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Get Ready to Get Pregnant: Your Complete Prepregnancy Guide to Making a Smart and Healthy Baby – A Doctor's Authoritative Plan for Safer Pregnancies and Preventing Complications
Doctors and researchers are increasingly learning that by the time a woman gets pregnant, she may have already missed a critical window of opportunity to give her baby the best start in life. In this friendly and authoritative guide, Dr. Michael C. Lu, an expert in the field, offers a step-by-step prepregnancy plan that will help you have a safer pregnancy and a smarter and healthier child.
Dr. Lu's plan explains how you can help prevent pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, and minimize the likelihood of many childhood conditions, from asthma to autism. His expert advice includes:
Ten brain foods you should eat more
Ten toxic foods to avoid
Ten steps to strengthen your stress resilience
Ten steps to tune up your immune system
Ten steps to detoxify your environment
And much more!
Dr. Lu's plan explains how you can help prevent pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, and minimize the likelihood of many childhood conditions, from asthma to autism. His expert advice includes:
Ten brain foods you should eat more
Ten toxic foods to avoid
Ten steps to strengthen your stress resilience
Ten steps to tune up your immune system
Ten steps to detoxify your environment
And much more!
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 21, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 30, 2015
Think you're ready to get pregnant? You're not. Want some random stuff to be afraid of? You'll find it here.
If you make it through this book without being scared sh*tless, you will learn something. Anxious, curious people like me will feel better in a sad way after reading this. In each chapter, the author lays out the reason for making a certain change in your life, then suggests the actual steps.
I appreciate his openness to vegan/vegetarian living and other lifestyle differences.
I did not appreciate his assertion to men that what women want is "sperm and support." And don't forget handbags! Am I right ladies?!
If you can read this as a source of additional information to do with what you will, I say go for it. If you'll feel like you absolutely have to implement every suggestion, don't bother, because that would be impossible. Guess what - you will screw your kid up eventually anyway. Do your best in pregnancy, as you will with a post-birth human child. Learn stuff but don't expect to be perfect. And besides, in 40 years they'll know the "good" stuff we did during pregnancy was actually highly toxic. Kale? Not kale!!
If you make it through this book without being scared sh*tless, you will learn something. Anxious, curious people like me will feel better in a sad way after reading this. In each chapter, the author lays out the reason for making a certain change in your life, then suggests the actual steps.
I appreciate his openness to vegan/vegetarian living and other lifestyle differences.
I did not appreciate his assertion to men that what women want is "sperm and support." And don't forget handbags! Am I right ladies?!
If you can read this as a source of additional information to do with what you will, I say go for it. If you'll feel like you absolutely have to implement every suggestion, don't bother, because that would be impossible. Guess what - you will screw your kid up eventually anyway. Do your best in pregnancy, as you will with a post-birth human child. Learn stuff but don't expect to be perfect. And besides, in 40 years they'll know the "good" stuff we did during pregnancy was actually highly toxic. Kale? Not kale!!
November 16, 2012
Danna wanted me to read this book since a lot of the info are things she wished she'd known up to a year prior to getting pregnant (no, I'm not pregnant).
I thought it was very informative, detailed, and thorough. I would have rated it less because non-fiction books are ones that warrant an, "it was amazing!" but to be fair- it is a great resource.
The things I took away from this: you never know how healthy your baby COULD have been had you avoided certain foods or toxins. Or how high his or her IQ could have been. This is written by a doctor whose practice is dedicated to prenatal counseling and care. I learned to avoid pumping gas, avoid certain foods and cleaning products, take higher doses of certain foods and vitamins (e.g., fish oil daily, colorful veggies daily). He even goes into stress avoidance, and preparation of the household. He has a section for soon-to-be dads about how to keep healthy sperm and a high sperm count. He talks about how to prepare emotionally.
My complaint is that he is extreme! He has a quiz about readiness to get pregnant that is ridiculous. Do you live near a farm? Gas station? Freeway? Minus one! As health-conscious as I am, I did not get a good grade. I felt that this book could be a source of stress and anxiety for perfectionists. But he is right in some ways- why soften it and be apologetic. If certain things are bad for babies, as hard to avoid as they may be, he put them in his book and on his quiz. I do also wish he had provided name brands for certain recommended products.
I thought it was very informative, detailed, and thorough. I would have rated it less because non-fiction books are ones that warrant an, "it was amazing!" but to be fair- it is a great resource.
The things I took away from this: you never know how healthy your baby COULD have been had you avoided certain foods or toxins. Or how high his or her IQ could have been. This is written by a doctor whose practice is dedicated to prenatal counseling and care. I learned to avoid pumping gas, avoid certain foods and cleaning products, take higher doses of certain foods and vitamins (e.g., fish oil daily, colorful veggies daily). He even goes into stress avoidance, and preparation of the household. He has a section for soon-to-be dads about how to keep healthy sperm and a high sperm count. He talks about how to prepare emotionally.
My complaint is that he is extreme! He has a quiz about readiness to get pregnant that is ridiculous. Do you live near a farm? Gas station? Freeway? Minus one! As health-conscious as I am, I did not get a good grade. I felt that this book could be a source of stress and anxiety for perfectionists. But he is right in some ways- why soften it and be apologetic. If certain things are bad for babies, as hard to avoid as they may be, he put them in his book and on his quiz. I do also wish he had provided name brands for certain recommended products.
October 7, 2009
In comparison to What to Expect Before You're Expecting this one is VERY biased. Too much of the authors personal opinions on "how" baby should be prepared for and not enough of "these are your options, go ahead and choose what's best for you". Still had some good information, but I just feel like it wasn't as well rounded.
