Action Steps For The Perfect Pregnancy1

When you daydream about your pregnancy what are the sort of things you think about?

Do you imagine yourself enjoying lazy summer days, going out for a healthy lunch with a friend?

Looking fabulous, on the arm of your proud hubby in a sexy maternity dress at a party?

Feeling content and happy with life and joyful about your baby and your gorgeous pregnant body and glowing face?

Does this daydream reflect your reality?

If not, then why not?

I'm not being facetious about it, I just really want you to ask yourself deep down, what the limiting factors are that are stopping you from achieving the pregnancy you dream about?

You see by identifying what "brakes" we put on ourselves we can easily let go of our doubts and start living the life we really want for ourselves.

What are your brakes?

The Top 10 Changes You MUST Make To Your Diet Now That You Are Pregnant!

Finding out that you are pregnant can be one of the most exciting moments of a woman's life. Just the thought of carrying and nurturing a little baby in your belly brings warm fuzzy feelings to those of us with maternal instincts! However, once the initial excitement subsides there are a LOT of things you need to think about.

Now that you are pregnant, you'll need to think about a specific pregnancy diet, your exercise during pregnancy routine, your working hours, sleep patterns, your social life.... In fact, there's so many things to think about when it comes to pregnancy health and fitness, it can be hard to know where to start!

So to make it a little easier for you, this series of articles is going to break it all down into the top 10 of everything you need to know to make your pregnancy fitness a breeze!

One of the first things you will need to do is look at what you can and cannot eat for great pregnancy nutrition:

1. Stop ALL caffeine - yes there are loads of sites that tell you a couple of cups of coffee a day won't kill you, but that doesn't mean that it will do you any good. Caffeine overstresses the adrenal glands and sends LOTS of stress hormones into your bloodstream, which keeps you in permanent fight or flight mode and disrupts your circadian rythym (sleep cycles). This is exhausting for your poor body which is already dealing with extreme fatigue from all the changes happening with your pregnancy and can have a big impact on the welfare of you and your baby.

Some studies show that caffeine can lead to miscarriage, (although there is not enough research in this area) so play it safe and stay well clear!

2. Say goodbye to runny eggs! You MUST cook your eggs all the way through so that the yolk is solid to prevent salmonella.

3. Avoid peanuts and go careful with other nuts if you or your partner have allergies including asthma, eczema or hayfever. It is also thought that peanuts can lead to your baby developping a peanut allergy. So my advice - if in doubt, leave it out! It's really not worth the risk for the sake of a bag of nuts - surely!

4. Load up on leafy green vegetables like spinach which contain lots of folic acid. You should also be taking a folic acid supplement as this is essential in the first trimester of pregnancy to prevent neural tube defects. Taken daily whilst trying to get pregnant and in the 1st trimester of pregnancy folic acid can reduce the risks of neural tube defects by up to 70%

5. Drink MORE WATER! This may seem like a contradiction in terms when you're running to the loo every 2 minutes, but most pregnant women don't drink enough BECAUSE of this! Hydration is essential for pregnancy health.

6. Don't eat undercooked meat - You may love a tender cut of ribeye steak that is pink in the middle, but you won't love the coliform bacteria, salmonella or toxoplasmosis that may be hiding in it.

7. Try to eat a different coloured vegetable with every meal. Each vegetable contains different macronutrients so by eating from the whole spectrum, you can be certain that you are getting everything you need to grow a healthy baby and stay in great shape through your pregnancy!

8. Stay well clear of raw shellfish as it could well cause food poisoning. Cooking shellfish will eradicate some infection, but it won't destroy the algae related infection associated with red tides.

9. Give tuna, swordfish, shark and king mackerel a miss as the contain high levels of mercury.

10. Eat protein with EVERY meal. Protein is the building blocks of life and your baby needs a LOT of this to grow, so never skip out on your protein!

Protein also takes longer to digest so making you feel fuller for longer - great news for those of you suffering morning sickness!

So that's it! This list is by no means exhaustive but it gives you a great place to start. As always, with any major change in your diet you should consult with your pregnancy health care team before starting a new programme or radically changing your diet.

