Bradley Method/Brewer's Diet

Bricole514

Hi all,

We are newly expecting and I considering the Bradley Method and Brewer's Diet. I have been doing some research online but am looking for the following info from those of you with experience:

1) When did you officially start the diet? Thoughts/feedback?

2) Does anyone have a checklist or chart form to keep track of daily intake? I am not loving their spreadsheet (seems overwhelming!)

3) I am slightly confused on substitutions. I am on a gluten free diet so I know there are things I have to replace but not sure about how to do so. 

TIA!! 

Hippinski

I started as soon as I found out I was pg and followed it as much as my system would allow.  With dd it was a bit harder because I was sicker then a dog for 26 weeks straight.

b&r2006

Congrats! We did Bradley classes and loved them! My teacher had worked with Dr Brewer years ago, so the Brewer diet was a big aspect of our classes. I started classes at 30 weeks, so that's when I started the diet, but I'm already trying to incorporate what I can this time around (but for me, first trimester is a lot about eating what I can, not necessarily a perfectly balanced diet).As far as feedback, I had a healthy pregnancy and delivery, so I was pleased.

Unfortunately my book/papers from my classes are packed away in some box since we've recently moved, but our checklist had a long column for each day, so we could write everything we ate, and then keep track of grams of protein for each food/ meal (so we could tally it up and see if we were getting the 80ish grams suggested). I think the back of the sheet had a list of common foods (bread, milk, yogurt, nuts) with serving sizes, and how many grams of protein each had, so we could refer to that quickly. Then at the bottom of the column were the checkboxes for eggs, fruits, green veggies, dairy, etc. I think the important thing is to find a format that helps you keep track of what you're getting and if you're meeting your goals.

 No suggestions on the gluten free-- I'd suggest trying to find a copy of his book, talking to a Bradley teacher or midwife who's familliar with his ideas, or see if his hotline (one article online says it's 802-388-0276) is still running (tho Dr Brewer passed away a few years ago) for ideas on how to work around the gluten free.

Jenn.J.

Bradley is awesome! I log all my food intake into www.babyfit.com. There is a nutrition section where you can set goals and input everything you eat. It'll give you pretty charts, etc if that's what you're looking for too. It's cool.

nkintzel

I don't know what the Brewer's Diet is. Is it the one associated with Bradley? If it is, here are my thoughts (not necessarily specific answers to your questions) We did the Bradley classes with our last baby. I kind of used the diet as more of a suggestion. It seemed like a LOT of food in some cases. So, I just tried to keep my protien intake at at least 75-80 grams a day, and get a wide variety of everything else. I just think that its too hard to regiment yourself like that. You should be eating as much protien as possible, drinking lots of water and getting all sorts of other veggies and complex carbs.

Now that I'm pregnant again, I've just been doing that without even paying attention to the diet.

simonealisa06

I basically followed it most of my second pregnancy from start to finish. Really helped with morning sickness and keeping my blood pressure under control too. I noticed a big difference, my second baby had a MUCH easier birth and was much healthier at birth as well. In the beginning I just made my own chart but after a while I didn't even need a chart cause it was just automatic for me. Good luck!

simonealisa06

BTW, I did not eat much meat on the Brewer diet cause I had an aversion to it.... I had sprouted grain bread with pumpkin seed butter every day for breakfast. Pumpkin seed butter is extremely high in protein and iron. My blood iron levels tested OPTIMAL my entire pregnancy even without eating hardly any beef!! Pumpkin seeds are yummy to snack on too!