The Perfect Pregnancy Diet Plan - Get It Here!

It wasn't too long ago that it was a common misconception that if you were pregnant you should be eating for two. It was also pretty common that pregnant women tended to eat whatever they felt like regardless of it's nutritional value, hence most women struggled to lose their mummy belly after giving birth.

Thankfully, times and science move pretty quickly and we now know that you really don't have to eat that much more than normal to support a healthy pregnancy. We also know that rather than being able to eat whatever you want during pregnancy, you should be MORE focussed on eating good clean healthy food than before you fell pregnant if you want to keep your

Isn't it funny though how that voice in the back of your head still keeps saying to you, "Oh go on, you're pregnant, one little chocolate brownie won't hurt!"?

You know what - you're absolutely right! One little brownie won't hurt but if that one little brownie keeps shouting at you most days, (and don't kid yourself that it won't!), then you'll soon be putting on a lot more weight than you bargained for!

So one of the first things I do with my pregnant clients is get them on the right nutrition to guarantee that they'll stay trim, shapely and sexy throughout their pregnancy and ensure that they are giving their baby everything he/she needs to grow healthy and strong.

The rules I use are simple:

1) Eat ONLY from clean, wholesome, nutritionally supportive food that is as close to it's natural state as possible (ie. not tampered with by manufacturing or processing)

2) BAN all food that is toxic, harmful or that has been denatured by manufacturing or processing

This should leave you with foods that are nutritionally complete and that are jam-packed full of nutrients.

To make it easy for you here's a sample meal planner you can use to plan your own pregnancy diet. This is a shortened version of what I use with my personal clients.

Pregnancy Nutrition - Sample Planner

So You've Just Found Out You're Pregnant! Now What?

It's the news you've been waiting an age for and you finally get to see the window flash "Pregnant" on the test stick. You've been trying for months and as the news sinks in you feel a huge bubble of elation filling you up. The grin hits your face and you burst out laughing with joy and tearful emotion.

You are having your very own baby! Yippee, yippee, yippee!!!

This is exactly what has just happened to one of our 9 Month Club mums to be, Julena.

Julena has been trying for a while to get pregnant and yesterday I happily opened an email from her to find out the amazing news that she just found out that she is now pregnant! So partly to congratulate her and partly because this is timely for a number of other expectant mums I know I thought it would make sense to write an article on what to do next.

So to make it simple here are the 7 Steps To Glowing Health for a New Mum To Be

1. Prenatal Vitamins

If you haven't started taking these already, (you may have if you were actively trying to conceive), you need to start taking a good quality prenatal vitamin. Prenatal vitamins differ to regular multivitamins as they contain different amounts of specific nutrients that are balanced to suit pregnancy, such as Folic Acid, Iron, Calcium and Vitamin A.

You should try and aim for a vitamin that has at least 400 micrograms of Folic Acid per daily dose.

2. Rest!

As soon as the fertilised egg implants into the wall of the uterus a message is sent to the brain to tell it to increase certain hormones and to signal the entire vascular system to relax - this allows it to practically double in size overnight. However your blood volume does not catch up until about the 13/14th week so you will be feeling all the symptoms of vascular underfill.

Extreme Fatigue
Nausea
Dizziness
Sweating

The only thing you can do at this point is to make sure you eat properly and get as much rest as you can. So DON'T feel guilty about grabbing an afternoon nap - you need it!

3. Food

Now that you are pregnant there are some things that you need to cut out of your diet right away:

Alcohol
Caffeine
Rare or undercooked meat or fish
Runny Eggs
Shellfish
Tuna, marlin, swordfish, shark, kingfish (all have a high mercury content)
Artificial Sweeteners
Processed Foods (foods that contain a lot of chemicals, artificial preservatives, colourings and stabilisers)

4. Water

Water is essential in creating a fertile environment where your baby can grow and thrive, so make sure you are drinking 1 litre per 50lbs of body weight, every day.

5. Exercise

Exercise is proven to have several benefits for both mother and fetus so do make sure you are getting your 15minute daily quota. You'll need to focus on core exercises as you get heavier so why not start now with squats, hip bridges, supermans and planks.

6. Pelvic Floors

Again why not start as you mean to go on. Getting into good habits now will save you a lot of embarrassment later. Avoid stress incontinence with daily pelvic floor drills when you're brushing your teeth.

Start with simple squeeze and holds for a count of ten.

7. Train Your Labour Muscles and Keep A Toned Belly

Transverse squeezes will not only tone your belly but they will condition your body for labour. Perform this simple exercise by exhaling and pulling your belly button flat back to your spine. Hold for a count of 30 before you release.

Have you found this post helpful?

If there's anything I haven't covered that you want to know about then please post your comment below and I'll answer as quickly as possible!

