Prenatal Nutrition with McKenzie Caldwell, RDN from Feed Your Zest – Episode 194

How do we best choose what to eat during pregnancy? I am excited to have a dietician on to talk about nutrition during pregnancy!

McKenzie Caldwell is a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of the virtual practice Feed Your Zest, where she helps folks heal from perfectionism around food and their bodies so they can live fully nourished through fertility, pregnancy and beyond. She sees clients 1:1 and in her signature group program Fully Nourished Pregnancy, as well as speaking and consulting on the topics of weight inclusive reproductive health. McKenzie lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her dog Charlie and enjoys hiking, baking, yoga and adult ballet classes.
Website: www.feedyourzest.com
Instagram: @fertility.prenatal.dietitian
TikTok: @fertility.prenatal.rd
Check out her Mini Class: https://www.feedyourzest.com/insulin-resistance-mini-course

Big thanks to our sponsor The Online Prenatal Class for Couples — it has a BRAND NEW bonus video all on prenatal education!

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.120] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on Episode 194, we are talking about nutrition during pregnancy. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:18.990] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary Erickson, the curly head behind the Pulling Curls Podcast: pregnancy and Parenting Untangled. There’s no right answer for every family, but on this show, we hope to give you some ideas to make life simpler at your house. Life’s tangled just like my hair.

[00:00:39.360] – Hilary Erickson

Today’s guest is a registered dietitian, which, by the way, is different than a food coach or a health coach, just so you guys know. She is the mind behind Feed Your Zest. You can find her on TikTok @mckenzieCaldwellRDN, or on Instagram @fertility.prenatal.dietitian. I want to introduce today’s guest, McKenzie Caldwell.

[00:01:00.880] – Hilary Erickson

Do you feel prepared for your delivery? In just three short hours, you can be prepared for the confident, collaborative delivery you want. You’ll know what to expect and how to talk with your health care team. And there are no boring lessons in this class. I’ll use humor stories from my 20 years in the delivery room to engage both of you. I love how Alyssa told me that she found herself laughing at things that used to sound scary. Most of all, you guys are going to be on the same page from bump to bassinet. Join the online prenatal class for couples today. You can save 15 % with coupon code UNTANGLED. You can find the link in the show notes.

[00:01:36.780] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, McKenzie, welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:01:39.380] – McKenzie Caldwell

Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:40.770] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah, I’m super excited to have you on here. We actually haven’t talked about food. I don’t think ever on this… I mean, we’ve talked about eating, obviously eating is very important.

[00:01:48.470] – McKenzie Caldwell

But as far as prenatal nutrition, just because I’m super picky about who I would have on. I have a lot of diet coaches talk to me and I’m like, If we’re pregnant, I really want a nutritionist. So that’s why McKenzie’s here.

[00:02:00.780] – McKenzie Caldwell

I’m happy to be here. Thank you for being picky. It’s so important that we be picky with where our nutrition information comes from. So I’m glad I made the cut. Yeah.

[00:02:09.520] – Hilary Erickson

Well, I used to work in a diabetic clinic every once in a while. I love the dietitian there. She was so great with the patients. And I think it’s so in gestational diabetes, their dietitians, everything.

[00:02:19.900] – McKenzie Caldwell

Absolutely. And you’d be surprised how many doctors don’t refer to a gestational diabetes dietitian and then just leave their patients hanging. So we’re here. We exist. Please utilize our services.

[00:02:29.430] – Hilary Erickson

Right. Use physical therapists, use dietitians. OB’s are not God, even though they think they are. Okay. So McKenzie came with five tips for prenatal nutrition. So take it away. What’s your first tip?

[00:02:44.490] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah. So my first tip, we were talking, hinting at this, talking about diet coaches. My first tip is delete your calorie counting app. That can feel super scary. But what’s really important is that instead of feeling stuck on a restrictive diet in pregnancy, that you’re actually listening to your body.

