low or high birth weight that can affect the development of the placenta, the blood supply to the growing fetus, brain and spinal cord development, and also potentially increase the risk of prematurity as well. So we really do want to make sure that what we’re eating during pregnancy can basically give baby the best chance of growing healthily. And then the second reason is because what we eat during pregnancy can also impact the risk of things like listeria, or food safety issues. That’s the other reason why we kind of want to take care of what we are eating.

KATH BAQUIE

There’s a lot to unpack there. And I guess you’re calling out all these scary things. So let’s try to simplify it. Let’s dive into each everything that you’ve just talked about. So let’s start with the foods to avoid. I think there’s probably a lot of good knowledge around this already. But let’s just quickly recap. What should we be avoiding during pregnancy and why?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, so I’m sure if you’ve looked this up, you’ve probably found a lot of information online. There’s a lot of conflicting evidence out there. And a lot of people do know, basically what they should be avoiding, but I will go through it. First of all, soft unpasteurized cheeses are things like blue cheese, brie, camembert, gorgonzola, all those yummy cheeses that are usually on a cheese board. Yeah, goat cheese is on that list as well. Unfortunately, the reason being is because it just really can increase the risk of listeria. These cheeses often have mould on the outside. And for us that are not pregnant. No, doesn’t matter if we get a little bit sick. But for baby, it can impact their growth and development. So we do want to avoid those. Pasteurized cheeses are okay. Usually on the back of the packet, it will say that you use pasteurized milk so just keep a watch out for that. And also hard yellow cheeses are okay as well. So things like cheddar cheese or parmesan are fine. It’s fine to eat.

KATH BAQUIE

Going back to all those yummy cheeses. They’re fine cooked, aren’t they?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yes. So this is raw. So say you went to a friend and she had a cheese board out and there was brie on the table or on the board. We want to avoid that but if it’s cooked into a dish, it is okay.

KATH BAQUIE

Okay.

KAYLEE SLATER

Cold cut or deli meat. So things like salami or ham or even you know the turkey that you get from the deli or the chicken slices that you get from the deli. We want to avoid those. First of all, they’re generally quite high in saturated fat and sodium. So it’s really just for health reasons, but then also for food safety as well. Often they’re not cooked, they’re more cured. So we want to avoid anything That’s really not properly cooked and often they sit in the deli for quite a while. We don’t know how long they’ve been sitting there for as well. But when they’re cooked, they are okay. I think happier about as that

KATH BAQUIE

Yeah, now I was going to ask what about freshly shaved ham? That’s eaten pretty quickly.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, if you have it almost immediately within, you know, the first 24 hours, that’s okay, as well. Just be as mindful as possible. Or ask you know, the dairy when they made it, has it come straight out of the fridge? Just ask these questions just to be as informed as possible. Because sometimes they can go in and out of the fridge quite a lot.

KATH BAQUIE

Oh yes. That’s something I did during pregnancy, I always felt it was okay to get the ham if I ask them to freshly shave it that I didn’t go that extra step. And ask them how long they’d had the ham sitting there for.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, sometimes it does sit there for a couple of days. Because when you’re not pregnant, it is okay. If it sits there for a couple of days. And you know, when they do freshly shaven, they take it out of the fridge. So just be mindful of that as well. But often, they may not know. So sometimes it’s always best to just earn on the side of caution and avoid it if you possibly can choose something else.

KATH BAQUIE

Yeah. Okay.

KAYLEE SLATER

Next one, we’ve got runny yolk, so the famous poached egg, or no, soft boiled egg, unfortunately, is off the cards. But if you cook it, and it’s hard, then that’s totally fine to eat. So don’t you don’t have to avoid eggs altogether, just make sure that they’re cooked through. Then we also have a rare or medium cooked meat, and also fish and seafood. So where I’m going is we want to make sure that everything is well cooked. So chicken always should be well cooked, but also beef. So sometimes a lot of us like say medium rare meat, we really want to make sure that that’s pretty well done. Obviously, it doesn’t have to be so grey that you can’t even chew through it. But pretty well cooked, no pink in the middle. For fish as well. Often, a lot of us do eat raw fish, or sometimes, you know, for example, you make a salmon and it’s quite pink in the middle, we do want to make sure that that’s cooked through. And also if you are going to eat any seafood like prawns, they can be eaten if they’re very fresh, and if they’re cooked all the way through as well. So keep in mind, sometimes when we’re buying fish from the grocery store as well, we don’t know how long it’s been, there for. Make sure that you are getting very fresh fish and fresh seafood.