Abdominal/Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy and What To Do About It

Are you or have you experienced some pelvic or abdominal pains during your pregnancy?

It's scary right?

I hear ya, but don't worry you're not alone.

Did you know that over half of women will suffer with some kind of abdominal or pelvic cramps/pain during their pregnancy? During early pregnancy it can be especially worrying as the common fear is that it is one of the first signs of miscarriage. If you are spotting as well it can be terrifying!

The good news is that usually miscarriage is NOT the reason for abdominal cramps in early pregnancy. Actually cramps can be brought on by the embryo embedding itself in the lining of the uterus.

Later on in your pregnancy, around the middle to end of the second trimester and into the third trimester you may feel a different kind of pain through the lower abdominal area, the pelvis and the groin. This pain can be a lot more severe and feel like shooting pains across your belly and into your groin.

Although this can be extremely painful, (I could hardly walk when it happened to me), it is not something you need to worry about because it is fairly easy to treat. These shooting pains across the pelvis and lower abdomen are called Round Ligament Pain.

Round Ligament Pain is caused by the amount of stretching that the ligaments have to go through to support the weight of your enlarging uterus. The uterus is normally the size of a pear, but as it grows the extra weight and mass pulls on the ligaments so that they become long and tight like rubber bands. The ligaments then pull on nerve fibers and sensitive structures which cause pain.

The sharp shooting pains are caused by ligament spasms, usually on the right side as the uterus will normally roll over to the right.

To ease Round Ligament Pain:

- Always roll onto your side and use your arms to lift you from lying to sitting, lifting your head up last.

- Keep your legs together and avoid lunging positions which will stretch the ligaments even more. eg. when getting in and out of the car turn your back to the seat and sit down on the seat sideways. Then swing your legs in together.

- To ease acute attacks of RLP try the "hip hitch exercise". Standing next to a wall or a chair, gently shift your weight to the leg that is opposite to the side where you feel the pain. Lift your foot off the floor on the side that hurts by hitching your hip up in the air.

When To Seek Medical Help:

If you are suffering from any of the following, contact the emergency department immediately:

Fever

Chills

Difficulty walking

Pain when passing urine

Did you find this post helpful?

Have you or are you suffering with anything similar in your pregnancy? Post your comments below as your experience may just help another mum in need!

Trying To Get Pregnant? Find Out The 5 Essential Health Rules For Fertility!

Over the past few weeks and months I seem to be getting more and more emails from women asking me what they should be doing to increase their chances of conceiving. Whilst this may seeem like a huge and complicated subject to tackle in one article, there are some very basic but essential rules to follow if you are trying to condition your body for pregnancy.

1. Nutrition

How well your body performs is largely dependant upon the quality of the fuel you put in it. Every food you eat has a different nutritional value. For example something like a processed burger that is packed with preservatives, artificial flavourings and bulked out with wheat flour or soy will do little to provide you with the essential nutrients you need for your organs and tissues to perform their jobs properly.

However, a quality cut of organic and grass fed meat will be jam-packed with immediately useable nutrients that your body will thrive on.

Therefore it makes sense that if you choose to eat from wholesome, fresh foods that are as close to their natural state as possible, then you will providing your reproductive system with everything it needs to do its job properly.

So rule number 1 is eat ONLY from wholesome nutritionally supportive foods that are as close to their natural state as possible.

2. Hydration

This is a hugely important element when it comes to preparing your body for pregnancy and never seems to be given the emphasis it deserves.

Water is vital for creating a fertile environment. Your reproductive system is made up of organs, tissues and ligaments which need to be properly hydrated to function properly. Just 2% dehydration will make your reproductive system 25% weaker.

So rule number 2 is to drink a minimum of 1 litre of water per 50lbs of body weight, (more if exercising or in hot or humid conditions).

3. Exercise

I won't beat around the bush here, if you are fat, your muscles are soft and weak and you get out of breath just climbing the stairs then it's little wonder you are struggling to get pregnant. Fat deposits around the reproductive organs and pollutes the tissues and vessels, massively reducing the efficiency and performance of the reproductive system.

Not only that but fat affects the oestrogen balance in women. Around 30% of oestrogen comes from fat so if you are carrying too much body fat your hormones will be thrown out of balance, reducing your chances of conception.

Rule number 3? Exercise daily for 10-15 minutes focussing on resistance work and high intensity interval training to get your body into a condition where conception is viable.

4. Sleep

Between 10pm and 6am your body goes through massive tissue repair and regeneration. It is also during these hours that your hormones balance and regulate. Your body needs to get into a regular cycle of sleep to achieve the optimal hormone balance that is neccesary for a succesful conception and healthy pregnancy.

