Jessie Inchauspé: 90% of Pregnant People Are Missing THIS Nutrient (Follow THIS Simple Diet To Reduce Glucose Spikes & Protect Your Baby’s Brain & Metabolism)

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• Pregnancy diet is a critical window that co-creates the baby, setting their metabolism, brain cell count, and disease resilience, contrary to the myth that the mother is just a passive 'oven'.  Copied to clipboard!
• Four key nutrients—glucose (managed via sugar intake), choline, protein, and omega-3s—have an outsized, measurable effect on a child's long-term health, brain development, and IQ.  Copied to clipboard!
• High maternal glucose levels during pregnancy activate epigenetic switches in the baby that predispose them to storing fat and developing Type 2 diabetes later in life, as demonstrated by the link between gestational diabetes and increased risk in offspring.  Copied to clipboard!
• Pregnancy fatigue often drives cravings for sugar, which provides dopamine rather than true energy, leading to spikes and drops that affect both the mother and baby; sugar should ideally be consumed after a meal, never on an empty stomach.  Copied to clipboard!
• Gentle movement during pregnancy, such as a 10-minute walk after eating, is linked to improved glucose levels and potentially better brain development and anxiety regulation in offspring, as suggested by animal studies.  Copied to clipboard!
• The UK sugar ration study demonstrated that pregnant mothers consuming lower amounts of sugar (40g/day vs. 80g/day post-ration) resulted in their children having a lifelong 15% lower likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes.  Copied to clipboard!

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Debunking Pregnancy Myths

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(00:04:26)

• Key Takeaway: The ‘bun in the oven’ metaphor implies a passive role for the mother, whereas pregnancy is an active co-creation process where diet calibrates the child’s future health.
• Summary: The myth that one should ’eat for two’ or that the baby is set in stone upon conception is false. The mother’s diet during pregnancy actively co-creates the baby by calibrating their metabolism and resilience to disease. A better metaphor is the mother being the soil that determines how the seed (the baby) adapts and grows.

Four Key Nutrients for Baby

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(00:07:25)

• Key Takeaway: Glucose levels program diabetes vulnerability, choline builds brain cells, protein sets lifelong muscle mass, and omega-3s correlate with higher IQ.
• Summary: Four nutrients significantly impact long-term health: high circulating glucose programs vulnerability to Type 2 diabetes. Choline, found in eggs, is essential for forming neurons; insufficient intake leads to fewer brain cells. Adequate protein intake programs muscle mass potential, and sufficient omega-3s are linked to higher IQ scores in children by age four.

Gestational Diabetes Impact

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(00:10:52)

• Key Takeaway: Children of mothers with gestational diabetes have a four-fold increased risk of developing diabetes themselves compared to siblings gestated without the condition.
• Summary: High maternal blood glucose during pregnancy programs the baby’s DNA via epigenetics, activating diabetes-linked genes at birth. Kids of mothers with gestational diabetes have a 21% chance of developing diabetes by age 22, versus 4% for others. This programming sets an innate vulnerability for the child’s entire lifetime.

Protein Needs and Muscle Mass

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(00:13:03)

• Key Takeaway: Low protein intake during pregnancy signals the baby to epigenetically set its muscle mass low for life, as it anticipates a low-protein world.
• Summary: Animal studies show that insufficient protein, even with enough calories, causes babies to be born with epigenetic switches programmed to maintain small muscle mass. The recommended protein intake is now known to be 50% higher than previously thought, equating to about 100 grams per day for many pregnant women. The baby interprets the mother’s diet as information about the world it is about to enter.

First Trimester Survival vs. Optimization

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(00:17:02)

• Key Takeaway: Due to severe nausea, the first trimester is often about survival, but after that, focus on four key actions: four eggs daily, protein at every meal, omega-3s, and limiting sugar to 25g/day.
• Summary: Mothers should prioritize managing nausea in the first trimester by balancing blood sugar with protein, like eating almonds before getting up. After the first trimester, aim for four eggs daily for choline, ensure protein at every meal, supplement or eat fish for 2g of omega-3s daily, and keep sugar intake under the WHO recommendation of 25 grams per day.