KATH BAQUIE

So going on to fish, and we’ll probably talk about later but and seafood. Like I know there’d be quite a few health benefits in some seafood. And then others you’d say to avoid because of mercury like what’s your take on all that?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, so really with fish during pregnancy, there’s a lot of misinformation and there’s a lot of great information out there. So basically, with mercury, mercury is found in our seafood supply and in the water, so it’s unavoidable. And in high amounts, it can become toxic to the baby so it can get into the baby’s mouth and become toxic. But that’s really in high amounts. So fish does not need to be avoided during pregnancy. But we want to stick to around two to three servings per week. Our serving as about 120 grams. So if you think of a piece of salmon, if you go to the deli or if you go to a fish shop, it’s usually just one piece of salmon that would be roughly around 100 to 120 grams. So you can always ask the person who’s weighing the fish when you buy it to weight it for you just so you know exactly how much you’re having.

And with seafood as well. It’s hard, you want to make sure that everything is cooked. So no, no oysters or mussels or those kinds of shellfish that are often in roll. But I guess I’ll list the fish that we should avoid. That’s probably easier than me trying to explain everything. So the first one is flake. Flake is actually shark and this is often used in fish and chips. You know, when you go and get battered fish and chips often they do use flake and often we don’t know what fish they use. So just make sure if you’re going to go to a fish and chip shop and get some fish ask them what fish they using in their betta fish or in their grilled white fish. Just keep that in mind.

KATH BAQUIE

So taking that one step further. If they say flake, what could you suggest instead? As a white fish?

KAYLEE SLATER

Something like a bear in mind your snapper would be a better idea.

KATH BAQUIE

Yep, got it.

KAYLEE SLATER

Then also swordfish, billfish, marlin, catfish, orange roughy, I think that’s how you pronounce it. Maybe not. Also broadbill are fish that are high in mercury. So the rules on FSANZ, which is the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand website so as you can sometimes have these fish once every two weeks and no other fish or fortnight. Honestly it becomes really confusing that I recommend my clients just choose a different piece of fish. So go for cat fish. Go for that. Different wild fish like bear in mind do snapper. Like I mentioned before, we’ll go for tuna and go for salmon. Just something that’s readily available and won’t make you anxious about it as well. Because sometimes all these rules can become really scary for a lot of people.

KATH BAQUIE

Yes, I think simple is best for so many things.

KAYLEE SLATER

So that’s yes on the fish and on the seafood as well. Prawns are okay, again, with seafood, make sure it’s cooked really well, and stick to only two servings a week. And that includes fish and seafood. So not two servings of fish and two servings of seafood.

KATH BAQUIE

Okay.

KAYLEE SLATER

Then we also have to avoid awful or any pate those kind of heart or whatever awful you might be eating. The reason being is they are high in preformed vitamin A. And vitamin A in high amounts can become toxic again to baby and babies livers. So we really do want to avoid those at all costs. So if you do like pate, you do like awful, just avoid them for the nine months and go for gold once you get back. Then we also have a soft serve ice cream. So normal ice cream that you get, say from the freezer section is okay. But the soft serve. So say something like a soft serve from McDonald’s. That’s the kind of ice cream I’m talking about. We want to avoid that. The kind of cracks in the machine can actually introduce bacteria. And that will really increase your risk of listeria and other foodborne illness. And then also it’s not properly frozen. And it’s often sitting in the machine for quite a while as well. So more chance to just introduce bacteria.

KATH BAQUIE

And that would be their thick shakes, and milkshakes and all those things too.

KAYLEE SLATER

Soft serve and everything that’s made with soft serve. So again, if you’re unsure, always just ask before you buy. So the last two things, don’t worry, there’s not much more than that. Any pre-cut salads or like pre-cut sandwiches. So for example, if you’re going to cause a will is now you will see that there’s often salads and sandwiches that are sitting in the fridge section. We don’t know how long they’ve been sitting for. We don’t know how long the ingredients were cut for, so really just try and make your own. Or if you go to a restaurant, you can order a salad and you can order a sandwich. That’s okay. But something like so origin for example, it’s the best example that I gave, you know, the sandwiches and salads have been sitting there for quite a while. So that’s something we want to avoid. But yes, ordering something that they’re making there and then is okay. And then last one is just leftovers. Just make sure you’re eating them within 48 or so hours. So don’t know, make a big batch of something at the beginning of the week, and then come Saturday and you’re still eating it. Just try to eat it within the 48-hour mark.