[00:03:01.840] – McKenzie Caldwell

Your body is really wise and that wisdom really does come through in pregnancy. But listening to your hunger, paying attention to your fullness and using, pairing that with a little bit of evidence based nutrition info on the side really can be plenty to help you gain exactly the amount of weight that your body needs to gain in pregnancy.

[00:03:20.810] – McKenzie Caldwell

We do not need to be worrying too much about calories. It’s not good for your mental health. Postpartum eating disorders are really common. So when we can set you up for not being in that diet mindset during pregnancy, it’s going to help protect your mental wellbeing after pregnancy as well.

[00:03:36.540] – Hilary Erickson

What do you think about the people, though, that just eat macaroni and cheese for every meal? Because sometimes I see stars, especially on their first pregnancy, and they’re just like, I’m just eating whatever I want. And I was like, That’s amazing. But it’s going to be interesting to see how they act after they have their baby. Any thoughts on how you listen to the real voice, not the macaroni and cheese every meal voice?

[00:03:57.260] – McKenzie Caldwell

Right. So what’s funny is that’s what I call the diet rebel voice. So that’s a super protective voice that comes up when maybe you have been dieting for a really long time and it’s very rebellious. It says, I don’t want to do that anymore. Now that I’m pregnant, I have this chance to eat whatever I want. I’m so glad you feel free. But that diet rebel voice isn’t a true self care voice, even though it is protective against dieting and dieting is not going to be helpful for your mental or physical wellbeing at all.

[00:04:24.410] – McKenzie Caldwell

But taking a big deep breath, reminding yourself like, yes, I can eat whatever I want. Technically, I’m an adult, I can eat whatever I want at any point, I can feed myself. And if I value my physical wellbeing, maybe I should have some green beans with my Mac and cheese. Maybe some other protein or something like that to fully nourish your body. But when you’re paying attention to your hunger and fullness, again, you can pair that with some nutrition science to fully take care of your body. And nutrition can be really, really effective in pregnancy. But ultimately, I believe in bodily autonomy.

[00:04:54.920] – McKenzie Caldwell

So if you want to eat Mac and cheese during pregnancy, you’re allowed to do that.

[00:04:58.980] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, you are 100%. No one’s going to stop you. No one. Unless maybe their agent. I don’t know. Luckily, I don’t have an agent so I can do whatever I want. I love that, though, because it is true that a lot of people live on a diet up until they get pregnant. They go through morning sickness and then they’re like, Well, I need to get all the calories in I want. And then second trimester comes and they’re just like, All the calories.

[00:05:24.780] – McKenzie Caldwell

Absolutely. So if we can get out of the diet before pregnancy, I think that’s awesome. But I meet people where they’re at. So you can get out of that mindset at any point.

[00:05:33.100] – Hilary Erickson

And before we’re a mom, because little guys follow you everywhere. They see everything you do.

[00:05:38.500] – McKenzie Caldwell

That’s why I love working with this population. It’s just like a lot of motivation to work, to take care of yourself, set yourself up for success and work on building a household that is body positive and has a healthy relationship with food, but also takes care of their bodies with nutrition. At the same time.

[00:05:54.620] – Hilary Erickson

That’s awesome. Okay, tip number two.

[00:05:56.460] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah, tip number two is to hydrate. So in pregnancy, your fluid volume doubles. Your blood volume is higher. You’ve got amniotic fluid. Your body is starting to produce breast milk. So hydration, hydration, hydration. I recommend 80 to 100 ounces of non alcoholic, noncaffinated fluid per day. If most of that is water, that is ideal.

[00:06:14.900] – McKenzie Caldwell

But technically even a soda does count towards your hydration, especially if you feel like a 7 up or ginger ale is going to settle your stomach when you’re nauseous, it’s totally okay. We just want most of that to be water. And you might need more electrolytes in pregnancy, too, because there’s so much fluid volume, you’re probably going to need a little bit more of those electrolytes like sodium and potassium and magnesium.

[00:06:36.160] – McKenzie Caldwell

So if you’re drinking that much water and you still feel super, super thirsty, maybe grab a Gatorade G2 or a liquid IV or something. Or if you’re really athletic or work out in the yard a lot and are super, super sweaty in the summer, you’ll probably need a little bit of extra electrolytes too. I see a huge difference in my clients who are well hydrated for sure.

