Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, and After Pregnancy

by American Diabetes Association, Elizabeth M. Ward

A fabulous resource for moms-to-be! In this comprehensive guide to nutrition and health during pregnancy, Ward provides solid, research-based answers to women's most frequently asked questions about diet, exercise, weight gain, and supplements and offers specific advice that's easy to incorporate into your daily routine.' -Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., bestselling author of Joy's Life Diet and nutrition/health expert for the Today Show Ward and the ADA serve up practical, easy-to-use advice that is sure to help inform and inspire new and expectant moms."" -Laura A. Jana, M.D., coauthor of Food Fights and Heading Home with Your Newborn ""Any woman who is even thinking about getting pregnant for the first or third time needs to read this excellent and timely book. Ward has done a fabulous job compiling the most recent scientific evidence about pregnancy and translating it into a fun, easy-to-read book with quick, nutritious, and delicious recipes."" -Kathleen M. Zelman, M.P.H, R.D., Director of Nutrition, WebMD ""This book shares a wealth of information that takes into account all the different ways a pregnant woman and new mother lives her life. It might be the only book on prenatal nutrition you'll ever need."" -Peg Moline, Editor in Chief, Fit Pregnancy magazine Are you thinking of having a baby? Perhaps you're pregnant or nursing a newborn. Whatever the case, Expect the Best shows you how a healthy lifestyle from preconception to postdelivery will help you to have the brightest, healthiest child possible. You'll find dozens of useful, easy-to-follow tips for healthy eating and physical activity,

Genres: Nonfiction, Food

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2009

About the author

The American Diabetes Association is the nation's premiere nonprofit association devoted to diabetes research and care. The Association is also the largest publisher of diabetes books; in fact, 1 in 3 books on diabetes published in the United States is published by us.

Our books range from cookbooks, lifestyle guides and diabetes self-management resources to texts for health care professionals and researchers working toward better treatment, and ultimately a cure for, people with diabetes.

Many of the books we publish are written by well-respected health professionals and chefs. These books can be found on the "Published by the ADA" shelf on our bookshelf.

Visit diabetes.org or shopdiabetes.org to find out more information on our books.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was FANTASTIC overall. Such a wealth of still-current great info, nutrition advice, and awesome recipes. But it is extremely out-dated on two key items (my library version was 2008):

1) Decaf. is WORSE! Nutritionists and doctors have since come out with evidence that decaf products are even WORSE than 'leaded' versions of real naturally caffeinated foods like chocolate, coffee, green tea, etc. Obviously stay away from super-caffeinated stuff like Red Bull and co. Best to drop down your caffeine addiction *before* pregnancy, and/or do a slow-go-cut-down so you don't crash and burn with withdraw at the same time you're going through first trimester exhaustion and morning sickness.

2) Low-fat diary products are exceptionally-highly-processed. A bunch of the mechanisms for "removing" that fat also removes the accessibility to key nutrition, degrades the quality of what you can access, and introduces toxins. In other countries with more traditional and holistic approaches to maternal nutrition, they purposefully FEED fat to pregnant women because it is so nutritious and vital for baby-growth. (Ghee, butter, lard, coconut oil, etc.) So drink and eat whole milk products, preferably only mildly pasteurized and non-homogenized (those delicious cream-tops). Yes, they have a whole lot more calories, so you'll have to cut the quantity for the benefit of quality.

Otherwise, a fantastic book I highly recommend!

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was pregnant I was so turned off by all of the judgemental nutrition advice out there. Everyone knows that you should eat healthier when pregnant but it's hard to figure out exactly what that means during a pregnancy. This book is not only extremely easy-to-understand but it delivers all of the information in a very non-judgemental way. One of the most useful things in the book are all of the lists. For example, your doctor might tell you to eat more omega-3's but this book has an entire list of things that have those fatty acids, including specific products so it's easier to find when you go to the grocery store. There are a number of sample meal plans with "superfoods" for pregnancy listed and the back of the book has recipes.