KATH BAQUIE

And one that I know there’s usually a bit of confusion about is mayonnaise.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, so if you’re making your own meanings, it’s fine. But often mayonnaise uses uncooked eggs, especially if you’re getting something like an aioli from a restaurant, they’ll often make it themselves. So pre-packed mayonnaise is often fine because they do the packaging process preserves it. But avoid any mayonnaise that say from a restaurant that they’re making it themselves.

KATH BAQUIE

So jar mayonnaise is okay. From a jar.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah.

KATH BAQUIE

That’s good. I remember always being a bit worried about that.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, it can become really confusing because you’re told not to eat this not that. And then you realize all these things that you’re told not to eat in products that you would be using quite regularly. So yeah, just make sure you’re informed.

KATH BAQUIE

Great. And I think it’s one of those things where if you know it, then it’s easy to avoid it. Whereas if you don’t know it, and then you find out you’ve been eating it, it can be really stressful. Or if you don’t know if you should be eating. Yeah, so I’m sure everyone listening has probably heard most of that. Maybe, you know, there’s an extra one or two you hadn’t heard of. So thank you.

KAYLEE SLATER

There was actually something I remembered that I didn’t mention, sorry. And that’s fermented foods like kombucha or sauerkraut. We do recommend you avoid those as well. In the fermentation process, it can also lead to bacteria are getting in as well. So just try avoid those if you regularly drink kombucha, just leave it out for the nine months.

KATH BAQUIE

You wouldn’t think drinks as well, would you?

KAYLEE SLATER

No. You wouldn’t.

KATH BAQUIE

Okay, so let’s take a little step back. We talked about all the foods to avoid. Let’s start at the start of the pregnancy. This is one I’m really interested in. When women are feeling really sick. Maybe feeling nauseous, vomiting, what can you suggest from that perspective, if you’re feeling really unwell?

KAYLEE SLATER

It’s so, so hard. During that time, you always feel like you’re not doing everything you can even though you’re feeling so sick. You know, the last thing you feel like doing is eating a salad. And I completely understand that. I know when I’m feeling nauseous and not wanting to eat a salad either. So really, during that first trimester, the best thing that you could possibly do for yourself is to make sure you are eating something, you just trying to make sure you’re getting those nutrients in as much as possible. If you’re not eating anything, that’s, you know, that’s where you’re not getting those nutrients in. So first of all, if you’re taking a prenatal, make sure you take it and try to take it at times where you’re feeling less ill. So especially if you’re vomiting, often, if you’re taking something straight away, and you vomit, it’s going to come back up. So try to take your prenatal or any other supplements that you’ve been told to take by a health professional at a time where you’re likely not going to vomit or you’re feeling a little bit better, but otherwise, during that first trimester, what you can really do is when you are feeling okay, is to try and make sure you’re getting just a range of fruit and veggies in try get some protein in as well. Get some good quality carbohydrate. And really, if you’re feeling completely awful when you feel like you’re really not getting anything in, it’s probably just best to check in with a health professional to see if there’s something you can do rather than suffer on your own. There’s no point in feeling really guilty about it. It’s not your fault. A lot of women are in this boat.

KATH BAQUIE

And there can be help out there too. So I do know, one of the first thing people suggest when someone’s feeling ill is have some dry crackers, or dry crackers and Vegemite. Would that be your first protocol? Like if you were feeling nauseous and unwell? What would you have? If you could just reach for one or two things in the pantry?

KAYLEE SLATER

I would most definitely reach for a dry salty cracker or like a plain piece of toast. So yes, that’s a really, really good idea. And what I often tell my clients is first thing in the morning, if they regularly feel really ill soon as they wake up, just make sure they have a dry, salty cracker, something like a premium cracker and have that right away. Because an empty stomach is also a nauseous stomach, the hungrier you are, the more nauseous you’re going to feel. You’re going to be feeling so nausea, so you’re not going to eat and then it’s just going to, you know, spiral out of control. So first thing when you wake up have a dry, salty cracker. And what we find is that saltiness and that dry in a carbohydrate can sometimes make women feel a lot better. And also of men if you’re nauseous, obviously, not with morning sickness, but for whatever reason, can actually help people feel a lot better. And then once they’ve had that they’ve been able to eat something more substantial. So yes, I would definitely recommend a dry, salty cracker. If you are feeling really awful, sometimes cold foods are better than hot foods. So really cold foods don’t have as much of an aroma, and sometimes really strong smells can make you feel even worse. So you know, instead of opting for a fancy bowl of warm oats go for something like a smoothie, where you’re getting a lot of fruit in there, there’ll be fresh, it’ll be liquid, and sometimes liquid foods as well help a bit more than solid foods, because you’re not having to chew on that motion of chewing can sometimes make you feel a bit more sick.

