Real Food Prenatal Vitamin - my DIY prenatal recipe

Are you hesitant about trying to DIY your own prenatal, or not sure how to make your own real food prenatal vitamin? Look no further, in this blog post, I’m going to outline everything you need to know about making your own real food prenatal, just like I did for my pregnancy!

Now, there is a lot of noise and differing opinions when it comes to taking a prenatal before and during pregnancy.

Depending on what circles you consume content in on IG/podcasts, you may have found two camps:

1. Taking a traditional prenatal

2. DIY-ing your prenatal 

As you know, I love to nerd out on this stuff so DIY-in it and creating my own real food prenatal vitamin was a fun opportunity for me to create a nutrient plan that was specific to my needs.

So, if you’re ready to dive into all things prenatal vitamins and how to best DIY your own version, let’s go!

Downfalls of Traditional Prenatals

• Excessive amounts of certain nutrients like B12 and folate. More is not always better, and you are still a human who is eating and getting nutrients through food. 

• Many contain ascorbic acid which is a synthetic form of vitamin C. Ascorbic acid can deplete copper whereas the whole food form of vitamin C will make copper more available.

• Beta-carotene & retinyl palmitate are the primary sources of vitamin A in most prenatals. The problem is that beta carotene is a plant based form that needs to be converted to retinol in the body & is done so at low rates. Retinyl palmitate is synthetic vitamin A and doesn’t act the same as retinol.

• Iron: Many prenatals contain iron which can be problematic for a few reasons. Firstly, the body will recycle ~24mg of iron when it has the proper co-factors including vitamin A & copper. Supplementing with excess iron can increase inflammation, mess with the gut as well as inhibit the absorption of calcium. Getting iron from food & ensuring you are also getting vitamin A and copper is a better approach.

• Vitamin D: Although vitamin D is incredibly important during this time, supplementing with high doses isn’t my go-to. Vitamin D requires magnesium, vitamin A & K2. When supplemented at high doses for long periods of time, it can deplete those nutrients as well as cause other imbalances such as high calcium. You can get vitamin D from the sun and through food such as cod liver oil, salmon, pasture-raised eggs, & liver.

I knew going into this pregnancy that I wanted to DIY my prenatal supplement plan and create my own real food prenatal vitamin. This would enable me to prioritize specific forms and doses of nutrients based on my own needs. Again, this is a more labor-intensive route for sure and is not as simple as just taking a desiccated liver supplement. 

Specific nutrient needs to add to your real food prenatal vitamin

Nutrient needs during pregnancy are significantly different than at any other time in your life. So when you’re looking to DIY your prenatal, you need to make sure you take these specific needs into consideration.

Here is a list of the nutrient needs during pregnancy:

• Folate: 600 mcg (up to 800 mcg for those with MTHFR snps) 

• Choline: 930 mg

• Vitamin A: ~3,000-5,000 IU (not to exceed 10,000 IU) 

• Magnesium: 500-800 mg (possibly upwards of 1000mg in first trimester) 

• Vitamin C: 400-500 mg 

• Vitamin E: 400 IU 

• Calcium: 1200 mg 

• Additional minerals (dosing dependent on testing & the individual):

• Iodine

• Copper

• Sodium 

• Potassium

Note: a great resource for research on nutrient needs in pregnancy is Lily Nichol’s book: Real Food For Pregnancy.

Additionally, nutrient needs fluctuate a little bit trimester to trimester. For example, we have a greater need for magnesium in the first trimester and a greater need for copper and vitamin A (retinol) in the third trimester. 

Here is how I build my own real food prenatal vitamin

When mapping out how to DIY my own prenatal, I ended up splitting the nutrient needs during pregnancy into two separate categories: nutrients I would get via supplement, and nutrients I would get via real food sources.

• Supplements:

• Organ Complex

• Heart & Soil’s Beef Organs (code: Kaely10)

• Or Organ+ on fullscript 

• Choline (either as a supplement and/or food sources below to target of ~930mg) 

• Magnesium

• Vitamin E

• Folate (either as a supplement and/or food sources below to target of 600-800mcg) 

• Cod Liver Oil 

• Iodine (dosing based on my own testing)

• Food sources of important nutrients that I prioritize throughout the week: 

• Folate:

• Roasted sunflower seeds (⅔ cup) 238 mcg

• ½ cup cooked lentils 181 mcg

• ⅔ cup chickpeas 172 mcg

• 1/25 cups cooked black beans 149 mcg

• 1 cup OJ 110 mcg

• 4 asparagus spears 110 mcg

• 1 cup spinach 263 mcg

• ½ avocado 80 mcg

• 3.5 oz chicken liver 588 mcg

• 3.5 oz beef liver 290 mcg

• 3 egg yolks 73 mcg 

• Choline

• 3 egg yolks 345 mg

• 4 oz ground beef 100 mg 

• 3 oz beef liver 356 mg 

• 1 cup dairy ~50 mg 

• Calcium

• Pearl Powder: 250 mg/ ¼ tsp

• Egg Shell Powder: 500 mg/ ½ tsp

• Cooked leafy greens: 200 mg/cup

• Dairy (varies based on source) 

If You’re Not Quite Ready to DIY Your Prenatal

While there are a few prenatals that I love and recommend - my favorite is FullWell (KAELY10 is 10% off).

This prenatal does the best job that I’ve seen of packing all of the pregnancy nutrient needs into a real food-based supplement.

So if you’re not quite ready to go the DIY-route, FullWell’s prenatal is a great option.

The Bottom Line

I hope this blog post has shed some light on the priorities and processes involved when it comes to building your own real food prenatal vitamin.

Nutrient needs, that are already high during pregnancy, really ramp up during breastfeeding, so I’ll be sure to make a follow up post about what tweaks I make once I get to that season, too.