[00:06:53.910] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Everyone jokes that the labor nurses, everyone’s like, Well, what could I do? We always are like, Well, you could drink more water. That’s how we answered it. Everything. You’re in preterm labor, drink more water. You got a headache, drink more water. You don’t like your doctor, drink more water. Because then you won’t see him as much because you’ll be in the restroom. It’s fine.

[00:07:12.890] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah, exactly. It’s our first line. Okay, we got to check that. Everybody is like, nurses, dietitians, PTs, whoever. We got to check that our patients are hydrated. If they are great, but we are going to ask you. So just if you don’t want to hear the question, if you want us to bug you about water, just drink your water, people.

[00:07:32.570] – Hilary Erickson

And check the color of your pee if you have white toilets, because sometimes people have black toilets. I’m like, Well, I don’t know how hydrated you are, but if you have a white toilet, look before you flush, it should just be a super light yellow. I think a lot of people are obsessed with how many ounces it is. But again, if you’re working in the yard, you’re going to need more, all that stuff. So just check the color of your pee. If it’s looking yellowy ambery, if it looks like beer, it’s over. You need a gallon.

[00:08:01.990] – McKenzie Caldwell

Exactly. And I’m the same way. I recommend 64 ounces outside of pregnancy and lactation, 80 to 100 in pregnancy. But I don’t count. I just have these Mason jars. And so if you’re like me and you just drink water and you don’t pay attention and there’s no way you’re going to count it, just look at the color of your pee.

[00:08:18.400] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Which is especially when you live in Arizona in the summer because whenever we get somebody’s pee, we’re always like, girl, look at this. Look at this color. Okay? That’s like a jewel you wear around your neck, the color of your pee.

[00:08:32.740] – McKenzie Caldwell

It’s November, because this looks like..

[00:08:35.930] – Hilary Erickson

Exactly. All right. Oh, and I was going to say I got a flu with child number two, and I probably was still working because nurses. But I went in and they checked my urine and they gave me two liters and I cannot tell you how much better I felt when I walked out the door. I know I had said drink more water because I was a labor nurse at the time. And it’s amazing when you are actually hydrated how much better you feel, which it’s crazy town.

[00:09:01.820] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah, definitely 100 % super important.

[00:09:05.110] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, I cannot emphasize my fluids. My second tip talk video was me saying drink more water. And it was like a question flashing up and me going drink more water. My daughter filmed it and makes fun of me all of the time for it. You’re welcome.

[00:09:19.820] – Hilary Erickson

Oh, my God. I love that.

[00:09:21.850] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, tip number three.

[00:09:23.210] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah, absolutely. Please take a prenatal vitamin. I was just talking to, and even if you’re not pregnant, if you were trying to conceive, be on a prenatal vitamin, please. I was just talking to a client this morning who has a friend going through IVF that was not recommended to take a prenatal vitamin.

[00:09:35.940] – McKenzie Caldwell

And we were both very confused and just please take one. Anything is better than nothing. Unfortunately, the FDA does not regulate the supplement industry, which on my end is super frustrating. And I think it’s even more confusing and frustrating on the consumer end because you don’t know what to look for.

[00:09:52.330] – McKenzie Caldwell

So what we do need to look for is third party testing. Sometimes a website will just say that they third party test. Sometimes they’ll have a symbol saying that they’re certified by USP or NSF or consumer labs or something. So that’s a really great sign. And those aren’t the only third party labs that do testing for quality and purity and efficacy and safety and all of that stuff. There are other places, but those are great ones to look for. Those symbols are awesome. And if you can swing a little bit of an investment, it is helpful to get a higher quality prenatal vitamin.

[00:10:27.050] – McKenzie Caldwell

For example, Nature Made P renatal USP certified in every drug store, affordable. It’s great. It’s basic, covering all of our super basic nutrients. It’s missing a couple of the vitamins like choline that I think is really important. And then there’s a little bit of debate about… We emailed about this about folic acid versus methylfolate. I’m a fan of methylfolate, but I’m not going to argue with it.