Glucose Overload and Brain Pruning

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(00:35:15)

• Key Takeaway: Maternal glucose spikes cause the baby to store excess energy as fat and can lead to overactive microglia pruning healthy neurons in the developing brain.
• Summary: When a mother experiences a glucose spike, the baby’s bloodstream mirrors it, training the baby’s body to store glucose as fat, correlating directly with birth fat mass. High inflammation from repeated spikes can cause microglia (the brain’s ‘rangers’) to over-prune healthy neurons. This over-pruning is associated with a higher risk of psychiatric disorders, including autism, in the child.

Foods and Chemicals to Avoid

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(00:33:01)

• Key Takeaway: Avoid alcohol entirely, as the baby’s blood alcohol level mirrors the mother’s, and minimize exposure to toxic chemicals like those leaching from heated plastics.
• Summary: Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is discouraged because the baby’s blood alcohol level rises identically to the mother’s, potentially impacting brain formation. Toxic chemicals, including those from cleaning products, mold, and microplastics leaching from heated plastic containers or water bottles, should also be avoided. The mother’s diet and environment directly transfer substances to the baby’s bloodstream.

Miscarriage, Guilt, and Support

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(00:44:59)

• Key Takeaway: Miscarriage is often due to uncontrollable factors like chromosomal abnormalities, and the lack of societal language to hold space for this invisible grief exacerbates the mother’s pain.
• Summary: Nutritional deficiencies like low choline or folate are associated with increased miscarriage risk, but many losses result from uncontrollable factors like chromosomal abnormalities in the sperm or egg. The grief from miscarriage is often compounded because society lacks the language to acknowledge this invisible loss, leading to unhelpful responses like ‘it’s just nature doing its thing.’ The key support needed is simple acknowledgment: ‘I’m so sorry this must be so hard.’

Processing Grief and Stress

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(00:56:39)

• Key Takeaway: Anxiety following loss can lead to emotional self-protection, delaying the ability to love and share news, highlighting the intense stress associated with pregnancy challenges.
• Summary: The speaker shared experiencing anxiety during a second pregnancy, causing a delay in opening up emotionally until the fifth month. This stress was so significant that the couple waited six months to inform friends and family about the pregnancy. Love is acknowledged as vulnerable, but ultimately necessary despite the difficulty.

Small Choices, Big Impact

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(00:57:10)

• Key Takeaway: Intentional small choices regarding finances, health, and lifestyle create significant long-term impact, mirroring the importance of small dietary shifts during pregnancy.
• Summary: Small, intentional choices accumulate to create big impacts over time, whether related to personal goals or financial planning. State Farm’s personal price plan allows personalization for affordable insurance bundling. Environmental factors, like indoor air quality, also matter for well-being, with Clorox Pure products neutralizing allergens.

Power of Connection and Communication

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(00:59:14)

• Key Takeaway: Simple, unexpected connections and encouragement from others can profoundly shift perspective during moments of career nervousness or major life decisions.
• Summary: A friend’s unexpected check-in call provided crucial encouragement after the host made a major career decision while feeling nervous. This moment underscored the power of simple connection, echoing AT&T’s 150-year history of connecting people through technology, which has saved lives and changed futures.

Coping with Fatigue and Sugar Cravings

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(01:00:29)

• Key Takeaway: Pregnancy fatigue drives sugar cravings, but sugar provides dopamine, not sustained energy; to manage this, avoid sugar on an empty stomach to prevent severe spikes and drops.
• Summary: Caring for someone else during a health crisis is distinct from experiencing it personally, affecting the couple’s dynamic. Pregnancy fatigue naturally leads to cravings for sugar and carbs, but sugar only offers a dopamine rush, not true energy. To mitigate spikes that affect the baby, sugar should always follow a meal, never be eaten for breakfast, or on an empty stomach.