If you want one-step pregnancy health & fitness, with NO brainpower required, visit http://www.the9monthclub.com and find out how you can go from feeling fat and a frump to fit with a fabulous bump in just 30 days!

Do This Revolutionary Exercise After Giving Birth To Gurantee Flat Abs!

Listen to The 9 Month Club on Blog Talk Radio
Yesterday I hosted my very first 9 Month Club radio show, (yes that's right, I've got my own show now - it's soooo exciting!, with special guest Kaisa Tuominen of Integral Fitness.

Kaisa is a perinatal fitness expert with a wealth of knowledge and has also recently trained as a Doula. Kaisa runs her own studios in Catalunya in Spain where she uses a very unusual and revolutionary new method for retraining tyhe pelvic floor and transverse abdominals after birth. She calls this method FLAT, (For Life Abdominal Training), and the acronym does exactly what it says on the tin!

Kaisa discovered this method from a physio in France who was using it to rehabilitate postnatal women with prolapse and severe urinary incontinence problems and brought it into her studio and introduced it to her postnatal clients, where she found it made a remarkable difference to recovery time and getting your pre-pregnancy body back.

To listen to the interview and find out more about FLAT, how it works and how to do it, click on the flash player on the right.

If you have any questions please post them below!

There's Something I Need To Tell You...

My Dad and River


Now I've already posted my "official" article for today, but there is something on my mind and I wanted to get it off my chest.

For those of you on the site who know me well and have been there for me and followed my journey over the past year through pregnancy, my birth and beyond, you'll know that I've had more than my fair share of ups and downs. More downs than I'd like to have experienced but hey, what doesn't kill you and all that...!

Well, after a welcome return to normailty and a happy family life, these past few weeks have seen me return to dealing with a LOT of stress. Firstly my dad's cancer has come back. Now my dad is a fighter and saw off stomach and bowel cancer a few years ago without batting an eyelid. He kicked Cancer in the proverbial behind and at the age of 71 , still makes it to the gym 5 times a week.

But now it's in his throat. He's just finished radiotherapy and although is very chipper on the outside, I worry about how he really feels about it all. Don't you think that parents have this way of protecting their kids from the truth - no matter how old we get?

Secondly I've been really ill myself. To be honest I think it's self-inflicted. Since my son was 2 weeks old I've been working every spare minute I can find to finish writing the product I started when I was pregnant. Even then I was getting up at 7am and finishing writing at 11pm every night, but since River was born it's taken a toll. Instead of sleeping and recovering I'll do anything but - that's including the housework, teaching classes, working out and trying to work part time as well as be a full time mum to a young baby!

Isn't it funny how you get stuck in a way of thinking? Instead of opening my eyes and seeing that I was running myself into the ground, all I could think about was how much I had to do and then stress about not achieveing any of it! Is this ringing any bells with any of you?

So about 4 weeks ago I developped an abcess in my back. Yuk - had to have it operated and couldn't walk for two weeks OR look after my son properly! It was seriously THE MOST PAINFUL THING EVER! And that INCLUDES CHILDBIRTH!

It was the wakeup call I needed to kick me into touch. Whilst trying to be all things to everyone, I ended up being no use to everyone including myself! I

couldn't walk or look after my baby, I couldn't work as I was on morphine and a whole host of other painkillers that zonked me right out. My dad was having daily treatments on his throat and I couldn't even take him to the hospital, or help out round his house.

I'm much better now, but going through all of this has made me realise that no matter how stressful life gets and no matter how much POO it throws at you, you have to to be strong enough of mind to let it wash right off.

Yes it's upsetting when people you love are suffering and it's scary when the thought of losing someone so close to you becomes a stark possibility but LIFE CARRIES ON. So, you can either let the bad stuff drag you down, or you can wake up every day and say

"No matter what this day brings I WILL enjoy all that it has to offer and teach me."

From every experience we share a memory is created and another lesson learnt. So I will take the bad with the good and USE my experiences to become a more fulfilled person.

Are High Heels Really That Bad in Pregnancy?

I think I echo most women's sentiments when I say that one of the worst things about pregnancy is the point where your bump gets too big for you to comfortably wear your gorgeous collection of high heels or when your feet swell so much that you can't get those shoes on anyway, even if you tried!

