It seems like stories of preeclampsia are becoming more common. It’s not surprising, given our society has become far removed from true nourishment. Many women aren’t eating enough prior to pregnancy and many don’t eat much of nutritious food. They go into pregnancy depleted and fail to nourish themselves in pregnancy as well. It’s no surprise when their pregnancy results in a severe state of malnourishment, where quite literally, the body begins to shut down.
What is Preeclampsia?
Preeclampsia is a pregnancy condition marked by high blood pressure and indications of damage to other organs, typically the liver or kidneys. It usually occurs after twenty weeks of pregnancy or less commonly, in postpartum, and can cause symptoms like swelling, severe headaches, and protein in the urine. If untreated, it can be dangerous for both the mother and baby. Untreated preeclampsia can lead to Eclampsia, which can quickly become fatal.
Thankfully, preeclampsia is a condition individual to each pregnancy- meaning, if you’ve had it with one pregnancy, it doesn’t mean you have to experience it with every future pregnancy.
There is limited research on preeclampsia, but in the naturally minded community, it is becoming more evident that preeclampsia is usually malnourishment, which leads to insufficient blood volume expansion.
How is preeclampsia malnourishment?
Your blood volume needs to expand 50-60% in pregnancy to sustain your baby and you, and to protect you from the effects of postpartum blood loss.
Your blood volume cannot expand without protein! Your liver creates albumin from the protein that you eat and albumin facilitates blood volume expansion.
Insufficient blood volume taxes your kidneys and liver and causes symptoms such as high blood pressure, protein in urine, upper-right abdominal pain, swelling, visual disturbances, and severe headaches.
Preeclampsia can also cause preterm labor and growth restrictions in baby.
Untreated preeclampsia leads to eclampsia, which causes convulsive seizures and even coma. It can be fatal for mom and baby.
Long term, preeclampsia can increase the risk of heart and circulatory conditions (ie. heart attack), double the risk of stroke, and quadruple the risk of high blood pressure later in life.
How can preeclampsia be prevented?
Eat Enough Protein
We’ve already talked about how protein is essential for the production of albumin, which is key to blood volume expansion.
Aim for 80-120 grams of protein daily in a singleton pregnancy in the first half of your pregnancy, and bump up to 100-120+ in the second half of your pregnancy.
Ideally, protein will be sourced from nutritious sources, such as animal meat, fish, eggs, and dairy.
Eat Enough
Eating enough is crucial so that the protein that you consume isn’t being used up for energy instead of albumin production. If you’re eating enough protein but not enough of other macronutrients, and calories in general, your body will burn protein for energy and you’ll end up having insufficient amount of protein.
I recommend using the Brewer Diet Plan as a starting point to make sure you’re eating enough food.
Using a tracking app for a few days, such as Cronometer, can help you understand how much you’re actually eating. Many women need at least 2500-3500+ calories from nutritious food to sustain a healthy singleton pregnancy.
Eat smaller meals more frequently in pregnancy when it becomes more difficult to eat. Aim for a protein-rich meal or snack every 1-2 hours. Sometimes it’s easier to drink calories. Bone broth and raw milk are great ways to get more calories and protein in.
Eat Nourishing Food
You may be eating enough calories but if it’s not nourishing your body, your body will be deprived of nutrients that are essential for a healthy pregnancy and baby. Junk food is toxic to the body and causes more harm than good.
Not consuming enough minerals can cause the body to not absorb and utilize the nutrients from our food, leading to deficiencies and malnutrition.
If you’re unfamiliar with what healthy food looks like, Weston A Price Foundation is a great place to start.
Check out my resources list for basic health resources.
Don’t Skip The Salt
ALWAYS salt to taste. Use sea salt or other quality salts. I love Redmond Real Salt, which can be found in health food stores.
Salt is also essential to blood volume expansion and helps to pull extra fluid out of the tissues and into circulation. Your kidneys will excrete excess salt.
Quality salt is full of minerals which will help your body utilize nutrients from the food you’re eating, and hydrate your body.
Hydrate
Don’t be dehydrated, but also, don’t force yourself to drink too much water! Drinking too much water can flush out essential minerals from your body and can leave you dehydrated and depleted.
A common rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces, but also pay attention to what your body is saying!
Add minerals to water filtered by reverse osmosis to re-mineralize the water, as reverse osmosis filters minerals out. My favorite brand is Trace Minerals.
Is It Too Late?
If you have signs of preeclampsia, there is still hope to stop or reverse it. Immediately, begin implementing Dr. Brewer’s protocol in the preeclampsia section on his website, while listening to your body and seeking support from trusted, knowledgeable, wise birth experts.
