drink wholesome can help pregnant women.

Adding a protein or meal replacement shake to your diet can help you and your baby stay strong and healthy during pregnancy. Keep reading to learn why.

★★★★★

easy on the stomach

“I’m 4 months pregnant and this is the only protein protein powder that doesn’t make me nauseous. I use it everyday, sometimes twice a day. My husband uses it too!” – Emily

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Why protein? 

What you eat during pregnancy matters and can affect your baby’s growth and development. Eating enough protein is particularly important because protein is the building block of muscles, skin, bones. It is also a key component of antibodies that protect you and your baby against illness.

Given that your protein needs increase during each trimester of pregnancy, you should consider creating a plan to make sure you are eating enough protein. That said, figuring out exactly how much protein you need during pregnancy can be challenging.

The latest research proposes protein intake recommendations for pregnant women of 1.22 grams per day per kilogram of body weight in early pregnancy (before 16 weeks), and 1.52 grams per day per kilogram of body weight in late pregnancy (after 16 weeks). To put this into perspective, a 125 woman needs to eat 69 grams of protein per day in early pregnancy, and 86 grams of protein per day in late pregnancy. 

Just thinking about eating this much protein can be overwhelming. Unless you weigh 100 pounds, 1 serving does not contain nearly enough protein for most pregnant women.

• Breakfast: 2 eggs – 12g protein

• Lunch: 4 oz chicken breast – 32g protein

• Snack: ¼ cup almonds – 7g protein

• Dinner: 4 oz salmon – 23g protein

• Total: 74g protein (not enough)

On top of that, many pregnant women have a hard time eating due to food aversions, decreased appetite, and morning sickness. This is where protein supplements and high protein meal replacements can help. Adding a high protein shake to your diet is an easy way to boost your protein intake because:

• It is easier to drink your protein than it is to chew it.

• It is easier to make a shake than it is to cook a meal.

• It is easier to digest a shake than it is to digest most solid food, especially if you have morning sickness. 

All that said, not all protein supplements and meal replacements are created equal, and many are NOT safe for pregnancy. This is primarily because protein supplements and meal replacements tend to contain heavily-processed ingredients that can alter the composition of your gut microbiome – the community of microorganisms living in your gut.

An imbalanced gut microbiome during pregnancy has been linked to gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and restricted fetal growth. In other words, gut health issues during pregnancy can affect both maternal and fetal health. For this reason, pregnant women need to be careful about what they eat. Here are some of the top ingredients to avoid: 

acacia gum, acesulfame potassium, artificial flavors, aspartame, carrageenan, cellulose gum, dextrin, dextrose, erythritol, gellan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, inulin, locust bean gum, “natural” flavors, maltodextrin, rice syrup solids, soy lecithin, silica, sucralose, sunflower lecithin, xanthan gum, xylitol

Avoiding ingredients like these is a great place to start, but if you really want to play it safe, you should also avoid protein concentrates or isolates. Most protein supplements and meal replacements are made with one or both of these protein sources, which are heavily-processed ingredients stripped of everything but the protein. Basically, they look nothing like real foods, which is bad news for your gut health.  

Why drink wholesome?

Our protein powders and meal replacement powders are made with a short list of simple ingredients. They are perfect for pregnant women looking to boost their protein intake without the extra processing and added junk. Order samples to see if they are right for you.