Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

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loudallison
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Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by loudallison »

Hi everyone, I am relatively new here. I’ve done a fair amount of reading on this site and I am currently working through a thread regarding Dr. Gundry’s advice for ApoE4s ...I haven’t finished the thread (it’s so long! :lol: ), but was intrigued enough by him to buy and read The Plant Paradox (finished it today!). Now, I am even more interested and plan to implement his recommendations to see how I do. I’ve been on and off Paleo for many years but still am not even close to healthy. HOWEVER, I am breastfeeding a 7mo old and considering his low protein recommendations, I am wondering if it is safe to do right now? I have searched around, but can’t find any info on his plan being safe/recommended for pregnant or lactating women. Wondering if anyone here has any insight.

As a secondary question - I am a 4/4, so my son is a x/4 (my husband does not carry the 4 gene). Wondering if there is any information or opinions out there on how to feed children who carry the gene? I mean, I want to set him up to have the most healthy life possible. Should he follow the same dietary advice as recommended for adults? I.e., should I just feed him foods I’m eating when I try The Plant Paradox and nothing else? He’s just now beginning solids and I just want to be cautious without being crazy.

Thanks everyone!
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TheresaB
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by TheresaB »

If you are following the Plant Paradox diet, then you are eating more healthfully than the vast majority of other people, I can't see how that could be problematic. A couple thoughts for more information:

1. We have a thread and talked a bit about babies and their nutritional needs. "Babies in ketosis" viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4734&hilit=babies#p54346

2. Also here's a video talk/presentation, "Optimal Weaning" where she comes from an evolutionary perspective, that same perspective that Dr Gundry often follows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbksU68KkzI A bit of a warning, I found the volume to be on the low side, so it might help to open the transcript, even though it is auto-generated and has some odd translations. Use the three dots, see the picture, I have where the "open transcript" is circled in red:
amber o hearn transcript.JPG

Lastly, regarding how to raise your son. As a youngster he shouldn't be as damaged as us "old folks" who are trying to repair the damage we've done to ourselves over our previous decades. Thus, I'm thinking he shouldn't have to eat nearly as restricted of a diet as recommended in many of the threads here. There is a study that basically concluded that when ApoE4s maintain insulin sensitivity, it is VERY, VERY good, but when ApoE4s have insulin resistance, it is horrible. So I'd keep sugar minimized in his diet. I know it's tough as a parent, but I'd try to keep sweets to special occasions only, don't restrict it completely and make him feel "weird" around his friends, but do keep it minimized. I'd also stay away from traditional grains/bread, not the alternative versions Dr Gundry approves of. Again, look at it from an evolutionary perspective, our ancestors didn't drink soda, and eat sweet snacks every day, they didn't eat foods that have been grown with glyphosate and with stuff to accelerate growth, that have preservatives added to allow it to "stay fresh" for months on the shelf, etc. Stick with real foods as much as possible, stay away from processed/packaged food. Stay away from industrially processed vegetable oils: Corn oil, Cottonseed Oil, Soybean Oil, Safflower Oil, Peanut Oil, Canola oil, which means staying away from fast food, even eating out very often. If you follow those general guidelines, your son should remain insulin sensitive and his gut should remain relatively healthy that he could probably get away with some lectin consumption, particularly those from vegetables. When he gets older, if he maintains a basically compliant diet, I'm guessing he won't have to go more radical with his diet later on as the rest of us "old" ApoE4 folks are doing now.
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Tincup
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

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Gundry's advice to for children is not to restrict protein. Likewise, you should eat more while breastfeeding. His general advice is for those who are older.

A friend's son at 13 had Crohn's disease. After 4 years of conventional treatment starting at age 9, which failed, he took his son to Gundry. Gundry put him on the plan, but without animal protein restriction. The boy quickly recovered from the Crohn's (in a month or so) and put on about 25 pounds (he was very underweight as the disease was preventing him from absorbing nutrition) of mostly muscle.

A year ago, he graduated high school as a "ripped" champion wrestler. He was very compliant through this time. He told his dad that there was no food worth cheating for.
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by Orangeblossom »

You need quite a lot of calories while breastfeeding and baby needs nutrition, I was starving while extended breastfeeding. Incidentally some research shows the longer you breastfeed the better health outcomes for mum and baby including metabolic benefits and lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

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Theresa, thank you for the response and extra resources! Very helpful. And I like your advice on the restriction of my son’s diet...he has a blank slate, so doesn’t need as many restrictions! Makes sense (except for sugar...I plan to severely limit as you suggested also).

