E35: The Importance of Protein During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding with Brittany Fox

Ever wondered why protein is so crucial during pregnancy and breastfeeding? Join us on The Ordinary Doula Podcast as we talk with Brittany Fox, a nutritional therapy practitioner and functional hormone specialist, who reveals the often-overlooked importance of protein intake for expecting and new mothers. Throughout her journey, motivated by her own postpartum struggles and her clients' needs, Fox discovered the transformative effects of adequate protein consumption on fetal development, maternal health, and physiological functions such as tissue growth, blood volume expansion, liver detoxification, and hormone function. She advocates for women to consume between 90 to 140 grams of protein daily, tailored to their unique circumstances like breastfeeding or high activity levels.

Moreover, we emphasize the broader nutritional requirements during pregnancy and breastfeeding, highlighting how a mother’s body often sacrifices its own health to nourish the baby.  Fox discusses the nutritional guidance gaps in standard prenatal care and recommends valuable resources like "Real Food for Pregnancy" by Lily Nichols. Our conversation also delves into the importance of seeking personalized nutritional advice to prevent nutrient depletion and underscores the significance of making small, manageable changes for better overall well-being. Don’t miss Brittany Fox’s expert tips and practical advice for supporting both the baby’s growth and the mother’s healing process.

Guest: Brittany Fox 
Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/deep.roots.nutrition/
Website: https://www.deeprootsnutrition.net/links

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Show Credits

Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier
Voiceover: Ryan Parker

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning, where we help prepare folks for labor and birth with expertise coming from 20 years of experience in a busy doula practice, helping thousands of people prepare for labor, providing essential knowledge and tools for positive and empowering birth experiences.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast. My name is Angie Rozier, I'm your host and we are sponsored by Birth Learning. Tonight we have or today, I guess, wherever you are, whenever you are listening a really awesome guest with us and I am so interested to hear from her and learn from her. Her area of expertise is fascinating to me and I love that she knows so much about it. So we have with us tonight Dr Brittany Fox. She is a nutritional therapy practitioner and functional hormone specialist, among other things. I am going to let her kind of take it away and give a little more introduction and background to what she does, why she does, and then we're going to dive into our topic of the night, which has to do with pregnancy and breastfeeding, I guess, and some specifics about that. So, Brittany, before we dive in, give us a little background about yourself.

Speaker 3: 1:36

Okay, so I have been in the birth and postpartum world for about nine years now. I certified when I was pregnant with my second child and worked with women all the way up until just recently, but probably about three years ago, I decided to go back to school and specialize in women's hormone health, specifically in the perinatal time. I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but as a birth worker the perinatal time I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but as a birth worker, your clients will come to you with questions and a lot of times they can't find answers anywhere else and you're the one that they confide in, you're the one that they reach to and they need help. And I found repeatedly that a lot of women were really struggling in postpartum specifically with hormones. Or they would kind of lump everything in, like I think my hormones are off, I just feel this way, or I feel this way and not having answers, and when they would seek for answers or they would go to their care providers again, everything was kind of summed into oh well, your hormones are probably just fluctuating or they're off, but no real answers were given.

Speaker 3: 2:38

And so I decided that that's what I wanted to specialize in and I wanted to be able to help moms to find the answers that they needed, and a lot of my passion for this also came from my own experiences, because I had similar experiences. I thought I had done everything right during pregnancy and during postpartum I ate really good, I exercised, I did all the things that they tell you to do that support a healthy pregnancy and it did. But I still had issues postpartum that no one could really figure out. My labs looked normal and so no one could really give me answers, and so I was determined one to figure out what was going on with my own body. But then to be able to help mothers, and I have found that there are very specific things happening with most women that, with simple changes, can be made to really help them to thrive, to feel better and to help them as their hormones start coming back online, to come back online a little bit more balanced and less out of whack.

Speaker 2: 3:33

Cool and I think it's amazing to have people understand they can do something about this right so many people they are. They're just kind of brushed off if they bring it up or they don't think there are any options. So I love that we're talking about this. So tonight we are going to I want to kind of talk about maybe protein specifically, but maybe more general diet and health, what protein intake looks like in pregnancy and maybe in breastfeeding. So can you tell us about protein?