[00:10:47.600] – McKenzie Caldwell

I think it’s way more controversial than it needs to be. And folic acid is not going to kill you, even if Methylfolate might be slightly better utilized by some people. But anyways, that’s there. If you’re taking that, great. If you want to look for a prenatal vitamin that has a little bit more to it, maybe looking for some Choline and some Selenium and things like that, and maybe adding on a DHA supplement if you’re not taking… Excuse me, if you don’t consume seafood, that’s really helpful.

[00:11:16.820] – McKenzie Caldwell

But those can make a really big difference. It’s super important that you’re taking something and then getting your bases covered as far as iron and vitamin D goes is really important for your wellbeing. Usually, baby is going to be fine because biology is nuts.

[00:11:30.970] – McKenzie Caldwell

That way, it will suck all the nutrition out of your body. So I always tell my clients, yes, of course, I care about your growing baby, but you are my client, you are my patient, and I care about your wellbeing. So let’s make sure your iron levels are high enough so that you don’t feel like you’re going to pass out and feel super depressed.

[00:11:45.940] – McKenzie Caldwell

Make sure your vitamin D levels are high so you’re not fatigued and cranky and depressed all the time and things like that. So prenatal vitamin, super important that you’re taking it. Most important that it’s third party tested. If you can invest in a little bit more, amazing, great, awesome, but it’s totally okay if what you can afford is the drugstore version and you feel confident that it is safe to take.

[00:12:09.970] – Hilary Erickson

Especially if you’re on vacation and you forget it, just run to the drugstore and grab whatever. But you had a brand that you recommended that didn’t look too expensive. What brand is it?

[00:12:18.030] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah. So Klair Labs with a K is the one that I recommend to a lot of my clients. It’s just one of many. Everybody has different needs. But I like that one because it’s vegan for my vegan or clients who have a dairy allergy or an egg allergy or need to eat kosher or something like that. And it has a pretty wide variety of different nutrients that are covering your bases.

[00:12:39.530] – McKenzie Caldwell

But it’s not like oversupplementing people. There are some really awesome super high quality vitamins out there, but they’re like eight pills a day. And I just don’t think that’s necessary. And I think if we’re working on your actual nutrition with food, we don’t need that much supplementation. And like you said, the price point is pretty okay. It’s pretty comparable. It’s middle of the road. It uses the methylated folate. It uses a form of iron that doesn’t upset people’s stomachs called iron bisclicinate, which I really, really like because some people get super bad stomach update or constipation but still really need that iron. An iron free formula might just not be right for them. So I like that one. There’s, of course, many options in the market.

[00:13:19.240] – McKenzie Caldwell

And of course, everybody’s always changing their formulations, too. So I try my best to stay on top of it. But for my clients, usually that’s my go to recommendation. And if that doesn’t work for them, then I have a whole list of other ones that are my go to as well.

[00:13:32.850] – Hilary Erickson

There are some really high priced prenatal vitamins out there. So talk with your provider if you have questions about it. But a lot of times those are a lot of marketing. There’s a lot of marketing involved in those. They email me, ask me to promote them, and I don’t because I’m like, eat your spinach.

[00:13:48.970] – Hilary Erickson

But it is frustrating that folic acid isn’t regulated. We tell everyone to take it. We should know that there’s how many milligrams in this. So that’s frustrating. Thank you, United States government. Strong work.

[00:14:01.930] – McKenzie Caldwell

I know. It’s like you want to regulate lots of other things that are very important to regulate, but not this. I was thinking something about how the CDC tried to crack down on distilleries that were handing out hand sanitizer during the pandemic.

[00:14:16.910] – McKenzie Caldwell

And then everyone was like, what the hell? For good reason because it’s just freaking hand sanitizer. But why hand sanitizer and not, I don’t know, green coffee that Dr. Ross is selling? I don’t get it.