The thing is though, no matter how uncomfortable they can be, sometimes heels are the only way to make an outfit work. When you've found that perfect dress for a night out with the girls, your hair is gleaming and your makeup looks amazing, you can just hear those strappy, sexy sandals calling you from the back of the closet.

But hey, if you wear heels out once a week can it really be that bad for you? Surely not!

Well let me tell you the facts and you make up your mind for yourself...

First of all you need to understand what heels do to the body. When you put on a pair of heels you tip your weight forward so that your centre of gravity shifts. This means that you have to adjust your posture or alignment so that you don't fall flat on your face.

To enable you to balance, your pelvis has to tilt anteriorly which increases the arch in your lower back. This in turn compresses the discs in your lower spine and crushes the nerves leading out from the spinal cord.

Your abs become stretched giving you a protruding belly and your hip flexors shorten.

On the top half your shoulders will round forward to balance out the lower body and your head will migrate forward putting enormous strain on your neck.

Now, consider this. All of the postural problems above are also prevalent in pregnancy. The weight of your bump and boobs will cause the exact same things to happen. Not only that, but because you are pregnant you will also be producing a lot of the hormones relaxin and oestrogen which make ligaments and muscles relax and joints become extremely unstable.

So when you add heels to a pregnant posture you are increasing the damage to your back, shoulders and neck to the point of overload. And this is when your body tells you enough is enough and gives up. Hence you end up with severe back pain and possibly serious long-term damage.

So although you may think that wearing heels on the odd night out can't hurt too much, just remember that your body is already stretched to the limit carrying your baby.

Is it really worth it for one night out?

5 Exercise To Do Today In Just 5 Minutes!

You know one of the hardest things about getting your exercise in when you're pregnant is just finding the time and motivation to do it.

Once you actually get to the gym and make a start it's not that bad, but sometimes it's just the thought of having to pack your workout gear as well as everything else you have to remember for the day, plus find the motivation to do it after a long day at work, that scuppers all your good intentions.

Don't worry, you're not alone! Even I found I had days like this when I was pregnant and I'm a personal trainer and coach by trade!

So to make your day just a little bit easier I've put together a simple workout for you that will work all those wobbly bits in just 5 minutes! You don't even need to get changed!


Exercise 1

Step Ups - Find some stairs or a step that is of a reasonably challenging height ( about 12 inches off the floor is about right).

If you are feeling unsteady use something for support - like the stair rail or a friends shoulder!

Starting on the left leg, place your whole foot on top of the step and push through the heel and buttock to lift your body up onto the step.

Step back with the left leg and lower yourself back down as slowly and controlled as possible. Repeat 5 times then switch legs.

Exercise 2

Stick Ups - Find a wall to lean against. Stand against it so that your head, bottom and feet are touching. Squeeze your bottom down hard so that you bring your pelvis into a neutral position.

Now bring up your arms so that you are standing with your elbows in line with your ribs and the backs of your hands touching the wall behind you, palms facing forwards (imagine someone has a gun pointed at you and has told you to stick 'em up!).

Starting on your right, maintain contact with the wall as you slide your arm up to an extended position, pushing your arm up as high as it will go, but keeping your postural alignment.

Now exhale as you bring the arm back dow and resist a little as you work. Repeat on the other side and work up to a set of 10 each side.

Exercise 3

Squats

Stand with your feet just wider than hip distance and with your feet turned out to 45 degrees.

Tip the weight back into your heel and stick out your bottom and your chest.

Now slowly and with control sit back and lower your body into a sitting position.

Squeeze your pelvic floor and your bottom as your push yourself back up to stanidng, remembering to bring your hips all the way through at the top.

Repeat for 10.

Exercise 4

Flutters

Standing with your feet under your hips and your bottom squeezed down, bring up your arms to shoulder height with palms facing forwards. (As if you are making a T shape).

Tuck your chin back (like you're making a double chin). Now using the muscles that sit between your shoulder blades, squeeze your shoulders back and together, as if pinching a pencil between your shoulder blades.