Speaker 3: 4:03

Yes, and this is one of my favorite topics, because most women are significantly under eating protein and they don't even realize it. And by simply increasing their protein intake and balancing their meals, they can really start feeling a lot better. And it's probably the number one thing that I hear back from my clients that I work with is I can't believe how much better I feel by eating enough protein. So proteins are the building blocks of life. Our body is literally built from protein, and during pregnancy so is our babies right. Exactly During pregnancy, we are creating an entire human body, which means we need a lot of protein, not only to grow the baby, but also to sustain our own health.

Speaker 3: 4:47

It's really important for the baby's tissue growth and development, for brain growth, it's important to form the placenta, for the growing uterus and for our growing breasts. It's really, really critical for proper blood volume expansion. It's also really important for liver detoxification and there is a higher burden put on the liver during pregnancy to be able to detoxify hormones, to be able to process everything that it needs to, and it needs amino acids from proteins to be able to do that appropriately. It's important for hormone function, for enzymes, for antibodies, to create reserves for labor and breastfeeding. So there's a lot that goes into pregnancy, and protein plays a really important role in that.

Speaker 2: 5:32

So tell me you say, under eating, protein is pretty common. Tell me some amounts like what are we looking at here, Gram wise? What does that? What does that entail for a pregnant person?

Speaker 3: 5:44

During pregnancy we want to be at a minimum of about 90 grams of protein a day, up to 140. That is going to increase if you are breastfeeding while you're pregnant, if you have a high demand job, if you're exercising a lot or if you're pregnant with twins. So that's a range, but if there are other things going on that would create a higher demand, then you're are going to need to increase that need, but typically around 90 to 140 grams.

Speaker 2: 6:13

And what do you think most women or Americans or whatever, are getting? Is that a dismal number?

Speaker 3: 6:21

Yeah, yeah Well a lot of women will say like, oh, I eat eggs for breakfast. They're eating two eggs for breakfast. That's only 12 grams of protein. Ideally, we want to be eating about 30 grams of protein for breakfast, and so I would say women are consuming anywhere between like 50 to 70 grams, just on average, but during pregnancy, with us needing a higher amount, then it is significantly under where we should be. Okay.

Speaker 2: 6:51

And you mentioned multiples and I have seen some numbers as I've prepared people for multiples, like with quads and triples, like it's an insane amount of protein and calories when you're building, like four bodies or three bodies.

Speaker 2: 7:03

So okay, so this is individualized course um based on people's needs, all right. So so, before I get into sources of protein, tell us about um. I mean, people get sick in pregnancy early, early trimester. Some people aren't feeling great Um. So what can we do? Like this is important, I imagine the entire course of pregnancy and perhaps preconception. Talk about that a little bit and how we can address that when you just don't feel good yeah.

Speaker 3: 7:31

so preconception work is going to help with how we feel and making sure that liver function is good, that blood sugar is regulated and, if we get ahead of it, consuming protein before we start feeling sick and just trying to keep on top of it, that can be helpful. Protein plays a lot of roles, but one really critical thing it does is it helps to keep blood sugar more balanced. So carbohydrates will raise blood sugar and protein can kind of help bring it down or help it to be more stable, and blood sugar swings. That first trimester can really contribute and increase symptoms of nausea, vomiting and just not feeling well. And so getting ahead of it, always having a snack or a meal with some protein and some carbs, even if you can only consume a little bit, is going to be really helpful. And then, as soon as you can consume more, then really being intentional about getting enough in you can consume more than really being intentional about getting enough in.

Speaker 2: 8:31

Okay, excellent, all right, let's talk about sources Like what sources of protein? I'm sure you have too, but I've had a lot of clients who are vegan or vegetarian. I myself have done vegetarian for years at certain times in my life. So talk about sources of protein. I think people sometimes hear those high numbers and they're like that's a lot of steak. Yeah, For some people that might be lovely, other people, they might not love that approach. So tell us about protein sources.

Speaker 3: 8:53

So, before I talk about sources, it's important to understand that the amino acids are really important and having a complete amino acid, which means that it has all of the nine essential amino acids that the body can't create on its own. It is more difficult to get those from plant sources. It's not impossible, but you do have to be intentional and you have to pair food appropriately to get that. So it is going to be easier to get those from animal sources. But if a mother is vegan or is vegetarian, she will need to make it a priority and to be intentional about the amount of protein she's getting and how she's pairing her protein to make sure that she is getting all of those amino acids. So for and animal-based proteins really like eggs, dairy meat all of these things are going to be really good.