[00:14:29.430] – Hilary Erickson

Never know. We will never know. And a quick plug that anyone who could conceive a baby should be on a prenatal vitamin. So even if you’re not trying to have a baby, if you are doing things that could create a baby and aren’t like without your tubes tied, without an IUD, all those things, take a prenatal vitamin.

[00:14:46.570] – McKenzie Caldwell

Or you can also take a B complex that has folic acid or methylofolate or whatever folate in it, or a women’s multivitamin or something like that. If you’re on birth control and you’re confident in your birth control, okay, that’s fine. We get it.

[00:15:00.100] – McKenzie Caldwell

But the rates of unplanned pregnancies in the US are 50%, and so it’s really helpful. We fortify our food supply with folic acid, which is really great, but it’s helpful if you can think about it, that’s just a great extra self care thing. It’ll be good to get a little bit of that extra folic to just protect yourself.

[00:15:21.310] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. In case you guys are like folic acid, you’ve heard it a million times, but you have no idea why. It means that the tube that connects your spinal column will close all the way. So some babies are born with that open to air, which is called a Neural tube defect. And they have shown probably 80s, 70s. Do we know what year it was? I don’t remember.

[00:15:41.630] – McKenzie Caldwell

We started fortifying our food supply in 1998. It’s actually pretty new. And I think ’92 is when the big recommendation, early 90s. It’s actually not that old, but they started researching it probably in the late ’70s, early 80s thing.

[00:15:58.150] – Hilary Erickson

And just showed that a simple thing could help close that spinal cord.

[00:16:03.310] – McKenzie Caldwell

It’s effective by taking folic acid or folate reduces the rate of Neural tube defect by 70%. It’s extremely effective.

[00:16:11.400] – Hilary Erickson

Note, you can still have a Neural tube defect while taking folic acid. So it doesn’t prevent all of them, but it prevents a good number of them.

[00:16:18.100] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah, exactly.

[00:16:19.450] – Hilary Erickson

All right, next tip.

[00:16:21.060] – McKenzie Caldwell

Okay, so tip number 4. If you are nauseous, I know that you’re freaking out. You’re feeling like you can’t eat anything healthy and you really care about your pregnancy. It’s okay. Deep breath, focus on what you can eat versus worrying about what you cannot eat. It is more important to get food in your body, period.

[00:16:37.050] – McKenzie Caldwell

Just get enough calories than it is to hyper focus on what you’re eating and just take a deep breath, even if you need to write down a list, like, what can I eat? What can I tolerate? And go through that. Getting something on your stomach first thing in the morning can be really helpful. Some people will keep like peanut butter crackers or some salty nuts or something on their bedside table and just eat a handful before they get out of bed in the morning. That can be really great.

[00:17:03.070] – McKenzie Caldwell

But eating your three meals, a couple of snacks at regular intervals throughout the day can be really helpful to keep that nausea at bay. Sometimes in pregnancy and sometimes even when people are just anxious or different times of their life, hunger actually shows up as nausea, which feels super counterintuitive.

[00:17:19.610] – McKenzie Caldwell

But getting something on your stomach can really help settle it a little bit. So eating consistently throughout the day. Usually what I see people missing out on when they’re really nauseous is fiber and protein. So don’t be afraid to just use fruit as your fiber. That’s totally okay. In fact, that might even be really helpful.

[00:17:36.850] – McKenzie Caldwell

Bananas are a good source of vitamin B6, which can sometimes help with nausea. And those tart flavors can often settle people’s stomachs as well. And then you’re going to get some fiber and some micronutrients and antioxidants in with that fruit as well.

[00:17:51.180] – McKenzie Caldwell

And then you can try some non meat proteins. A lot of people have meat aversions when they’re nauseous. And so proteins like cheese and peanut butter can also help a ton if you’re really struggling. So breathe. Ginger tea is also really great if you’re nauseous. But again, just try and ground down, focus on what you can eat and don’t worry too much about what you can’t.

[00:18:13.290] – Hilary Erickson

And talk to your doctor. And if they’re saying some nonsense like, well, we’ve done all that we can, unless you have an IV in your arm at the time that they’re saying that, they haven’t done all that they can. And you should say, I’m interested in other things to increase my quality of life right now. Thank you. Because some doctors are real hesitant.