Repeat for 20

Exercise 5

Transverse Squeezes

Either sitting or on all fours, take a long deep breath and let your belly expanda s it fills with air.

Now as you exhale from the pit of your stomach pull the belly button back to your spine and hold for a count of 10. (DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH!).

Take a big inhale and fill up with air again to release.

Repeat for 10.

OK? All done?

Great, have a wonderful day!

P.S. Remember if there's anything you would like to see here on my blog or you have any questions about how to stay fit and healthy through your pregnancy, then just post your comment at the end of my blog!

Pregnant? Feeling Fat, Frumpy and Unfit? Here's How You Can Change All That...Right Now!

When I was first pregnant I felt... crap!

(Sorry for the bluntness but there's no other way to describe it that really does it justice)

Morning sickness hit me with a vengeance, my energy dropped through the floor and my motivation to do anything but curl up on the sofa and eat was non-existent.

To top it all, whenever I looked in the mirror, staring back at me was a fatter, frumpier and fatigued woman that I hardly recognised as me.

Sounds familar, right?

Sure it does!

Pregnant women all go through that phase when they feel that, although they're gaining something wonderful in the form of their new baby, that they've lost something really important... themselves.

My detachment from myself got so bad and my stress levels got so high that I ended up in hospital and nearly lost my baby. A terrible time for me, but a wakeup call too.

When I got discharged, I vowed that I'd never let myself get to the position where my health, my baby's health and my very sanity were threatened again and I began to create a system to ensure that I would look and feel great both during the pregnancy and beyond.

Click here for Your Complete Pregnancy Support System

I wanted to create something that was different to everything else out there - after all I had all the pregnancy books, the prenatal fitness dvd's and I was signed up to every pregnancy website and forum under the sun, but none of them could give me what I was searching for...

Click here for Your Complete Pregnancy Support System

A complete daily guide that would take me by the hand and tell me exactly what I needed to do every single day of my pregnancy to ensure that I looked toned and sexy, felt relaxed, calm and happy and ensured that both me and my baby were as healthy and fit as possible.

To find out more about my daily coaching programme for complete health in pregnancy, just click on the link below.

Click here for Your Complete Pregnancy Support System

To make it even easier for you, you can get my system right now for the trial price of just £4.95 for the first 30 days. If you don't like it just cancel your subscription before the 30 days are up! If you decide before then that this just isn't for you, I'll even give you a full refund - no questions asked!

So look - all the risk is on me! Try it for 30 days and I can guarantee that you'll love the confident, glowing, sexy woman staring back at you from the mirror!

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?

5 Reasons You NEED to GET FAT This Pregnancy!

If I was to ask you what your biggest concern is about being pregnant, what would you say?

I'd hazard a guess that complications with your baby would be top of your list, right?

Then, coming a very close second I bet that you're also worried about how much weight you've put on / how fat you're getting, and how difficult it's going to be to lose it after you've had your baby?

Am I pretty close to the mark?

Well, if you're anything like the majority of pregnant women I know then you're not alone! So if I tell you that GETTING FAT is actually a good thing during pregnancy, you're probably thinking that I've finally lost it and the sleep deprivation of having a new baby has finally got to me, right?

...Not yet! Hear me out on this one...

Getting fat during pregnancy can have seriously big results when used correctly and has several major benefits for you and your little one...

1. If, like most of us, you have big plans for your little one and you can see her running for president, discovering life on Mars, or finding a cure for the common cold, then you should know that getting fat is ESSENTIAL in building her brain...

2. Do you wear contact lenses or glasses? Were you one of the unlucky ones that had to wear glasses to school as a kid? (that was me BTW!). Well, you definitely want to make sure you pay attention to this one then, because getting fat is responsible for forming your baby's retinas...

3. Maybe sports is your thing? The nervous system determines hand, eye co-ordination, reflexes and quick decision making. Without getting fat your baby's nervous system will not develop properly

4. (Look out for this one - if you thought I'd lost it earlier this may well have you sending me straight to the men in white coats...)

Getting fat can actually reduce your chances of suffering with post-natal depression - that's right I said REDUCE!

5. And last but definitely not least, getting fat will help you lose your baby weight and get a sexy post-baby body in rapid succession!