Speaker 3: 9:44

I really like including all parts of the animal because they are going to give us different nutrients and different amino acids that are going to give our body more of what it needs. So all of those things are wonderful. Quality is going to obviously play a huge role in this how we source our meats or animal products, where they're coming from, things like that. Now, if a mother is consuming plant-based, then just making sure, like I mentioned, she's pairing them appropriately together and so you can pair like grains with legumes, legumes with nuts, nuts with vegetables to make things a complete protein. There are a few complete plant-based proteins, which include tofu, tempeh, quinoa, buckwheat, edamame, pistachios, chia seeds and hemp seeds, and so making sure that you are also including those in your diet.

Speaker 2: 10:39

Okay, awesome. So there's options for all types of eaters, which is good. Yes, okay, yeah, excellent. Are there meats that you? Or food products? I know we have a wide array of products available to us. Are there types of proteins you want people to avoid, like? Are there low? What are some low quality? Is that too big of a question? What are some low quality things to avoid getting that protein?

Speaker 3: 11:06

So I'm looking at quality and ingredient labels and so if you're buying convenience food or you're buying fast food, there's going to be a lot of chemicals, a lot of additives, a lot of things that aren't great for our body and for our baby in those, and so really just focusing on whole foods as much as possible is going to be the best option. So looking at ingredient labels and reading them, making sure that there's not weird preservatives or chemicals is going to be important, but really just focusing on whole foods is going to be your best option, and cooking at home as much as possible, which we know is not always possible. But luckily in today's day and age, there are a lot of really convenient snacks and even pre-made meals that you can get at Costco or Trader Joe's that have high quality ingredients that are higher in protein.

Speaker 2: 11:54

Okay, excellent. So if somebody hears protein and they want to just pile their breakfast plate full of bacon, is that okay?

Speaker 3: 12:02

You're going to want some variety, and I'm actually in the camp that I don't think bacon is a terrible food. I think that all of these foods can supply different nutrients to our body, especially if these animals are raised the way that they're supposed to. They're grazing out on land, they're not filled with much junk. Then you can have bacon with breakfast. But I would also include some other things, like some vegetables, maybe some eggs, some quinoa.

Speaker 2: 12:26

A balance you're talking about?

Speaker 3: 12:28

Yeah, we're looking at balance.

Speaker 2: 12:29

Okay, okay, excellent, yeah, excellent. So it seems like there's a lot to know, like pairing foods and these amounts.

Speaker 2: 12:40

I think for some people it could be daunting to measure like amounts of whatever that we're eating and or learning what goes together, and so in a moment, I want you to tell us a little bit about, like people who use your services, what that looks like, or people who work with a dietician or a nutritionist. But can you, before we get to that and how people can get help in doing this, tell us a little bit about? And you mentioned offline a little bit. I loved what you said breastfeeding, so the needs of protein and or extra caloric intake for breastfeeding, which follows pregnancy pretty quickly.

Speaker 3: 13:16

Yes, yes. So, just like during pregnancy, the mother's body is growing the baby. It is providing all of the nutrients, the building blocks, for this baby to grow. When we're breastfeeding especially if we're exclusively breastfeeding, we are doing the same thing, and so it's really, really important to make sure that we are including those nutrients that the baby's body needs to grow and develop, especially protein those nutrients that the baby's body needs to grow and develop, especially protein.

Speaker 3: 13:43

If you think of how rapidly a newborn baby grows and how much they're growing and they're changing, they need a lot of protein to be able to do that, because those are the building blocks of their organs, of their tissues, of their brain, of everything that's happening inside of them. But it's not only important for baby, but mom has just spent nine months giving a lot of nutrients to this baby and now she's breastfeeding and she's giving a lot of nutrients to baby, and her body is designed to provide for the baby at all costs, even at her own expense. So it's really, really important that we are consuming enough protein during breastfeeding to not only help our baby to be nourished and thriving, but also to help our body to heal and to repair and to replenish there's a lot of tissue repair that's happening in postpartum. There's a lot that the body has to heal and regrow and it needs proper protein and nutrients to be able to do so.