Carb Management Hacks During Pregnancy

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(01:02:14)

• Key Takeaway: Carbohydrates can be consumed by pairing them with a vegetable starter to utilize fiber for slowing glucose absorption, or by using a tablespoon of pasteurized vinegar in water before eating carbs to reduce spikes by up to 30%.
• Summary: When craving carbs, Jessie Inchauspé recommends eating them after a vegetable starter because the fiber protects the intestine and slows glucose arrival in the bloodstream. The vinegar hack, which slows carb digestion, can reduce glucose spikes by up to 30%, but only pasteurized vinegar is safe for consumption during pregnancy. These methods aim to deliver carbs more calmly, reducing inflammation and fatigue.

Exercise Benefits for Baby’s Brain

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(01:03:50)

• Key Takeaway: Maternal exercise during pregnancy, even light walking, is associated with offspring solving anxiety mazes twice as fast and exhibiting 80% fewer anxiety symptoms, demonstrating a profound impact on fetal brain development.
• Summary: Movement helps blood sugar levels, and a rat study showed that babies born to exercising mothers had significantly lower anxiety and faster maze-solving times. While the exact human study is pending, exercise during pregnancy is known to support better emotional regulation in babies. The calf raise hack is suggested as a powerful, low-effort exercise to reduce glucose spikes.

Bloating and Partner’s Diet

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(01:06:30)

• Key Takeaway: Bloating during pregnancy can be managed by slowly increasing fiber intake and reducing sugar, while the father’s diet quality is crucial for sperm quality pre-conception, though the mother’s diet is more critical post-conception.
• Summary: Bloating is partly hormonal, but increasing fiber slowly and reducing sugar generally helps alleviate it. The father’s diet three months prior to conception impacts sperm quality, but after conception, the egg (which is 10,000 times larger than sperm) carries the primary nutritional load for development via the mother’s diet.

Nine Months of Outsized Influence

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(01:08:37)

• Key Takeaway: The nine months of pregnancy serve as a critical window of outsized influence, calibrating a child’s future health, meaning dietary choices like higher choline, omega-3s, and lower sugar could alter lifelong health issues like anxiety or prediabetes.
• Summary: The host listed personal health issues (anxiety, prediabetes cusp) suggesting that maternal diet during gestation calibrates future health outcomes. Epigenetics are affected by diet during pregnancy, meaning different diets across two pregnancies result in different babies. An ideal, but unethical, study would track babies whose mothers followed optimal nutrition versus standard diets for decades.

UK Sugar Ration Impact Study

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(01:01:20)

• Key Takeaway: The UK sugar ration period (1940-1953) revealed that babies whose pregnant mothers consumed less sugar (40g/day) had a 15% lower lifetime risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to those born when sugar intake returned to higher levels (80g/day).
• Summary: During the UK sugar ration, pregnant women were limited to 40 grams of sugar daily; when the ration lifted, intake doubled to 80 grams per day. Follow-up studies showed that individuals exposed to the lower sugar environment in utero had a 15% lower likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. This demonstrates that reducing sugar intake during pregnancy has a lifelong, positive impact on a child’s disease vulnerability.

Pregnancy Edition This or That

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(01:13:55)

• Key Takeaway: When nauseous, prioritizing protein first helps stabilize energy, and reducing stress around food is preferable to following strict rules, as meeting the body where it is remains crucial.
• Summary: Protein should be prioritized over carbs when nauseous to help stabilize energy, and small, frequent snacks are often necessary when the stomach is small later in pregnancy. It is better to meet the body where it is regarding nausea than to push through for nutrients, and reducing stress around food is favored over strict rules. The second and third trimesters are key for nutrient intake as the placenta connects the bloodstreams, and nausea is usually less severe.