Confused?

OK, I'll 'fess up! I'm talking about GOOD FATS! In particular, Omega 3. Omega 3 fatty acids should be a primary ingredient in your pregnancy diet for all the reasons listed above.

Omega 3 fatty acids comprise:

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA): EPA is found primarily in fish and fish oil.

Docosahexanoic Acid (DHA): DHA is especially important to your body, and is also found primarily in fish.

Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA): ALA is found mostly in seeds, vegetable oils, and leafy green vegetables. It is converted into EPA and then into DHA in your body.

They are also available to take as a supplement, but beware of the quality of some cheaper brands, as they can be polluted with contaminants such as mercury and PCBs. It's definitely worth paying more for pharmaceutical grade products so you can be sure that you and your baby are getting a pure ingredient.

So you see, getting fat during pregnancy is a good thing after all!

For one to one advice on your pregnancy health and for more information on the safest and most effetive way to stay fit and healthy this pregnancy join my free pregnancy community

Banish Pregnancy Back Pain in Just 10 Minutes!

Did you know that your chances of suffering with back pain at some point during your pregnancy are over 90%?

As your bump grows and the balance of your weight shifts, you will find yourself leaning back more and more and putting increasing pressure on your lumbar spine.

However if you'd rather be one of the 10% that go through their 9 months without pain then check out this short video that will show you how to strengthen your core and support your pregnant back in just a few minutes!

Reduce Stretch Marks In 4 Simple Steps!

One of the worst things about pregnancy for most women is the horrible sight of great big lines crawling across their body. Although not all women get stretch marks, it's not far off with 90% of us suffering from those horrible red lines which usually appear in month 6 or 7.

Stretch marks appear when the skin is stretched over a short period of time and most commonly appear acrossthe belly in pregnancy. However the unlucky few will notice stretch marks over other areas such as the buttocks, hips, thighs and breasts.

It's a depressing thought that even if you lose all your pregnancy weight after giving birth you still can't wear a bikini on the beach because of the unsightly ravaged skin hiding underneath your clothes!

But have faith! There are a lot of things you can do to reduce or even prevent stretch marks!

It is widely thought that stretch marks are caused by the hormone corticosteroid which reduces collagen in the skin. Collagen is the thing that makes your skin stretchy, so if you give it a helping hand you can go a long way to preventing stretch marks.

This is what worked for me and I managed to come out of my pregnancy stretch mark FREE!

1. Pure Coconut Oil

Massage pure coconut oil into wet skin after your shower or bath. I did this twice daily and it kept my skin in tip top condition, as well as leaving it with a healthy radiant glow!

(Tip - don't buy your cocnut oil form a health food shop - they charge a small fortune! Instead go to your local Indian or Carribean grocery store as it is used for cooking in these cultures and is dead cheap!)

2. Diet

Make sure your diet is based on clean wholesome foods that are jam-packed with nutrients. Vitamins C and E, zinc and silica are all necessary to keep skin healthy and glowing.

(Please be aware that Vitamin E supplements should not be used in pregnancy)

3. Water

I say this all the time (as I'm sure you know by now!), but hear me out! It is vital that you drink enough pure clean water during pregnancy to keep both you and your baby happy and healthy.

One of the first things to suffer if you are even 2% dehydrated is your skin! You NEED to drink at least 1ltre of water per 50lbs of bodyweight to fill your body's needs. So keep a bottle with you at all times and drink from it frequently!

4. Don't OVEREAT!

The bigger you get the worse your stretch marks are gonna be!

Stick to NATURAL food sources that are free form processing.

My rules are only eat fresh foods, (or freshly frozen foods), that have come directly from the ground, swam in the river or sea, or foods with faces (animal protein).

If you eat this way for the majority of the time you'll soon find that all non-emotional hunger cravings dissapear and that you only eat what your body needs to do it's job properly.

Too Tired and Pregnant to Exercise? You NEED To Read This!

You know when I was pregnant I would have somedays where I would wake up feeling absolutely exhausted and I wouldn't be able to shake that feeling all day. On these days even my daily workout which usually gave me MORE energy, would sap my strength.