Speaker 2: 14:36

Okay. So if someone's on a pretty suboptimal diet, that baby's still going to get great breast milk.

Speaker 3: 14:43

The quality of the food we eat does impact our breast milk, but the mother's body will do everything it can to provide nutrients to the baby. So again, what we eat does matter, having a good prenatal vitamin, things like that, making sure we're getting those things in. But again, your body will do all it can to provide for baby.

Speaker 2: 15:02

Like you said sometimes, at the cost of your body.

Speaker 3: 15:06

Yes.

Speaker 2: 15:07

Okay, it's good to know. So when we're taking care of our body, we're taking care of the baby and we're taking care of the baby, we're taking care of our body. So, yeah, okay, okay. So make that a priority, all right. So tell us when folks need some guidance on this. I would say and you could speak to this more as let's take your average pregnant person and they get average prenatal care, which is awesome, standard 13 visits, whatever it feels like nutrition is lacking in that care. So where can people turn to for that nutrition piece? Because I think our system it's not built in.

Speaker 3: 15:44

No, it's not, and it's crazy to me that it's not, because it's such a critical piece. So there are a lot of really great books out there. There's a lot of different social media accounts and things like that, where more and more people are speaking up and providing education about how to really thrive in pregnancy and postpartum and a lot of women who have experienced pregnancy one way and then experienced it another and share within local communities and things like that. I really liked the book Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols. I feel like that has some good foundational things in there, for just how do we actually provide nourishment to the baby and to myself?

Speaker 2: 16:26

Yeah, excellent, all right, and then tell us to answer my previous question If folks want to work with you, what does it look like? What do visits look like? What's the time duration when a pregnancy wins or pre-pregnancy I don't think a lot of people think about it then what's a good time to meet with you or someone like you when you feel like you need it?

Speaker 2: 16:46

okay but are you like picking up broken pieces a lot like are people getting enough preventative care or are you like I have crashed? I need help? When tell us a little bit about your typical client and person, you help.

Speaker 3: 16:58

So I think I get both. And that's interesting, I think, because I have been in the natural health world for a long time. I've been in the birth world and I have referrals from the community and stuff like that. There are women who are already really, really proactive and will come to me with intentions of how do I optimize this pregnancy? What do my minerals look like? How am I like? I want to do everything I can to prevent depletion and postpartum, everything I can to prevent depletion and postpartum. But then I have a lot of women who come to me as their last resort, where they have gone several other places. They've spoken to their doctor. The amount of times that women are dismissed for the symptoms they're having as just being a woman or being a mom is astonishing to me.

Speaker 2: 17:40

And it's a story.

Speaker 3: 17:41

I hear over and over and over where women have gone to their doctor. They've even gone with specific things that they want tested or that they think might be happening. They are told no, they won't test it, they are dismissed, and then they're left not knowing what to do, and so I kind of have and they probably feel bad too.

Speaker 2: 17:58

Like, yeah, what's wrong with me that I don't feel great, yeah, yeah. So it adds to the bad too. Like, yeah, what's?

Speaker 3: 18:03

wrong with me? That I don't feel great, yeah, yeah. So it adds to the exactly, and they, they don't know what's going on and they're always shocked by how much information I can provide and how much guidance of oh, this is happening and this is happening and this is how we can support you. But it's kind of both camps, where there's women being really proactive, and there's women that are like I need help and no one's helping me.

Speaker 2: 18:26

Okay, so it's a piece that's missing in our care system, really Like it's not nobody's fault, it's just missing. So you have to find it on your own. Okay, yeah, okay. So what do visits look like with you? Tell us, walk us through that. If I was a client of yours, what kind of what do I expect if I'm pregnant or early postpartum? Or tell us what that looks like. What do you do? What do you do with people?

Speaker 3: 18:49

So I like to start all of my clients with a deep dive, initial, where I don't like to provide recommendations unless I actually know what's going on, because every single woman that I work with is different and their body needs something different and they are going to feel better and have better success if our recommendations and protocols are targeted towards their body. So I have some extensive intake paperwork, a food and mood journal that I have moms complete. I offer different functional labs based on the symptoms they're experiencing. We may order some labs. I review all of that and then we will have a consultation where I'll spend anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes reviewing things, talking about things, and when I give recommendations, it's really, really important to me, because I've been a struggling mom, that I don't add more to her plate.