Tincup, thank you, that is interesting, I didn’t know that about the protein, but I’m glad to know it’s not limited for kids! I would have felt weird limiting protein in my son’s diet (but I would not have done so without further research! I’m just gathering info at the moment). I think while I am breastfeeding, I will seek to limit lectins and look Loren seriously at the full program when I wean.

Orangeblossom, good reminders! I do plan to breastfeed as long as he wants to. I am not looking to restrict my calories too much at this stage, I just want to have healthy eating practices!
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

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loudallison wrote:And I like your advice on the restriction of my son’s diet...he has a blank slate, so doesn’t need as many restrictions! Makes sense (except for sugar...I plan to severely limit as you suggested also).
I recommended being disciplined with sweets but not going crazy because I don’t want your kid to grow up resenting you and granted, I’m just one example, but I grew up with sweets and appear to be undamaged. I’m a 58 year old 4/4.

I don’t think I ate as much sugar as what many kids eat now. When I was child, I was not allowed candy and soft drinks were a special occasion drink on birthdays, but we often had ice cream after dinner, brownies for Friday dessert. My school lunch was typically a sandwich, bag of chips, and a ding-dong, ho-ho, or such. Sunday breakfast was "special" often donuts or pancakes. So my childhood diet wasn’t exactly pristine. Yet my blood sugar has always been pretty good, and since learning of my 4/4 status and “getting religion” regarding my diet, my fasting insulin usually comes in at 3 or 4 and my HbA1c is in the low 4’s. So I’m just one datapoint, but an ApoE4 can survive a childhood with some sugar.

Am I just lucky? Maybe. I know I’m grateful for beating the odds. My siblings and I were all raised about the same diet-wise. Two of my siblings are type 2 diabetics. Why such a big difference between myself and them? I’m not really sure. I kind of watched what I ate most of my life, but I had plenty of fast food too. The only thing I can think of is, that unlike my siblings who developed type 2 diabetes, I’ve always, since I was a kid, been fairly muscular (muscles help with insulin sensitivity) and have kept active most of my adult life: running, cycling, skiing, etc.

Just a little more to think about (or confuse you, I hope not.)
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loudallison
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by loudallison »

TheresaB wrote: Just a little more to think about (or confuse you, I hope not.)
I really appreciate your thoughts! I was raised in much the same way...sugar was not considered bad (well, it wasn’t really considered at all!). We just kind of ate and drank whatever - soda and candy considered treats, but certainly not uncommon.

I definitely don’t want him to resent me but I also wish that I was raised with some sort of health guidance in regards to sugar (no fault of my parents, they didn’t know any better either!) I mostly want to teach him how to make healthy choices...and slowly hand him the reins to practice making those choices on his own as he gets older. But while he is young I plan to do everything in my power to shape his palate and make the foods of his childhood healthy!
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by NancyM »

My mom had a huge sweet tooth. We always had baked goods (chocolate chip brownies were one of her specialties) and had a "candy cabinet" in the kitchen which was the first destination of any friends of mine or my 7 siblings who came over. My mom literally kept a box of Fannie May candy "hidden" in her nightstand drawer. I, on the other hand, never had a sweet tooth and I've often wondered if it was because the allure was eliminated by virtue of the fact that sweets were always so available to me. I'm certainly not suggesting this as a strategy for your son though!
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by NF52 »

NancyM wrote:My mom literally kept a box of Fannie May candy "hidden" in her nightstand drawer.
My guess is the Fanny Farmer candy in her nightstand helped her get through having 8 lively kids and their friends over. Your mom sounds like a sweetheart!
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Re: Question! Breastfeeding moms and babies...

Post by TheresaB »

loudallison wrote:I really appreciate your thoughts!
Okay then, one more thing I thought of. Have your heard that ApoE4s tend to recover from head injuries more slowly than ApoE3s or 2s? If you've read our Primer, you know about staying away from head injuries. So don't wrap your kid up in bubble wrap for the rest of his life, but do insist he wear a helmet when on his bicycle, roller blading, long boarding or whatever. And discourage him from participating in sports that tend to be high in head injuries.
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