Plant based diets are much more common today than ever before and the research is astounding in support of plant-based diets to help support optimal health and prevention of chronic diseases. There are different types of plant-based diets such as vegan diets which are completely devoid of any animal products such as meat, dairy, seafood, eggs, and honey. There are also vegetarian, flexitarian, and pescatarian diets that include some animal products. 

At Liberty Wellness Clinic, we help many families who are plant-based and wish to continue this during their pregnancy and post-partum period. Plant-based diets can also be safely adopted throughout all life stages, from infancy to adulthood.  

If there’s any doubt that a vegan diet can be healthy during pregnancy, I want to share my own personal story as both my husband and I were fully plant-based when we conceived our son. I continued to follow a healthy vegan diet during my entire pregnancy. Given I had pre-existing health conditions, I was considered a high risk pregnancy from the start and was under the meticulous and attentive care of the high-risk unit at Sunnybrook Hospital. They did not once question us about our dietary choices as our son was so healthy at every checkup. We truly believe following a vegan diet helped us through this pregnancy and we delivered our son full-term, healthy and he weighed a hefty 8lb at birth. I continued a vegan diet postpartum and we decided to raise our son completely plant-based. He is now 2.5 and he has consistently been above average for both his weight and height. A well thought-out plant-based diet can be very healthy during pregnancy.  

The benefits go beyond pregnancy as adopting a plant based lifestyle has been linked with having lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, better blood glucose control and decreased chances of developing cardiovascular disease. There are also lower incidences of obesity, kidney disease, inflammatory conditions, constipation and digestive issues. New research shows a plant-based diet can improve brain health and reduce the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. A plant-based diet is even associated with much lower odds of developing moderate to severe Covid.

If you decide to choose a plant based pregnancy, it is no different than planning for a healthy pregnancy. You always want to ensure you are  getting the macronutrients and micronutrients that you and your  baby require to help support healthy development and body system maintenance.