The Everything Pregnancy Nutrition Book By Kimberly A Tessmer

Sadly, this is another book of incorrect nutrition propaganda. It is easy to think that because it is a book on nutrition, it should be correct. How hard is it to eat healthy? Well, the fact is that there is just as much misinformation and tainting of information on nutrition as there is for everything else.

Nutrition goes far beyond trying to get in all the recommended servings of fruits and veggies. Here’s a decent test to see if someone actually understands the world of nutrition. If they are still using the conventional Food Guide Pyramid, they have no idea what they are talking about. If they are recommending you eat soy products, they still have more studying to do. If they’re telling a vegetarian to eat tofu dogs, then they’re never tried to be one.

I found this book to run along the same lines. Sure, it is a thick book and looks like it has thought of everything. Therefore, it’s easy to be deluded that you now have a complete and accurate picture of pregnancy nutrition, except that some of the information is just wrong.

Here’s an example. I read the section on MSG. I know a lot about MSG. It’s a really nasty substance. It has no business being in your body or your food, especially if you are pregnant. This book doesn’t exactly put MSG in a positive light, but the book still spews the infamous line “the FDA recognizes MSG as generally safe for the population to consume.” Well, that’s a laugh.

If you’re still looking to the FDA for information on nutrition or anything for that matter than you still have a lot to learn. Don’t trust your health with the corrupt FDA. An honest, holistic book would tell you to run for your life and stay far away from MSG. All the FDA’s statement means is that you probably won’t drop dead instantly, unless you are one of the unlucky few who actually do, but that hardly means it is healthy or safe.

I found this book to have a lot of issues such as my above example in it. A book that recommends women take prescription prenatal vitamins and drink milk is not high on my list. There are so many holistic nutrition books out there that give real nutrition information.

You have to look for alternative type of sources of information. These sources are usually telling the truth. When you have a book saying that the FDA believes it’s okay to use aspartame in low amounts because it doesn’t cause birth defects, you would be inclined to believe that small amounts of aspartame are okay. You would be mistaken. Aspartame is dangerous!

The real problem may be that this book was written by a registered dietician. Many times dieticians and even many nutritionists have no idea what constitutes real nutrition. They have a lot of complex formulas and calculations to produce their desired result. But many dieticians will still recommend that their diabetic patients should simply drink “diet” soda instead of regular because there’s not as noticeable effect on their blood sugar. How silly!

I would venture to say you can safely not waste your time on this book and find one that will really teach you something.