[00:18:30.730] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yes, Unisom exists. I have had some clients on Zofran, and I know that some doctors are hesitant to prescribe Zofran in pregnancy, but I know that it’s a thing and it’s totally okay to ask for those medications. Absolutely. Also, I saw Do you follow paging Dr. Fran?

[00:18:47.710] – Hilary Erickson

She’s been on the podcast. We love Paging Dr Fran. Oh, my God.

[00:18:50.490] – McKenzie Caldwell

She’s awesome. But she posted a TikTok about Zofran in pregnancy, and she also recommends Neurax alongside it because it does cause constipation. So just remember that, too, if you’re listening to this and you’re like, Okay, now I’m not nauseous, but now I’m constipated. Get the Miralax.

[00:19:05.040] – Hilary Erickson

There’s no winning, guys. There’s no winning to it.

[00:19:08.510] – McKenzie Caldwell

No, we apologize.

[00:19:11.430] – Hilary Erickson

All right, last tip.

[00:19:13.440] – McKenzie Caldwell

Last tip. So I mentioned DHA a little bit earlier, but DHA is such an awesome nutrient. So it is a omega 3 fat that is super helpful in fetal brain development. And it actually is shown to help with adult mental health as well. So our brains have a lot of fat in them. And so when we can add in more of those anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats like DHA, it’s super helpful.

[00:19:39.070] – McKenzie Caldwell

So the main source of DHA in our eating patterns is seafood. So if you can eat seafood two to three times a week. And in pregnancy, we won’t want to be focusing on that low mercury seafood. That’s really amazing. And it’s a great way to get enough DHA into your system.

[00:19:52.960] – McKenzie Caldwell

But if you’re like, heck, no, I hate seafood, or it’s given me the ick right now, I can’t get it down, or it’s too expensive, I get it. Absolutely get it. You can take a fish oil supplement. Some prenatals will have that wrapped in there. But if you want to look for 250 to 300 milligrams of DHA, great. If you’re vegan, you will need a DHA supplement. They make vegan ones and it’s coming from algae.

[00:20:19.270] – McKenzie Caldwell

There’s a bioengineered algae that they figured out how to make it produce DHA, which is super cool as well.

[00:20:25.710] – Hilary Erickson

Wow.

[00:20:26.220] – McKenzie Caldwell

So that’s a really amazing nutrient that’s super cool. And if you can get in some more seafood, great. If not, DHA supplements exist.

[00:20:33.670] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And we actually have evidence based mommy coming on, I think it’s going up next season, but she recommends that the cheaper the fish, like canned tuna, you’re less likely to have mercury in it because she does all the…

[00:20:45.290] – Hilary Erickson

She said the like, if you got a big tuna stake, you’re more likely to have mercury in it because it’s a larger fish versus they get the tiny tuna to can it. And so you’re less likely to have mercury in it. I have no idea. Yeah. So if you are craving a tuna salad, get in there.

[00:20:58.050] – McKenzie Caldwell

I am going to use that for my clients. Absolutely. Yeah. One, so the light albacore tuna that’s in a can tends to be like a medium mercury fish. So one can a week is generally fine. And then there’s some companies like safe catch that actually test all of their tuna to see the mercury levels if you feel freaked out by it. But that’s great. I had no idea that they would… That makes sense, though, that they would use the smaller tuna for the cans. And it’s a great hack. I love that.

[00:21:23.840] – Hilary Erickson

She just said the smaller the fish, the better. So I was like, I don’t want to think that it was alive as a fish at any point, but I do like tuna salad. I don’t find a lot of pregnant women, though, in case you’re out there being like, No, smell. No, that’s not unusual. People are not like downing fish like crazy, which maybe we’re made to not love fish because of the Mercury issue. I don’t know.

[00:21:48.810] – McKenzie Caldwell

Yeah. There’s only a couple of fish that are super high in Mercury. It’s like tile fish, which I’ve only seen once on the menu in Charleston. And I was like, I don’t want a bottom eater from the Charleston Bay.

