What to Eat When You're Expecting

Rating:
Summary: What about morning sickness?
Review: A friend sent me this book as she knew that I was suffering from 24 hour 'morning' sickness. After reading a few pages, I felt even worse! Instead of reassuring me, it made me feel that I was somehow failing because I could not simply deal with my sickness and eat the totally impractical Best-Odds diet. The tone is often patronising - for example, suggesting that I am ignorant or irresponsible if I order a tuna sandwich on white bread. It's maybe worth reading this book for the few practical ideas that it gives. However, after feeling guilty for several days for having eaten white bread - not wholewheat - for the first trimester (one of the few things that I could eat at all), I put the book away and decided to use common sense instead.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the effort
Review: I bought this book after gaining 10 pounds is one month, thinking it would help me get a handle on my prengnancy weight gain. Instead, it made me feel bad, rather like I was hurting myself and my baby. I tried the diet and recipes, but after spending considerable money and time locating the necessary ingredients for the recipes, I gave up and quit wasting my time. In the end, my weight gain was fine (25 lbs), no thanks to this book! It was given away with some old maternity clothes!

Rating:
Summary: What about uncooked egg whites?
Review: Be aware of the recipe for "Pumpkin Chiffon Pie" (page 271), which uses raw egg whites beaten into a chiffon. Last time I checked, that was flirting with salmonella, something which is better to avoid while prego.

Rating:
Summary: The authors should get real, and better informed
Review: I found this book not only insulting to most women's intelligence and lifestyles, but, in some cases, just plain uninformed! Where did all this hysteria about an occasional cup of coffee (or an occasional treat for that matter) come from? My doctor just shook his head when I asked him about some of the ridiculous guidelines. And what sorts of jobs do these women have to suggest carrying wheat germ to business lunches to sprinkle on food in restaurants? Get a clue! The only time I was sick during my entire pregnancy was reading this book. Don't waste your time or your money.

Rating:
Summary: This book goes in the yard sale box
Review: I'm all for healthy eating but the recipes in this book are horrible and the guidelines are impossible. I made one of the desserts and no one would eat it! Pregnancy is not a time for starvation.

Rating:
Summary: Some parts too simplistic; others much too complex!
Review: This book was a contradiction and a great way to make you feel guilty!!! If you want to blame yourself for anything that goes wrong in pregnancy, -please- read this book. If not, forget it! I especially loved the short little section "don't eat for emotional reasons." If you really do eat for emotional reasons (as I do), you need help with changing your mental processes, NOT a short paragraph making you feel even worse about it (which leads to eating more!!). These gals need to live in a real world.

Rating:
Summary: Good Healthy Reading for Mother's-to-be!
Review: I found this book extremely helpful during my first pregnancy. I admit I didn't follow the Best Odds Diet to the letter (who could possibly be THAT disciplined?), but found that even after taking my own path, using the basic guidelines of eating things that can 'remember where they came from' I was never healthier. And I firmly believe that my healthy baby boy benefited from the diet I followed. I actually lost weight during my first trimester, and within 7 weeks postpartum (post-C-section, mind you), my pre-pregnancy clothes fit loosely! How many new mothers can make that claim?!? I think it's a great guideline, but as with anything else, you'll need to adapt it to fit your lifestyle.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money!
Review: I bought this book during my first pregnancy because I liked the idea of "best odds diet" as it was presented in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" & was hoping for some practical tools & advice on implementing the eating plan & also some new healthy recipes. Now I have a 2 y/o & am pregnant again, so I thought I would give it another try. Still think this book is a clunker! We all know that "junk food" is not nourishing & that the nutritional requirements during pregnancy can be tough to keep up with, which is why some reproducable grocery lists & daily eating charts would be helpful for starters... and some recipes that actually taste good!! This stuff comes from the old-school idea that "health food" must be bland & boring. The overview in "What to Expect..." is more user-friendly, this book is didactic overkill.

Rating:
Summary: What planet are they on?
Review: The diet recommended in this book is totally unrealistic for the average American. You're under enough stress already, and probably sick enough already. Unless you already have an extraordinarily healthy diet, don't bother trying to make this big of a switch now. Example: this book forbids eating Total cereal because it has too much sugar! Puhleeze! They give you permission to "splurge" with a no-sugar bran muffin with fruit once a week. Whatever! Please don't encourage the alarmist authors by buying this book. Certainly try to eat healthy when pregnant, and if you have no idea what healthy eating is, read this book to get an idea of the radical end of the spectrum. Then be reasonable.

Oh yeah - the fish recipe was so gross that it made me have an aversion to fish throughout my pregnancy!

Rating:
Summary: Who wants to pay good money for 13 year old information
Review: I was so disappointed in this book that I have decided not to buy What to Expect when You're Expecting. It seems like people have learned a lot about nutrition in the past 13 years - but you won't find it in this book! A particularly egregious example is when they claim that you will need to combine proteins if you eat a vegetarian meal. I don't think that was believed in 1986, let alone today. I have absolutely no faith in these authors or their information.