Your Vegetarian Pregnancy: A Month-by-Month Guide to Health and Nutrition »

Dr. Holly Roberts, d.o., facog is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pathology. She also has advanced fellowship training in cancer surgery. Dr. Roberts is the cofounder of a nonprofit lecture series on health and wellness. She lives in Little Silver, New Jersey.

When you're eating for two, you need to eat well.

There's no question that a vegetarian or vegan diet is just as nutritionally sound during pregnancy as one that includes animal protein. In fact, vegetarian nutrition offers pregnant women valuable health benefits that you simply won't find in a nonvegetarian diet, such as higher levels of folic acid, lower cholesterol, and an abundant variety of essential minerals, vitamins, and nutrients. Whether you are already vegetarian or you simply want to reduce the amount of meat in your diet, making the right dietary choices to support you and your baby is the key to a safe, healthy pregnancy.

Fulfilling every nutritional guideline recommended by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Your Vegetarian Pregnancy is the first authoritative guide to maintaining a healthy plant-based diet before, during, and after the birth of your child. Combining complete obstetrical information with sound nutritional guidance, this guide will educate you about:

Basic pregnancy issues, such as fetal development, changes within your body, and preparation for labor and delivery.

What to expect each month, and how to cope with the unexpected.

Key nutrients for your baby and you, with suggestions on how to obtain these through diet, vitamins, and supplements.

The myriad benefits to eating vegetarian during pregnancy, in an entire chapter comparing vegetarian and nonvegetarian nutrition.

With this unique and accessible handbook, you can be confident that your vegetarian pregnancy will be wonderfully beneficial for both you and your baby.

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on 25 years of experience as a vegetarian, mother and osteopathic obstetrician-gynecologist, Roberts strikes an inspirational tone in this handbook, offering practical and spiritual advice to women wondering about the safety of a vegetarian diet during pregnancy. There's nothing to worry about, writes Roberts, who offers nutritional guidance that will, for example, provide a vitamin B1 intake "superior to meat-eaters." She addresses everything from protein requirements to labor pains and nursing positions, with a zeal for the vegetarian diet that can seem almost religious. Roberts weaves spirituality throughout, with poems at the beginning of each chapter and numerous references to "maternal intuition" and "wisdom from a higher source." The volume's question-and-answer format grows a trifle tedious, although a detailed index makes specific information easier to find. Roberts dedicates her useful book to " every woman contemplating pregnancy while striving for the best of health and showing the greatest mercy to others," but readers who aren't already dedicated to vegetarianism and a spiritual approach to wellness may be put off by its sometimes preachy tone. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.