These days it is not unusual for the majority of people to get very little sleep during the week due to long working hours and 24/7 social lives and then try and catch up through "binge sleeping" at the weekend. Unfortunately this just isn't how our bodies work and we need to establish a regular circadian rythym for our bodies to function properly, so rule number 4 is get to bed by 10:30pm on at least 6 nights out of 7, every week.

5. Relax and Destress

Stress hormones put the body into a permanent state of fight or flight. When the body is in this fight or flight state it simply does not allow anything else to happen that may impair or weaken theimmune system - such as getting pregnant.

So you need to take an objective look at all areas of your life and try and get find solutions to any situations that are causing you large amounts of stress.

Rule number 5 - spend 15 minutes every evening taking time to destress and relax before bed. If there is anything that you can't get off your mind then take some time to think of solutions to your problem, or steps that you can take to get the situation moving. Just taking action, no matter how small will make you feel better about the situation straight away.

These 5 steps may seem like simple solutions to a huge and complicated problem, but it is often the simple things that we overlook that make the biggest difference to our lives. Our bodies are complex cybernetic organisms made up of several subsystems that act interdependantly to enable us to function properly.

When you are trying to get pregnant, a holistic approach to health is the only way to ensure that your body is able to perform at its peak and to ensure that you are creating a fertile environment where you can conceive and nurture a healthy, happy baby.

For more information on any aspect of achieveing a healthy pregnancy join my free community

Find Out How You Can Predict Your Child's IQ!

When you think of your child growing up what do you imagine for his future?

Brain surgeon?
Rocket scientist?
Future President?

We all want our kids to be someone who will change the world, but that's one thing you'll never know until your little one leaves the nest...or is it?

According to new research you can find out how brainy your kid will be with this simple test...Just answer the following question:

Do you suffer with morning sickness?

Yes? Well that's great!

How badly?

Pretty severe?

Well congratulations! Your morning sickness could mean that you have a "baby Einstein" on the way! Findings published in the The Journal of Paediatrics and reported by New Scientist magazine show that the children of mothers who experienced morning sickness during pregnancy, were more likely to have a higher IQ than those born to mothers who felt no morning sickness during their pregnancy.

There is also believed to be a correlation between the severity of the sickness and the level of intelligence of the child.

The same hormones that are thought to cause morning sickness; thyroxine and HCG (human chronic gonadotropin), are believed to protect your baby's developing brain.

Other reasons to be thankful for morning sickness are that some studies have shown that women who suffer sickness are less likely to suffer miscarriage or give birth to a baby with birth defects.

But no matter how intelligent your baby turns out to be, morning sickness is no pleasant matter, so here are some simple tips you can try to ease the quease!

1. Eat little and often

Morning sickness can be caused by a lack of food in your stomach and as your metabolism is working a lot faster now, it's a good idea to eat more regularly to keep your blood sugar stable. Sudden drops in blood sugar will only increase your nausea and make you feel less like eating, even though this is what you need to do to feel better.

Try and fill up on quality proteins with slow release carbohydrates to keep sickness at bay for longer and to help ease pregnancy fatigue.

2. Ginger is a great remedy for nausea and sickness. Try slicing fresh ginger root into a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon for and early morning cleanse and pick me up.

3. Homeopathic salts can work wonders for morning sickness but you'll need to see a qualified pharmacist to see which one is right for your symptoms.

4. Exercise is great for morning sickness as it diverts blood flow away from your stomach, so try a quick 10 minute workout.

5. Get some rest - fatigue and overtiredness are enough to make you feel sick when you're not pregnant so imagine what it does to you when you are! Take a 20 minute catnap around the time of day your nausea usually appears.

And if nothing works for you, at least you can be thankful that you have a brainy baby on the way!

For more useful resources you can use to help you stay fit and healthy through your pregnancy join my Pregnancy Community

Is Sleeping On Your Left A Myth?

Is sleep causing you problems now that you are getting bigger?

If you're anything like the majority of pregnant mums I meet then sleep can be a big issue. You know you're supposed to lie on your left but sleeping in this position the whole time can be extremely uncomfortable after a few hours.

I too found sleeping became uncomfortable during my pregnancy. I would start out OK on my left, but then get a dead leg or arm and want to turn over. I found it really hard to sleep on my left the entire time!

The thing is, there are good reasons to sleep on your left as this video explains...



If you still find it doesn't suit you, here are some things you can try to help you drift off:

1. Sleep with a pregnancy pillow (I found mine a godsend - and it was good for breastfeeding afterwards!)

2. Stretch before bed - stretching your tired body can do wonders as you increase blood flow to the muscles meaning that you wash away any toxins that may make you feel even more stiff and achy in the morning

3. Prop yourself up slightly if sleeping on your left is really uncomfortable (this also works wonders for heartburn!)

What about you? What do you find works to get a good night's sleep?