Guest blog by Shamyah
This is for all the moms who are currently pregnant and facing problems with the ability to be healthy and make better choices.
I am currently 19 weeks and six days pregnant.
I started a spiritual journey in the spring of 2021 that lasted almost two years. This required me to start off by eating raw vegan food for a week. Then I started exploring all the processed vegan foods to make my journey easier.
As I got deeper into this journey, I learned that most of these companies, such as Impossible, Beyond Meat, Violife, etc., were overly processed and contained a lot of wheat, soy protein powder, and so on. That made the diet no better than eating meat. Another problem is most well-known vegan food brands were owned or had something to do with Bill Gates — and everyone knows I wouldn’t say I like Bill Gates.
Once I got to follow other people on social media who are true vegans, I noticed that they made food with mushrooms, homemade powders from veggies, different herbs, and nutritional yeast instead of readymade vegan cheese.
Then the journey got discouraging. I felt like the good thing that I was trying to do knocked me down a few steps again because everything that I had just learned I had to relearn for the better. Then I couldn’t afford the vegan diet anymore. I had to sacrifice it. But I realized I could afford it if I were doing it the right way by buying fresh fruits and veggies, frozen fruits, less seasoning and herbs.
But was I willing to give up the good taste that I had become used to? That was the most significant question! I did start eating small amounts of meat again because we didn’t have enough money to buy both vegan and regular food. I was the only vegan in the house, so I sacrificed.
I didn’t realize I didn’t know how to eat until I was pregnant. When I’m hungry I’ll eat whatever I got a taste for, or just something not to be hungry. We learned about the food pyramid in like 3rd or 4th grade, and never bought it up again. Then being anemic plays a significant role in everything, and I didn’t realize how important that was until my second trimester. I learned from some doulas that it’s common and should be taken more seriously than we realize. It’s a learning process and an eye-opener. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially if you are a first-time mom, because the whole process is new, and you’ll be more prepared for the next time!