May 25, 2010
It's more of a "this is a good environment if your thinking about getting pregnant" I appreciated it for the perspective and the 100 questions to see if you're ready. I thought it over emphasized the "organic" side of things.
September 3, 2019
Not a practical pregnancy book. More of a sales pitch for why you should go live in a cabin in the woods.
January 6, 2021
What I love about this book is what makes people hate it so much: all the pre-conception information is there! In your environment, your diet, etc. Then, it's your job to understand these dangers and make the changes in your life that you find reasonable and appropriate. I read a lot of pregnancy articles about the changes you should make prior to pregnancy, but I hate that they always hold certain informations because they don't want to worry us.
This book is not made to reassure you! It's written so that it would inform you.
Do read this book if you want to try to get pregnant in the next months. I wish I would have read this book 3 months earlier to the first try though. Do NOT read this book if you're already pregnant!
It's pretty easy to read. So I read it in like 3 days so I could make the changes right away. I learned A LOT! And I made a lot of changes in my diet and I now have the motivation to start working out again!
This book is not made to reassure you! It's written so that it would inform you.
Do read this book if you want to try to get pregnant in the next months. I wish I would have read this book 3 months earlier to the first try though. Do NOT read this book if you're already pregnant!
It's pretty easy to read. So I read it in like 3 days so I could make the changes right away. I learned A LOT! And I made a lot of changes in my diet and I now have the motivation to start working out again!
May 1, 2021
A good read- though Dr. Lu does a great job of saying “you shouldn’t stress- but literally everything everywhere is a threat to your baby and also the worlds gonna end so why even bother.”
But aside from his alarmist tables and paragraphs of threats, there’s a lot of helpful information herein!
But aside from his alarmist tables and paragraphs of threats, there’s a lot of helpful information herein!
June 11, 2019
Read this out of curiosity - had some interesting information about the power of food, lifestyle, and environmental factors. The pandering tone is wearisome.
September 22, 2019
This book reads like an extended doctor’s appointment with a judgmental doctor. Nope.
September 24, 2014
Lots of good information. Super annoying tone, especially in the introduction. Better once it gets into the details. Pretty repetitive. I think there's a fine line between coaching people who want to be parents to make research-based personal health, environmental, and other decisions, and making it sound like it's all in your hands -- meaning that if something goes wrong, maybe you are to blame. Generally speaking, I think Lu's advice and intentions are positive, but the "make a smart and healthy baby" talk gets really reductionist at times. I'd like more perspective on comparative risks - knowing that getting the flu during pregnancy triples your chances of the child eventually becoming schizophrenic certainly makes it important to avoid getting the flu to the extent that you can control your exposure and get a flu shot. But the scientist in me is wondering, what is the chance your child will become schizophrenic? What does it mean to triple that chance? How should I weigh that against other things that could happen, and how anxious should I be if I DO get the flu?
March 14, 2010
It's ok. There were a few tips that we weren't aware of (like the benefit of olive oil over vegetable oil, or the suspected risk of parabens), but otherwise there wasn't much that was particularly helpful. One chapter includes a long list of chemicals to avoid, but without a layperson's translation of what kinds of materials or locations could harbor such dangerous substances. Overall, most tips were pretty standard for health maintenance (no smoking, regular exercise, stress-control, etc). I'd only recommend it to people who aren't health-conscious, but looking to start.
October 1, 2011
One of the few books on the market about preparing BEFORE you are pregnant. The intent is in the right place, but this comes across as an inundation of information. One walks away feeling overwhelmed (perhaps, rightly so) by the number of chemical exposures, etc. There is so much information that it is basically impossible to comply with all the advice. The nutrition chapters were helpful and could stand alone.
March 14, 2015
This was a hard one for me to rate. There is a lot of really great information here, very well researched, well-written, and well laid out. But ultimately everything good about this book is overshadowed by the fact that as you read through it you inevitably feel inadequate, like you're doing everything wrong and will cause detrimental harm to your child because you didn't do a certain thing three months before you conceived. The good information is lost in the scare.
April 22, 2010
This author is pretty hardcore about the lifestyle changes he thinks you should make. His advice is sound, I'm sure, but also an ideal - most of us can't live in such a neurotic fashion for so long. We all want our babies to be smart and healthy, but it's also important to relax and listen to your body. Read it so you have the info, but don't obsess.
July 20, 2015
Full of 'scary' advice, not to mention recommending a total life overhaul. Rip up your carpets? Only use natural cleaners? Don't have any chemicals in your life ever.
That being said, I found the advice to focus on eating beneficial foods vs. tasty but nutritionally mediocre foods to be a good reminder. Wish I had read Expecting Better first.
That being said, I found the advice to focus on eating beneficial foods vs. tasty but nutritionally mediocre foods to be a good reminder. Wish I had read Expecting Better first.
July 7, 2012
If you are worried about the health of your pregnancy, this book doesn't help. A lot of it is repeated over and over and is common sense (don't use pesticides when pregnant, got it). A quick read because you can skip the repeated areas.
December 31, 2011
A great resource for thinking about ways to prepare your body and lifestyle for pregnancy in the year/months prior to becoming pregnant.
October 10, 2012
An extra star for the fact that there are few other books about this important topic.
April 21, 2020
*Did not finish; Gave an "average" rating to be fair to author, what I read was fine
February 9, 2013
Awesome reference on everything you can do BEFORE getting pregnant. Easy to read and sensible.
August 16, 2013
A few good tips but overall a very negative book that causes more stress and tries to persuade you to think that everything is a danger to your baby.
August 15, 2014
No I'm not pregnant, just trying to read things that might be helpful well in advance so I'm good and healthy first. The end.
November 3, 2016
Read this years ago, but remember finding it helpful
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews