Can Pregnant Women Go Vegan & What To Eat?

The vegan lifestyle has been popular for decades. A lot of people choose a vegan lifestyle because of various reasons. Some people go vegan for ethical reasons while some others go vegan for their health. In fact, a plant-based diet which most people call “vegan” brings lots of benefits to people’s health such as lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.

With all of those promising benefits, a lot of women, including pregnant women choose to be vegan. But, the question is, is it okay to be vegan if you’re pregnant? 

The short answer is yes.

Basically, pregnant women need to have a well-balanced diet with healthy food. So if you can do that while being vegan, it means it is safe for your baby’s development. 

What do vegan pregnant women need to know?

Being on a vegan diet means you stop consuming all types of animal products. You start to eat plant-based food only. So, the most important thing that you need to know is, you must eat healthy food and have a well-balanced diet. 

If you’re a vegan pregnant lady, make sure you get enough supply of vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, and iron. Vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, and iron are mostly found in meat and fish. It means you need to find other ways to get more vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, and iron while at the same time keeping the vegan lifestyle.

What are the risks of being vegan while pregnant?

A lot of people criticize the vegan diet. They think being vegan means people don’t get enough nutrients that their bodies need. It might be true if you, as a vegan, don’t eat properly. Vegans tend to naturally have a low intake of vitamin B12, omega-3 fats, iron, iodine, calcium, and zinc because most of these are usually found in meat and fish. These are all important for pregnant women. If you don’t get these nutrients when you’re pregnant, it can affect your pregnancy negatively. For example, you can get pregnancy complications, nutrient deficiencies, and bad infant health. These conditions can lead to low birth weight, preterm birth, birth defects, or even the worst one, miscarriage. 

If you’re vegan and pregnant, you need to provide your body with good amounts of vitamin B12, omega-3 fats, iron, iodine, calcium, and zinc to be as healthy as a regular diet that includes meat, fish, egg, and dairy products.

What is the food recommendation for pregnant women?

Before focusing on the food that you need to consume as a vegan pregnant woman, focus on the nutrients that pregnant vegan women should consume more. 

Protein

Protein is important for vegan pregnant women’s bodies. You can get protein from eating tofu, tempeh, artichokes, lentils, spinach, beans, green peas, quinoa, oatmeal, chia seeds, edamame, broccoli, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. You can try our pumpkin chili recipe which is good for your protein intake. There is also some beverage option to get protein for pregnant vegan women such as oat milk, almond milk, and soy milk. 

Vitamin B12

It is risky if vegan pregnant women don’t get enough vitamin B12. Low intake of vitamin B12 can lead to anemia and various neurological issues. The most common sources of B12 are animal products such as meat, seafood, dairy, and egg. But for vegan people out there, there are plenty of natural sources of vitamin B12. You can consume nutritional yeast, soy or almond milk, tempeh, seaweed, and cremini mushrooms. 

Folate

Folate or also often called folic acid is the natural form of vitamin B9. Folate is very important during early pregnancy because folate can reduce the risk of birth defects in the brain and spine. Vegan pregnant ladies should take 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day. You can get folate from food such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, green vegetables (cabbage, lettuce, spinach kale, and spring greens), peas, and kidney beans.

Iron

Pregnant vegan women need iron to function properly. Consuming too little iron will cause an iron deficiency while consuming too much iron will cause iron poisoning. Pregnant vegan women generally need 32 milligrams of iron every day. 

You can get iron from lentils, beans, chickpeas, cashew, tofu, chia seeds, hemp seeds, kale, dried apricots, pumpkin seeds, figs, quinoa, raisins, and fortified breakfast cereal.

Remember that drinking tea and coffee might make your body feel difficult to absorb iron while consuming food that is rich in vitamin C can increase iron absorption. Some foods that contain vitamin C are pepper, cabbage, broccoli, kiwi, brussels sprouts, oranges, pineapple, strawberries, oranges, and grapefruit.

Zinc

Zinc is an essential mineral that plays an important role in vegan women’s bodies. Some of the benefits of zinc are keeping the immune system healthy, aiding in wound healing, keeping your hair strong, and helping your senses of smell and taste to stay sharp. Zinc mineral is very important during pregnancy for proper infant growth and development.

Meat and dairy are good sources of zinc. But don’t worry, pregnant vegan women can get zinc from eating whole grains, tempeh, tofu, nuts, legumes, seeds, and fortified breakfast cereals. 

Iodine

Iodine is a mineral that helps people to make thyroid hormones. Iodine keeps our body cells and the metabolic rate healthy. Vegans generally need 150 micrograms of iodine per day. Yes, it might seem like a very small amount of iodine, but getting that small amount of iodine is very important for vegan pregnant women. 

If a pregnant vegan woman lacks iodine intake, it can cause cretinism. Cretinism can trigger children to have mental and physical disabilities, stunted growth, low IQ, deafness, and muteness.

The two main sources of iodine for vegans are iodized salt and seaweed. You can also get iodine from bread, grain products, prunes, and pasta, but they generally contain only small amounts of iodine.

Omega-3s

Omega-3s are essential fatty acids that are important for maintaining heart, brain, eye, kidney, and skin health. A lot of people think they need fish or fish oil supplements to get omega-3s. But actually, there are a lot of plant-based foods that provide omega-3s for vegans. 

Pregnant women need about 300 mg of omega-3s per day. Pregnant vegan women can eat hemp seeds, chia seeds, ground flaxseeds, walnuts, and edamame. Tofu, tempeh, soy milk, kidney beans, black beans, navy beans, chickpeas, brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, and pumpkin seeds also contain smaller amounts of omega-3s.

Omega-3s are essential for building the fetal brain and retina. Omega-3 fatty acids also prevent perinatal depression. Pregnant vegan women that don’t consume enough omega-3 fatty acids might develop infants with visual and behavioral deficits that can’t be fixed with postnatal supplementation. 

Calcium

Calcium is important to build and maintain your bones. Not only that, calcium mineral is also important for muscle contraction, nerve transmission, blood pressure regulation, and blood clotting. Pregnant women generally need at least 1,000 mg of calcium per day. 

The best sources of calcium are dairy foods such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. But vegans can eat soybeans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, grains, seaweed, spinach, bok choy, okra, kale, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, blackberries, blackcurrants, and raspberries. 

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is good for calcium absorption, cell growth, inflammation, a healthy immune system, and healthy bones. Vegan pregnant women with low vitamin D can have bad fetal growth, preterm birth, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and high risks for small-for-gestational-age. They also have a higher risk for lower bone mineral content, enamel defects, and attention deficit hyperactive disorder for infants.

Sunlight is a good source of vitamin D. The ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sunlight activate a compound in your skin that becomes vitamin D after it goes to your liver and the kidneys. 

Vitamin D can be found in fatty fish and fish liver oils. But these foods also come with a lot of things that your body doesn’t need like mercury and microplastics. 

So, how should vegan pregnant women get vitamin D? You can soak yourself in the sun every morning or consume vegan vitamin D supplements. Generally, pregnant women should be supplemented with 600 IU/day of vitamin D3, while higher vitamin D doses (1000-4000 IU/day) might achieve better maternal and infant outcomes.

So those are some tips for vegan pregnant women. Now you know what you should eat, avoid, and do during your pregnancy. We have a lot of vegan recipes on our website. You can check them out and recook them.