A Healthy Framework for Pregnancy
Tips for a healthy foundation in pregnancy and for birth.
There are a lot of things during pregnancy that your body does on its own without direction from you. It will grow a whole new body including heart, lungs, hair and fingernails. It will prepare for birth in the last weeks of pregnancy. Your body will go into labor and birth your baby. One main way you can help these processes along is by how you take care of yourself, what you eat and how you reduce stress. Here are some tips I’ve been sharing with clients and wanted to share it with you.
Drink half your weight in ounces of water or non caffeinated fluids.
Protein: 80-100 grams of protein per day. This can come from all types of protein including plant and animal sources.
Fruits and vegetables: Go for the rainbow of options, focus on greens (lettuces, kale, spinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts), purples (blueberries, purple cabbage, beets, eggplant), yellows (winter squashes, bell pepper, pumpkin, ) as those are often the ones that are lacking.
Supplements:
These aren't exhaustive lists of all whole foods vitamins. If you would prefer to take a different brand let’s talk!
Whole food prenatal: Garden of Life, Megafoods, Pink Stork (liquid), Smarty Pants (gummy) and Throne.
Calcium/Magnesium: Aim for a daily total of 1200/600, your body can only absorb roughly 500/250 mg at a time so you'll want to take it multiple times a day. Because calcium can be hard to absorb and has interference with iron you will want to take it separate from other vitamins. I like Natures Sunshine SynerPro Calcium-Magnesium.
Probiotics- these help to keep the digestive tract in good balance for optimal health. This is especially important if you have had antibiotics in your pregnancy. Garden of Life raw vaginal care is designed for women but any probiotic will give you benefit. A probiotic food or drink can be used in place of a supplement. The key is to be consistent with whatever you use.
Vitamin C with bioflavonoids (525mg of bioflavanoids) or an orange with a lot of the white pithy part eaten. This helps strengthen blood vessels (reduces hemorrhoids, varicose veins) and helps prevent water from breaking before labor starts. Natures Sunshine brand has Citrus Bioflavanoids have the required amount.
Stress reduction:
Yoga- There are quite a few prenatal yoga classes around town. I teach childbirth education at beYoga and have found they have a good amount of prenatal yoga and barre classes.
Meditation- This can be done through Youtube videos, podcasts, or using hypnosis tracks (Hypnobirth, Hypnobabies etc).
Exercise- Aim for 20 minutes of low impact exercise 3-4 times a week. It can be a walk at a brisk pace or a more formal program. Check with your provider about starting a new exercise routine during pregnancy and if your current routine is safe for pregnancy.