PEERtrainer Health

At PEERtrainer, over the years we have built a pretty big library of health, nutrition, and fitness books sent to us by authors and publicists. We have also purchased many on our own. 

If we like a book, we will promote it and if we don't like it we don't. Sometimes we don't get to all the books. One that we just started to look at but have had it for a while is Jonny Bowden's "The 100 Healthiest Foods To Eat During Pregnancy."

Every time we go back to one of his books to look something up, our appreciation of his work and his approach deepens. There are a lot of people out there who publish "healthy eating" books. 

What makes Jonny Bowden's books so special is that they are so easy to read, written with a sense of humor and designed incredibly well. You don't have to dig through anything with his books. Basically anything he has written will do well on your own healthy living bookshelf.

We don't often say this, but we strongly recommend that you a) develop your own "healthy living" library and b) include Jonny Bowden's books in it.

What Makes This Book Great

We spend a lot of time looking at research that backs up some of the claims made among people who promote preventive health through nutrition and supplements. It is a confusing but very interesting area to focus on. The most important thing that we look for is where consensus emerges.

As we went through the book, we found lots of suggestions that we have either seen made elsewhere, backed up by some good new research, or that simply made a lot of sense and anyone who is pregnant would benefit.

There are also some unusual observations that are likely to make women take action that will be health promoting. For example, on page 163, Bowden makes the suggestion that pregnant women drink peppermint tea or chew fresh peppermint.

This is a suggestion that we have been planning to make, and have discovered some very interesting research on peppermint and inflammation. The bottom line is that peppermint is awesome for you, and it is very easy to access. Every single Starbucks in the country sells "Tazo Refresh Tea" which has peppermint in it. Strongly suggest you check that out next time you are in Starbucks. (Even if you are a green tea drinker, you want to mix in some peppermint tea from time to time.)

Peppermint has lots of "good stuff" in it. Bowden (who holds a PhD in nutrition) points out that Peppermint contains the B Vitamin Niacin, which is helpful in repairing skin. This is the kind of advice that is highly likely to get women to take action on. 

Breaking Out The Food Suggestions By Trimester

In addition to some health suggestions, Bowden also outlines foods that will help deal with the symptoms of pregnancy. Men and women alike are aware of the pretty significant discomfort that occurs. There are tips in the book designed to help heartburn, bladder irritation, sleep, energy as well as some solid advice on supplements.

Conclusion

There is also helpful advice in helping quantify the amounts of helpful nutrients in different foods. For example, Bowden points out that spinach contains seven times the amount of folate than iceberg lettuce.

Naturally occurring folate has been shown to be critical in the development of the baby, and these simple suggestions can help make some real adjustments. For example, if a pregnant woman is at a salad bar and sees iceberg lettuce and spinach, after reading this book the odds of making the choice for the higher folate option are pretty high.

The book is full of suggestions like the two we outlined here. It is likely to be helpful.

The book is paperback and you can buy either a new or used copy on Amazon. The used books are usually a very good deal. You can build your library cheaply!

Related Link:  PEERtrainer's New Healthy Eating Guide For Energy and Weight Loss. It is designed to help implement many of the ideas we present to you. People have asked us for years for a very basic guide or plan to help keep them on track. You'll see a strong correlation between the suggestions we present in what we call the "Cheat System" and many of the books and ideas we present to you.