When I was pregnant with my daughter, at around 36 weeks, my midwife and I started noticing that my blood pressure was creeping up, which is something I’d never dealt with before. I was already doing “all the right things” by most standards: eating decently, staying active, taking my supplements. But the numbers didn’t lie, and neither did the swelling in my ankles and the tightness I felt under my skin. I was scared, because gestational hypertension is often a precursor to preeclampsia, which can have a domino effect of additional complications. Luckily, I had a midwife who was willing to give me the freedom to try and get it under control on my own and a doula with incredible knowledge and resources. My doula gave me wise advice that I still apply to just about everything that seems “off”: my body was simply giving me a message that it needs something, and I had to figure out what it was.
I tried everything that pregnancy-safe blood pressure support lists recommend: lowering intake of table salt, walking for least 45 mins/day, drinking beet juice, eating bananas, eating cucumbers, and drinking lots of water. I even turned to herbal remedies: hawthorn and passionflower tinctures, and a pregnancy tea with nettle leaf and red raspberry leaf. But nothing really moved the needle. Sometimes my blood pressure would be normal, and sometimes it would spike again. Then my doula got an idea from her mentor: I needed to eat a salted egg every hour for 17 hours a day for at least 3 days. I could eat anything else I wanted, as long as I got a salted egg in every hour.
That sounded so crazy to me at the time, and it didn’t make sense to me based on the conventional things I had learned about blood pressure management. Wouldn’t the salt raise my blood pressure? Wouldn’t all these calories make me fat? (As I’m writing this, I’m laughing at myself for being worried about being fat while pregnant!) My doula and my parents have chickens, and they all donated to the cause. I was eating SO many scrambled and hard-boiled eggs. I felt like a weirdo. But here’s the thing, it worked. I did it for a week, and my blood pressure came down and stayed steady.
Sometimes the missing link isn’t what you take out, but what you add in.
So why on earth did this work for me? Now that I’m learning about nutrition, digestion, and the way the body utilizes micro and macronutrients, it makes so much sense. The egg diet gave my body what it was really missing: steady protein, high-quality sodium, and real fuel to regulate fluid balance, feed my adrenals, and rebuild what stress had depleted. All the other remedies supported blood pressure, but they didn’t give my body the foundation it needed to rebalance:
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Beet juice may have helped nitric oxide levels, but it didn’t address protein deficiencies.
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Herbal remedies were supporting my vascular system, but not providing the core nutrients my body needed (and some were having a diuretic effect, depleting the micronutrients I did have!).
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High water intake without balancing sodium/protein was diluting what was already missing.
When I pieced it all together, I realized what my body was missing: perfect protein. And that’s exactly what eggs are!
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Eggs contain all essential amino acids, which help regulate neurotransmitters and support adrenal recovery.
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Amino acids are used by the liver to create albumin, the most important protein for blood volume regulation.
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Albumin keeps fluid inside your blood vessels, which supports stable blood pressure and reduces edema risk.
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In pregnancy (and postpartum), protein needs go up, and eggs are a dense, bioavailable source of the exact nutrients needed to rebuild and regulate.
The timing ensured I was giving my body a stabilizing package of nutrients in a steady drip that allowed my body to realign itself over a few days. Blood pressure doesn’t just need sodium and potassium to be balanced. It needs a special protein called albumin. Here’s the simplified science.
The Sodium–Potassium–Albumin–Fluid Balance Triangle
Your body’s fluid balance depends on a dynamic relationship between sodium, potassium, and albumin. Sodium helps hold water in the bloodstream, potassium helps move water into cells, and albumin (a protein made by the liver) keeps water inside your blood vessels. When any part of this trio is out of balance, fluid can leak into tissues (causing swelling or edema) or get flushed out too quickly (causing dehydration symptoms). Adequate protein—especially amino acids that support albumin production—is essential for keeping this system stable. Without enough albumin, even perfect sodium and potassium levels can’t prevent fluid from shifting to the wrong compartments. Sodium and potassium act like traffic directors for hydration, but albumin is the sponge that keeps the water where it belongs.
Why Albumin Is Often Low in Pregnancy
Albumin levels tend to drop during pregnancy for a few key reasons. First, the liver is working overtime—processing more hormones, detoxifying for two, and supporting rapid tissue growth—so albumin production can lag behind. Second, blood volume increases significantly (by up to 50%), which naturally dilutes albumin concentration. Third, if a pregnant woman isn’t consuming enough high-quality protein, her body may prioritize protein use for fetal development over albumin synthesis. This combination can contribute to fluid retention, rising blood pressure, and even increased risk for complications like preeclampsia. That’s why supporting liver function and meeting protein needs is especially important during pregnancy.
I knew protein was important to keep blood sugar stable and give my body what it needs to actually build another human, but I had no idea that the quality of my protein mattered so much. Looking back, I’m grateful I had the space to experiment and listen. If you’re facing strange symptoms and feel like your body is trying to tell you something, it probably is. The key is giving it what it needs: the right nutrients.
Additional Resources:
Dr. Brewer’s High Blood Pressure Protocol
Albumin Explained: How This Blood Protein Holds Fluid in Your Vessels – Wikipedia
Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols (Can’t recommend this book enough!)