Speaker 3: 19:33

Don't make it harder, Because moms no, moms are busy, they're overwhelmed, they're exhausted, and when moms are struggling, they don't need more to stress them out. And so.

Speaker 3: 19:42

I try really hard to provide recommendations, even if they're really simple, to help them to start to feel better. But that also feels doable. So there's a lot of conversation that happens on. Does this feel like something you can do? Okay, then let's maybe try this, and I typically will work with clients for a few months where we're emailing back and forth, there's several appointments in there and we're slowly adding on, layer on layer, until they are filling well enough that they can actually start adding more to their protocol and things like that, and that's when they I feel like with each appointment, they start feeling a little bit better.

Speaker 2: 20:16

Cool, so it's not all at once. We don't dump all the changes on. Do baby steps awesome? That's cool. Are you cool if we put your information in the show notes like so people, okay, so check out our show notes afterwards and that will have a way to contact dr britney fox. So do you work with people? Just to your local area? Are you able to have outreach to online support? Tell me a little bit about what's available to folks.

Speaker 3: 20:42

So I do both, and all of my appointments are virtual and I order labs. You can go to your local lab and have your labs done. Yeah, um, different tests are mailed to you and then you're able to mail them in and then all of our consoles are virtual and so I can work with um anyone in the US anyone anywhere.

Speaker 2: 20:59

Awesome, okay, so cool. It's exciting to know all. All right, brittany. Any last thoughts on protein, as we kind of wrap up this episode Anything else you want to add for protein, pregnancy and breastfeeding there's so much.

Speaker 3: 21:13

It's one of my favorite topics, but just it can feel overwhelming. I remember being pregnant and hearing that recommendations for like 80 to 100 grams and it's. We've now realized it's a little bit more than more. Yeah, but dividing it into meals and snacks can be really helpful. I always, always, always say start your day with at least 30 grams of protein. This is for every woman at any stage, because of the impact it will have on blood sugar regulation, which is going to affect the rest of your day. So start your day with 30 grams of protein or more and then, instead of feeling really overwhelmed by that big number, just kind of chunk it out like, oh, I need to get 40 grams with dinner or I need to get you know this many grams divided out so that it's in smaller portions and it doesn't feel overwhelming.

Speaker 2: 22:02

Okay, just baby steps all around. I love that Cool, very cool. And one thing you said I've heard you say before as we talk about nutrition intake for pregnancy and breastfeeding, you said kind of what's good for one is good for everything. So, as we're just eating a healthy, balanced, nutritious diet, that is going to be good for all parts and even the lifespan, right Like you have babies for a few years in your life maybe, and then you still want to remain healthy or leading up to pregnancy, so so really like it's not like okay, eat like this for pregnancy and then eat like this for breastfeeding. It's kind of all encompassing same, same approach for all parts of life.

Speaker 3: 22:41

Yeah, exactly, and you may not need as much protein if you're not pregnant or breastfeeding, but you still do need, I would say, at least 90 to 100 grams for women at all stages.

Speaker 2: 22:52

Very cool. That's something I think we all need to remember and know about. Cool, cool Brittany. Thank you so much for your time today. And check out the show notes to see where to find Brittany. It sounds like she can work with anyone in the United States. Much for your time today. And check out the show notes to find to see where to find Brittany. It sounds like she can work with anyone in the United States and we have listeners all over which that can be a huge benefit.

Speaker 2: 23:09

So this we're wrapping it up with this episode and, as we've talked about protein and nutrition needs, we could talk to Brittany about a lot of things and talk for a long time. I've seen her present and I absolutely love what she has to say, but thank you so much for being here with us tonight. I appreciate it. So we're going to sign off. This is Angie Rozier, again with the Ordinary Doula podcast. Hopefully you can go do something just one little baby step today that makes your life a little bit better. I love Brittany's message about that and we will see you next time.

Speaker 1: 23:48

Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning. Episode credits will be in the show notes Tune in next time as we continue to explore the many aspects of giving birth.