Thread by @RootCauseDoctor

ENGINEERING AN OPTIMAL PREGNANCY

Imagine the healthy development of fetus and placenta on a probabilistic slider

You can push the slider towards 'healthy (optimal)' or 'unhealthy (sub-optimal)' based on your environmental exposures

Most importantly: DIET + TOXINS

Thread 🧵

DIET
Eating for a constant micronutrient surplus shifts the probability slider towards an optimal pregnancy

By providing constant stream of essential nutrients, you reduce the chance that growth/development is hindered (by nutrient absence) at at some critical timepoint

In other words, you are reducing the number of 'rate-limiting steps' which may, in aggregate, contribute to some pregnancy complication or inadequate fetal growth

Eating to a micro-nutrient surplus means choosing the most nutrient-dense foods. i.e the most nutrients per gram.

However, for optimal absorption and utilization, also need
- bio-availability
- absence of anti-nutrients

Any food that fulfills these three criteria is the optimal human, by definition.

1. nutrient density
2. bio-available nutrients
3. absence of anti-nutrients/digestion inhibitors

Animal foods satisfy all 3 criteria, and that's why they are essential for building an optimal pregnancy.

So make nutrient dense meat, organs, seafood, eggs + full fat dairy the basis of your (pre)-pregnancy diet.

Any attempt at reproduction that excludes animal foods will necessarily result in a (comparatively) sub-optimal outcome compared to the same attempt that includes these food.

TOXINS
Exposure to environmental toxins will also push the probabilistic slider away from an optimal pregnancy for obvious reasons

Any substance that is directly teratogenic or has endocrine-disrupting effects will interfere with the normal growth process

Most important time for toxin avoidance is during first trimester, when baby's organs are developing

Nutrient deficiency = body trying to build something and lacking the raw materials

Toxins = body's natural processes impaired by presence of some disruptive factor

Interesting aside, I am not aware of any hormetic benefits of dietary toxins during pregnancy.

So the best strategy is to simply avoid.

Minimize incidental ingestion of any synthetic compound, heavy metal, xeno-estrogren, etc

The human organism will gravitate towards perfect health in the presence of optimal nutrition and the absence of toxins.

You can toggle the pregnancy optimization slider based on your choices.

The Rest Is Up To You...

Credit to the heavyweights @CarnivoreMD @LilyNicholsRDN @drcateshanahan @DrShannaSwan @Grimhood