I also like that the book's advice doesn't end when the baby is born. It has a whole chapter on your first three months home with the baby.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from First-Reads.

This book, to me, seemed like common sense. If anyone has ever read up on the government's "food pyramid", and know that they need to take pre-natal vitamins, they do not need to read this book. A basic summary of this book: before you are pregnant, follow the food pyramid (which is now a plate). While you are pregnant, follow the food pyramid but eat a few more calories. After you are pregnant, follow the food pyramid but eat even more calories if you are breast-feeding. Pre-natal vitamins should be taken throughout to ensure that you are getting your proper nutrients for a healthy baby.

There were several little blurbs in the book, and quotes from mom's that were interesting to read though. It was nice to see something from lots of women on how they coped with food during/after their pregnancies.

The only things I really gained from reading this book is what types of foods to eat to get certain nutrients into your body and that carbs are a good thing. Most of the individual food items listed, I knew already about the nutrients, but there were some that I didn't know about or didn't know they are as potent.

There are recipes in the back of the book. I haven't tried any yet, but there are several that I plan to try soon.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book covers basic nutritional information and addresses the dietary needs of women before, during, and after pregnancy. I didn't care for the style of the book and found the information to be fairly basic. If you really don't have a very good idea of how to build a healthy diet, this book may be helpful. But as someone who is already aware of protein, calcium, mercury in fish, and other pregnancy-specific information, this book was just too basic. There is very little information about gestational diabetes and no real guidelines on eating fish.

Also, as of 2012, there is already out-of-date information; HIV-positive women are warned to never breastfeed their babies.

I have not found a nutrition or cooking book that addresses pregnancy needs that I like yet. But this is one that I won't be revisiting.

[Stevie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't learn anything in here that I couldn't read from, say, Babycenter.com. I thought it was very judgy, in that it focuses on how overweight women should lose weight before getting pregnant without addressing that, well, sometimes that doesn't work out -- then what do you do? Also, the author recommends that you "treat" yourself with plain yogurt with fresh fruit (something I eat for breakfast nearly every day) and the recipes were very bland/boring. It was a real disappointment.

[J. Andar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's coming from a fairly well-informed background, but a great deal of the book just repeated what a lot of other pregnancy book already said. I give it three stars because 1) it recommended eating fish, but didn't explain that certain types of fish contain more mercury and could put your baby at risk and 2) I didn't really like the recipes

[Karisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't actually "read" this book - I mostly flipped through it. I've found that most "what to eat when you're pregnant" books just tell you to follow the FDA guidelines, and mention some vitamins that are considered essential during pregnancy. This book was no exception. I did try a few of the recipes; some were good, and some not so much.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very helpful book I would recommend to those who are expecting or planning to try to concieve. It is very helpful with portion sizes, what you need to be eating at various points in pregnancy, recipes, etc. I refer to it often. I like that it is reasonable, reliable, based on the food pyramid and would be healthy eating pregnant or not.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good overview of eating well and staying healthy during your pregnancy. It provided good information without being too preachy, in my opinion. It has a chapter of healthy recipes at the back as well, but I haven't tried any of them yet.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative read! Includes lots of detailed lists and sample meal plans. I would definitely recommend it to those who are trying to conceive, those who are expecting, and those with infants as this book covers all three categories.

[Jade Ozawa-Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated that this book includes the what, why and how of nutrition before, during and after pregnancy. It is written in an easy to read manner without sounding offensively colloquial like the What to Expect Series. I am sure that I will consult Expect the Best again.

[Tegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great starting point. As other readers have said, some of the information was too basic (I skipped the food pyramid chapter); however, it also brought a few key issues to my attention that would not otherwise have occurred to me.

[Albladen]

Excited to read and review my first win through first-reads!

[Binet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but quite basic if you've looked into nutrition at all.

[S. Garland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the way they wrote the recipes in this, I wish all recipes were done this way.

[Jose Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the reviews, I expected better.
Good reference book, nothing special.