[00:21:58.440] – McKenzie Caldwell

Anyways, even if I’m not pregnant. Shark and swordfish, orange roughy, aji tuna, and big eye tuna are our big ones. And most people aren’t eating those anyways. It’s all of the other seafood. So you get seafood great, but if you can’t, it’s okay.

[00:22:16.700] – Hilary Erickson

And there are supplements there everywhere. You can find DHA pretty easily. Yes.

[00:22:21.660] – McKenzie Caldwell

Costco has a really great Kirkland fish oil deal. I just posted on my TikTok, all the Kirkland supplements that I thought were good, but they do a really good job with checking quality for Kirkland supplements. And their fish oil was a great price.

[00:22:35.470] – Hilary Erickson

That’s what is purchased at the Erickson household because I still take DHA. I probably don’t take it every day, probably three or four times a week. Sure, that’s fine. All right, so many good tips. Where can people find you to get more information?

[00:22:48.570] – Hilary Erickson

Because, guys, I think it’s so interesting that we get patients who come in that I’m like… They’re like, I haven’t felt the baby move. And I’m like, oh, man, bummer, because, of course, decreased fetal movement. All the labor nurses are like hearts in our stomach. Baby’s on the monitor. And then I’m like, when did you last eat? And they’re like, oh, like last night at eight. And it’s like noon. And I’m like, Come on, guys. You got to feed yourself.

[00:23:09.650] – Hilary Erickson

And I just think it’s something. That people ignore because you’re young and vibrant and you haven’t really ever thought about your diet up until now. So I think it’s really important to follow a dietitian, possibly get some help thinking about nutrients, especially once you start to breastfeed because you have a parasite in you. That’s just the bad news. They will take all the things.

[00:23:27.510] – McKenzie Caldwell

That they want. It’s a little alien. It’s a little alien. We love our little aliens. Most of the time. Most of the time. But they are taking a lot. So that means you just need a little bit more and that’s okay. Yeah.

[00:23:39.560] – Hilary Erickson

So where can people find you to increase their nutrition education? Yeah.

[00:23:43.500] – McKenzie Caldwell

So I am on Instagram as @ fertility.prenatal.dietitian. And on TikTok, fertility prenatal dietitian was too long. So I have to go by name of my name on TikTok. So it’s @mckenziecaldwellrdn. And then my website is feedingyourzest.com. And I have a group program in addition to offering one on one coaching as well.

[00:24:04.280] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, because this is a good time to really get your diet in order before the little people come and you’re trying to feed them, too. It’s such a good time.

[00:24:10.700] – McKenzie Caldwell

If you can give yourself three months to work on your nutrition. That’s a really amazing amount of time to give yourself time for behavior change. And it takes an egg three months to fully develop before you ovulate, too. So it’s a great time to use nutrition to impact fertility and pregnancy outcomes as well.

[00:24:26.300] – Hilary Erickson

Awesome. All right, thanks for coming on, McKenzie.

[00:24:27.980] – McKenzie Caldwell

Thanks for having me. Have a great day.

[00:24:30.020] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed that episode. Just like with the rest of life, I feel like we ignore a lot of our food requirements, and I loved having McKenzie on. I want you guys to know that she does do one on one coaching. She also has a signature class that you can take to learn more about fertility nutrition as well as pregnancy, breastfeeding, nutrition, and stuff like that, because now is the time to fix it because it is only going to get worse the older you get your eating habits and things like that. I loved having her on. Thank you for coming, McKenzie.

[00:24:58.390] – Hilary Erickson

Stay tuned because next week we are talking about the hardest parts of parenting for me, like right now. And then I’m having my friend come on who is a neonatal nurse practitioner to talk to us about what happens in the hospital if something were to go wrong with the baby. So stay tuned.

[00:25:12.800] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode. The Pulling Curls Podcast grows when you share us on social media or leave a review. If you do, please tag us so that we can share and send you a virtual hug, which, frankly, is my favorite kind of hugging. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.