KATH BAQUIE

So dairy won’t necessarily contribute to feeling more nauseous.

KAYLEE SLATER

It depends on the person, if you feel there is making you feel more nauseous, don’t put as much milk in it and make something more like a chips than on smoothie. So sometimes things that are really creamy can definitely make you feel worse. So it really depends on the person, but find what works for you. I probably start off with a big glass of water and then go for something like a smoothie. And if you notice dairy or creamy things make you feel worse, then don’t put milk in it. Put water.

KATH BAQUIE

What about coconut water? Would that be really good?

KAYLEE SLATER

It depends. So a little bit of coconut water is fine. Obviously, if you’re over consuming too much coconut water, it will have quite a bit of sugar in it. So ideally, you want to go for cold, normal tap water or whatever water you’re buying. But a little bit of coconut water here and there is okay. If it’s helping you feel better, then that’s okay. But obviously, if you’re drinking a lot of coconut water all the time, they will be contributing to too much sugar.

KATH BAQUIE

So not an excuse to just love your smoothies and have heaps of them every day.

KAYLEE SLATER

No, yeah, we still want to stick to that 2 serving for every day. So trying to go over that if you’re really struggling and you feel like you’re eating or drinking too much fruit. And it’s always best to just check in with a dietitian or check in with your doctor and they’ll be able to provide you with some advice.

KATH BAQUIE

Yeah, cool. Okay, so we’ve chatted about foods to avoid we’ve chatted about the first trimester. The main other one I wanted to chat about was, well how can we best maximize our diet to help I guess support our growing bodies but also support the baby? Like we all know it in theory that I think is busy women, you know whether or not you’re working full time or you might have already a toddler at home that you’re caring for while you’re pregnant. I would love your tips on yes what nutrients we need to make sure we’re getting in our diet? But more importantly, how do we make this easy and accessible?

KAYLEE SLATER

So really easy and accessible is definitely the way to go. You do not need to be making fancy expensive salads or anything like that. Some really essential nutrients are things like folate, so it would definitely be in a prenatal but we always want to make sure we’re maximizing our diet and then our prenatal supplements are just there to supplement the diet not to really take over. So folate is found in all of our leafy greens. So if you think of any darkly spinach rocket, a lot of the Asian veggies so Pak choy, bok choy, those kinds of things you’ll find folate on them. So you can try and do is add those to say if you’re making a really quick smoothie in the morning, you add a bunch of spinach. If you’re making a quick and easy salad, not some transgene with salad, you’re just instead of using Iceberg lettuce, use spinach, instead of putting Iceberg lettuce on a sandwich popped spinach instead. Oranges and strawberries are also really good sources of folate too. So strawberries are in season at the moment, and they’re delicious, really sweet. So add those to your smoothie if you want to or just snack on them throughout the day. Cut up an orange and snap on that. Two other really important nutrients during pregnancy, something like iodine. So a really easy one to get iodine in is just to swap yourself to iodize salt. The easiest way to do it, most of us use salt now cooking so the iodized salt is the way to go.

KATH BAQUIE

So can I tell you my go to salad, which I just love that I’ve been having for years. If I have no time, or if I realize I don’t really have that many ingredients in the pantry. I always make sure I’ve got some tin salmon like this small thin salmon and those small thins of fore bay mix. Chuck those two thins in together. Chuck in out handful of spinach and a couple of cherry tomatoes with balsamic and olive oil. It’s like my grocery salad because I’ve always got those ingredients personally in my pantry in my fridge. And I love it.

KAYLEE SLATER

That sounds super easy and yet absolutely delicious. So really, those canned veggies or canned beans and canned fish is a really easy way to just throw things together and you got it there. One of the easiest things as well is those little cups of rice that you just pop in the microwave and 90 seconds later, you’ve got rice. Gone are the days where you need to sit there stirring rice for an hour and a half. And to make it nice and fluffy. So those ones are really, really easy to just throw together.

