Blood Building Juice for Pregnancy

Would you drink a blood builder juice that contains beets? That’s a question I posed to myself while reading The Mindful Mom-to-be by Lori Bregman. This renowned Doula shares all her best pregnancy advice, including lots of recipes to grow the healthiest baby and keep your body strong and prepared for labor. Neither her or I can take credit for this recipe, but I wanted to share it for other moms to be since I cannot find the recipe anywhere online. Lori shares this Iron or Blood-Building Juice from her friend, Holistic Nutritionist Elissa Goodman.

Recipe:

2 Beets Cut in Chunks

6-8 Kale Leaves

Large Handful of Spinach

2 Oranges, peeled, seeded and split

Put all ingredients in your juicer and enjoy! But why? Read below..

Beets

Most of us have heard of this superfood, but rarely incorporate it into our diets. As listed on Elissa’s website, beets contain Vitamin C, folate, potassium, magnesium, phytonutrients, and antioxidants. Because of the folate content, beets help to grow a healthy spinal chord which in turn reduces the risks of birth defects in the body. Antioxidants are important to help support an already suppressed immune system. The betalain in beets is an anti-inflammatory agent. Naturally, beetroot purifies the blood…preventing risks of disease and infections for baby and regulating blood pressure for mama.  The high iron content helps to reduce risk of anemia, which up to 25% of women experience during pregnancy. It also aids in digestion, which many pregnant women know the struggle of constipation is real!

Kale

Elissa shares the superfood’s nutritional content: Magnesium, iron, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, and fiber. Many people may be surprised to know that kale is an excellent source of calcium. During my pregnancy with Porter, my teeth started to ache. Because of the lack of calcium in my diet, baby was leeching the nutrient from my body’s stores. You don’t have to drink that hormone-filled milk to get your calcium fix! The Vitamin C content helps with immunity, and of course the fiber helps with digestion issues like the beets! Kale has the highest level of Vitamin K of all the green leafy vegetables. This is so important for building red blood cells, as the blood volume in your body increases 50% in pregnancy. Magnesium is not only essential for bone growth, but reduces fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia while increasing birth weights (this is a good thing).

Spinach

Spinach is a great source of Folate, vitamin K, vitamin A, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B, zinc, fiber, choline, and calcium. We’ve already addressed how important folate is (the natural form of folic acid) in spinal and brain development for baby. Vitamin B helps to improve mood and reduce stress (which has been one of my biggest struggles with this pregnancy). Potassium helps to maintain a balance of electrolytes in all that new blood. It is estimated that 95% of pregnant women do not get enough choline. Commonly found in eggs, this nutrient is highly associated with cognitive development, building cell membranes, and in gene expression. Spinach also has anti-inflammatory properties.

Oranges

In this juice, the oranges make it drinkable for sure. Of course, Vitamin C is the main benefit of this fruit because it helps boost our immune system. They also contain vitamin B6 which helps in hemoglobin production. Oranges have folate for brain development and iron and potassium to protect the cardiovascular system.

Review

Despite the concoction of beets and greens, this juice is actually palatable. I barely tasted the greens at all. Overall, I would say it had a sweet beet taste which I liked. The beets give it an earthy taste, but that is something I’ve always liked about beets anyway 😊 And next time I will definitely wear gloves when I cut the beets!

Did you try this juice? Comment below and let me know what you think of Elissa Goodman’s Blood Building Juice!