Candy Marx, a registered plant-based nutritionist and registered master herbalist, wrote Plantfed mama’s Guide to a Vegan Pregancy during her second pregnancy. Candy did a great job writing this resource book and it even contains 75+ delicious recipes. I’ve read the book twice already and in this article I share my thoughts about Plantfed Mama’s Holisitic Guide to a Vegan Pregnancy.
Review in short: This book is my go-to vegan pregnancy book. It combines the basics of a healthy vegan diet with natural resources of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. In addition it combines information about herbal remedies for lots of ailments and has a holistic and spiritual view about pregnancy and life itself. If this is your thing, this book definitively belongs on your bookshelf.
Overall Impression
The book has a happy and colourful cover that reveals a lot about the rest of the book. The happy colours in the book make it really cheerful to read about a vegan pregnancy. It is clearly written and understandable for non-English speaking people as well, except for the Australian measurements in the recipes. As you can read in the table below, there are a variety of chapters in this book. It varies between which vitamins are essential to the importance of your breathing. This broad variety of information makes the book a really good go-to vegan pregnancy book.
Chapters
The book is divided in 22 informative chapters and an additional 7 chapters full of recipes (75+ recipes). If you wonder which chapters can be found in Marx’s book, check the table below. In the table below you see the chapter titles and a short description of the chapter.
| Chapter | Chapter Title | Description | Notes |
| 1. | What I Eat and My Kitchen Staples | Description and clear explanation of Candy’s food choices and her food staple list. | Read this example chapter here. |
| 2. | Macronutrients: The Importance of Wholefoods | Explains the role of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in our diet. | |
| 3. | Micronutrients: Vitamins | Explains all the vitamins that are important for our bodies. | Be sure to check the vitamin inhibitors. |
| 4. | Micronutrients: Minerals | Same as above but talks about the essential minerals. | Be sure to check the information about iron. |
| 5. | Health Starts in the Gut for Mama and Baby | About the importance of our gut health, she also talks about what compromises our gut. | Must read. |
| 6. | Eating the Rainbow: Phytonutrients | Nutrients that are essential to life. | |
| 7. | Sun Energy, Lifeforce, and Nutrient Absorption | About vitamin D and the meaning of lifeforce. | I found this chapter surprisingly interesting, as I never thought of Sun energy in such a way. |
| 8. | Food Preparation: Soaking, Sprouting, and Reducing Phytic Acid | Talks about different food preparation techniques. | Do not skip this chapter. I learned new things. |
| 9. | The Yin and Yang of Food and Intuitive Eating | Cold foods are yin and warm foods are yang, she also explains what intuitive eating means. | This holistic standpoint towards our foods is really interesting. |
| 10. | The Link Between Certain Foods and Painful Breastfeeding | About the link between yeast, candida, etc. and painful breastfeeding. | Good tips on what foods to limit and avoid. |
| 11. | Inflammation and Compression | Tips for compression pain and inflammation. | Good tips on what foods to limit to avoid inflammation. |
| 12. | The Importance of Breathing | About the importance of good breathing for you and your baby. | Includes a good breathing method. |
| 13. | Preparing Your Home: Eliminating Toxins | There are many toxins people are unaware of, about what toxins should be limited. | From tap water to dioxins, must read. |
| 14. | Why Plant-Based Mama’s are Less Prone to Morning Sickness | Maybe vegans consume less pathogens and toxins found in animal products. | I really thought I wouldn’t have to deal with nausea as a healthy vegan, unfortunately this did not apply to me. |
| 15. | Should You Use Medicinal Plants and Herbs During Pregnancy? | About what herbs should be avoided during pregnancy. | Includes a helpful list what herbs to avoid. |
| 16. | Keeping Your Teeth and Bones Strong | How to keep your teeth and bones healthy. | Surprisingly interesting + info about fluoride. |
| 17. | Staying Active to Alleviate Aches and Increase Wellbeing | A friendly invitation to listen to your body. | Also talks about weight gain in pregnancy. |
| 18. | Your Spiritual Connection to Your Unborn Child | She talks about her outlook on the spiritual connection between your child’s and your soul. | Nicely written, interesting read. |
| 19. | Using Nature to Cleanse | About earthing, the sun and the ocean. | Spend time in nature! |
| 20. | Using Your Intuition | Information about birth, natural birth and mama’s intuition. | She encourages you to listen to your intuition. |
| 21. | Herbal Remedies for Pregnancy, Labour, Post-Care, and Baby | Candy’s expertise: herbalism. Lots and lots of info about herbal remedies. | Information-laden chapter. Also includes info about GBS. |
| 22. | Nourishing Baby After Birth and Raising a Healthy Compassionate Child | Information about baby’s food per set of months. | Good info to start the journey with your vegan baby. |
| Recipes | |||
| 23. | Intro + Brekkie Meals | Also includes an informational intro to the recipe chapters. | |
| 24. | Powerhouse Smoothies | Try the smoothie bowls! | |
| 25. | Flatbreads + Dips + Sauces + Spreads | Everything is gluten-free. | |
| 26. | Light Meals | Sides. | |
| 27. | Plant-milks + Creams | Straight forward. | |
| 28. | Meals | Different warm, cold and raw meals. | |
| 29. | Something Sweet | Try the delicious nicecream! |
Impression After Reading the Book
I really enjoyed reading the holistic and spiritual subjects Candy’s written about. Firstly because it is not that common to include a spiritual and holistic point of view combined with food in pregnancy books. Secondly because it is really nice to read about her holistic and spiritual point of view towards food, it reminded me that you are not someone strange to think about food and life in that way. The book encourages me to trust my intuition and that’s a good thing because it gives me strength. Strength is good in pregnancy.
What Did I Miss?
There is not that much that I really missed in this book, I could only think of some minor improvements.
- Convert all Australian/American measurements of recipes to European measurements as well. This would really improve the readability of the recipes for European readers.
- Although there are some warm recipes, there could be more recipes included for colder climates with typical colder climate vegetables. Handy if your pregnancy is largely during snowy wintertime somewhere in the northern hemisphere (like me). But this book still has a lot of recipes to offer.
- Add more information about Chlorella use during pregnancy. Candy is very positive about chlorella use during pregnancy, but more information about its use could be added in future editions.
Should I Buy This Book?
Candy Marx has done a great job with writing this information-laden vegan pregnancy book. If you are an experienced vegan there is probably a lot of good and new information for you. If you are a new or not so experienced vegan, I recommend reading a second vegan pregnancy book on the side as well. I surely recommend this book, as it is a one of a kind. If in doubt read the table above with chapter descriptions and decide if this is your kind of information.
“We are raising the next generation of leaders and changemakers. It’s essential that our children are compassionate, healthy and well-loved.”
Candy Marx