KATH BAQUIE

And don’t they have different sorts of rices too now? Like the wild rice so they’re better for you. Those different sorts of rices and the brown rice.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah.

KATH BAQUIE

I would never make brown rice because it just takes too long. Whereas now you can have those packets.

KAYLEE SLATER

Exactly. And the packets as well come with brown rice and key when mixed together so you can get your cane went in there without having to make it. Yeah, and making some lentils as well. They’re really good sources of zinc, which is really important for cell division for yourself and also your baby. So zinc is found in legumes, lentils, nuts and seeds. Those are really easy ways to just again, throw a quick and easy meal together. Like you said, Kath, you’ve got your just canned beans sitting in the cupboard. Now you can also get the Edgell brand has the flavoured of canned chickpeas and canned black beans. And they’re a single serve. So they’re really easy as a snack, or to pop in a salad or if you’re making like a bowl kind of thing with rice and veggies and some chickpeas on the side or something like that. That’s a really easy way and they’re flavoured that really delicious. As well you can get tuna and salmon in an incentive in a thin, you can get it in a packet when you don’t have to drain it. So as well just they’ve made it really easy for us to make a quick and easy meal without having to prepare a lot of different things. Another thing that people don’t ever think of using is frozen veggies. So I think a lot of people are scared of using frozen fruit and frozen veggies in I guess the thought that they’re processed or thought that they add things to them, but they really don’t they freeze them when they’re at their best. Sometimes it’s better than no they’ve got more nutrients in them than something that’s been sitting on the fridge for 5,6,7 days. So utilize those frozen veggies some of them come in like a single serve. So if you’re taking lunch to work and you just need a really quick put something in the microwave and whip it up, do that and then throw some balsamic vinegar extra virgin olive oils and herbs and spices and it’s often really easy quick and colourful lunch as well. Or dinner.

KATH BAQUIE

Lovely. Any other key foods that we should be including?

KAYLEE SLATER

I guess not necessarily key foods. Key nutrients, B12 is really important to keep in mind if you are vegetarian or vegan. Vitamin B12 is found in animal products. So meat, fish, poultry, eggs, also our dairy products. So you might require some extra assistance getting them in. We do have some fortified foods so a lot of the soy sausages and the like veggie patties and veggie burger kind of things do have vitamin B12 added to them. Some of the milks nowadays, the plant based milks also have vitamin B12 added to them. So just keep a watch out for the nutrition label. If it has the vitamin B12, it will definitely say on the back in the ingredients, so keep an eye out for that. But if you are vegetarian or vegan, it’s probably best to check in with your doctor or dietitian just to make sure you’re getting enough of B12. Because it isn’t really important nutrient for ovulation and also the development of the baby’s brain and nervous system. So keep that one in mind.

And then also iron is something that a lot of women are low in before getting pregnant. And then also during pregnancy as well. Research also suggests that iron deficiency can make it hard to fall pregnant. So just keep that in mind. Iron is found in a lot of animal products and meat, poultry, eggs, fish, but we can also get it from a lot of our things. So legumes, lentils, leafy greens, as well as good sources. So you want to try the Edgell brand chickpeas or beans, you’ll be getting some iron and then a really easy way to get some extra iron in too. And then a mega three fatty acids as well. So that will firstly be found in our seafood supply. So if you have your two servings of fish per week, you should be pretty good. If you do find it hard. A lot of women find it really hard to eat fish during the first trimester. Because sometimes this smell can be quite off putting. So again, if you’re having trouble, make sure you check in with a dietitian before taking any type of supplement or anything like that. And then the last nutrient is choline. Have you heard of choline before, Kath?

KATH BAQUIE

Yes, I have had a chat to a dietitian previously, but I can’t remember what to find it in.

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, no, that’s okay. That’s fine. So choline is not new to the research world. But I guess it’s just becoming well known recently. So a lot of the new supplement companies are starting to put it in their prenatal. And it’s a really important nutrient for closing that neural tube. So it works together with folic acid to close the neural tube, which is basically the spinal cord and brain and baby. And it’s found in eggs. Eggs are probably our best source of choline. Two eggs per day will give you around about 50% of your requirements. So for 15 milligrams, the requirement. So two eggs are really good enough. And again, these can be really easy. Boil some eggs, and they’re easy snack, easy to pop in a salad easy to pop on top of like a bowl, you can pop them in your, if you’re making something like a rice dish that easy to put on that too. So getting eggs in is an easy way to get them. And then they’re also found in other animal products. So meats and fish and poultry as well. And then also found in mushrooms. Mushrooms are a good way to get them in if you are vegetarian. Shiitake mushrooms are the best. Any mushroom is better than them.

KATH BAQUIE

Well, there you go. So I guess 50%, if the choline requirements with two eggs, that’s great. But that then means you’ve got to make sure you’re having enough for the rest of the day. So is that why it’s so important to check that your multivitamin has choline?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, and it’s also really important to make sure that you’re getting the right multi for you. There are so many multivitamins out on the market, it’s really hard to decipher between what’s the right one and which one would work best for you. So again, checking in with your doctor or dietitian to just make sure that you’re getting the right product for you. And then it’s going to make sure you’re getting all your requirements, because again, you might have a really good diet and this multivitamin market goes for you. Whereas someone might not be able to eat certain things and then a different one is best for them. So there’s a lot on there.

KATH BAQUIE

And on that note, are there any particular vitamins that you shouldn’t have in excess?

KAYLEE SLATER

Yeah, I guess if you’re getting enough of anything in your diet, often we don’t need to be taking a lot of extra multivitamins, especially the water soluble vitamins. So vitamin B, the range of vitamin B’s and vitamin C, any excess very well just pee it out. So kind of like an expensive pee. But then there are fat soluble vitamins. So vitamin A and vitamin E, especially during pregnancy, we do not want to be supplementing with those. The reason being is too much can lead to toxicity and they don’t come out in our pee like the water soluble vitamins would. So they can actually build up. So it’s always important if you’re taking a range of vitamins of any sort before pregnancy. Always check in with a doctor or check in with a dietitian to make sure that the ones who are taking are safe during pregnancy. There’s a lot of things that might not be safe as well or don’t have research on so always make sure you check in before continuing to take a whole range of different things.

KATH BAQUIE

And do you have a blood test to check your vitamin levels? Is that something that has to come through GP? Or can dietician prescribe that?

KAYLEE SLATER

No, unfortunately, not it has to come from your GP. But what we do with our clients is we might email the GP or call them and ask, or we can tell our clients to ask. And then usually the GPS are really good at if a client wants to check something that they’ll do it for them. So yeah. It has to be done through your GP.

KATH BAQUIE

Yeah, because I remember having plenty of full blood count, tests, but they don’t test for vitamin levels do they?

KAYLEE SLATER

Often iron will be checked for. Vitamin D will be checked for. On the odd occasion zinc is checked for. Sometimes they’ll check folate and vitamin B12. So yeah, it just depends. But what you should definitely do is just ask your GP, if you say I’m taking this vitamin, I want to check my levels. Just ask them because more often they’ll say yes.

KATH BAQUIE

Lovely, Kaylee. Thank you. I think that’s given us some really practical information that we can apply today. And, yeah, it’s been great to chat about foods to avoid foods for when you’re feeling nauseous, and also the foods to really help with baby’s development. So thank you.

KAYLEE SLATER

That’s okay. Thank you. Kath it’s amazing to come on and to chat about all the stuff. I love talking about this. I could talk about it for hours. So yeah, we love equipping everyone with the information that they need so that they’re not confused or worried or anything like that.

KATH BAQUIE

Thank you, Kaylee. We’ll chat to you soon.

KAYLEE SLATER

Bye.

KATH BAQUIE

Before I sign off, remember my team and I will be putting together the Show Notes for this episode with all the links, including how to connect with Kaylee at www.fitnestmama.com/podcast. Also don’t forget about the 7-day free trial if you want to come and do some home based workouts from the comfort of your home. Have a fabulous day everyone and I look forward to you joining me next week for another episode of the FitNest Mama Podcast.

Thanks for listening to the FitNest Mama Podcast brought to you by the FitNest Mama Freebies found at www.fitnestmama.com/free. So please take a few seconds to leave a review, subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode. And be sure to take a screenshot of this podcast, upload it to your social media and tag me, @fitnestmama, so I can give you a shout out too. Until next time! Remember, an active pregnancy, confident childbirth, and strong postnatal recovery is something that you deserve. Remember, our disclaimer, materials and contents in this podcast are intended as general information only and shouldn’t substitute any medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I’ll see you soon!