So on these days I listened to my body and took the easy option. Stretching!

Pregnancy can make so many parts of your body tighten up and feel stiff, inflexible and sore, but a simple stretching routine can do wonders to easing away those aches and pains and making you feel more human again!

1. Pelvic Tilts

(If you have a birthing ball / swiss ball you can use this to sit on and do pelvic tilts, but the floor is just as effective!)

Get onto all fours on the floor with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips.

Start with a neutral spine (flat back).

Slowly exhale and squeezing your buttocks, start to tilt your pelvis so that your tailbone moves down towards the floor(like a dog tucking it's tail between it's legs).

At the same time squeeze on your pelvic floor.

Hold for a couple of seconds then release and repeat x 10

You should feel a nice release in your lower back.

2. It's all in the Hips!

Drop down onto one knee and steady yourself by holding onto something (like a wall or a chair. Very gently move your back leg away from you by sliding the knee backwards.

Now squeeze your bottom hard.

This may be enough of a stretch for you. Hold for 20-30 seconds before easing off and then repeating another 2 times each side.

To increase the stretch push your hips forward to elongate the hip flexor muscle.

3. Chest matters!

Your chest muscles can really shorten and tighten up during pregnancy, giving you an awful rounded shoulder posture that can make you look a lot bigger and older than you are!

Stand next to a door or a post and raise your bent arm to shoulder height.

Place your palm and forearm against the door.

Now leaving your arm where it is take one step forward on the leg closest to the door.

Hold for 20-30 seconds then ease off before repeating a further 2 times.

To increase the stretch try turning your hips away from the side that you are stretching - as if you were turning around to talk to someone just behind your other shoulder.

4. What a pain in the neck!

Pregnancy can put a lot of strain on your neck and shoulders and these stretches can provide you a LOT of relief from aching and burning shoulders.

Sitting up tall on a birthing ball or a hard chair put one finger on your chin and push your chin back into your neck to bring your neck into neutral alignment.

Now tip your ear to your shoulder being careful to keep your chin tucked in. Stay here for 20 seconds.

Next do the same thing but once you have gone as far as you can go, gently rotate yourhead as if looking out of the top corner of your eye.

Then rotate the other way as if looking down at your shoulder.

Repeat on both sides, holding the stretches between 20-30 seconds.

5. Oh my poor aching legs!

Those big muscles at the front of your legs can get very tight from poor posture in pregnancy.

Standing next to a wall, hold on with one hand and withe the other hand grab hold of your ankle and bring your heel to your bum.

Make sure your knees are together and in line with each other.

To increase the stretch push your hips forward and squeeze your bottom down.

Again hold for 20-30 seconds and ease off before repeating a further 2 times each side.


Breath deeply into each stretch to increase circulation and send a supply of fresh oxygen into the muscle bed. This will help clear toxins from the muscles (the source of your aches and pains), and send an increased supply of oxygen to your baby.

You may even get a little burst of thankyou kicking from him!

(It is VERY IMPORTANT to stretch GENTLY in pregnancy. The hormones relaxin and progesterone make pregnant ligaments and muscle fibres extra stretchy to allow for the changes the body must go through in pregnancy. Therefore it is very easy to overstretch. Only go to a point of mild stretching/discomfort)

Eating Nuts and Seeds Can Damage Your Baby's Heart

It can be difficult to know what you should and shouldn't be eating in pregnancy and you could be easily forgiven for thinking that as long as your diet is based on wholesome nutritious foods, packed with vitamins, you'll be making all the right choices for yours and your baby's health.

However, pregnancy is no time to assume anything as not all vitamins (and so not all foods) are good for an expectant mother. Trials on Vitamin E supplementation found that Vitamin E supplements during pregnancy doubled the rate of stillbirths, led to low birth weight and increased health complications in newborn babies.

More recent research has found that as little as 3/4 of the daily recommended amount of Vitamin E in the diet of a pregnant woman can lead to heart defects in the baby.

This is particularly significant when you consider that many women take Vitamin E supplements to prevent stretch marks; and for its antioxidant properties that have previously been heralded as helping protect against miscarriage and pre-eclampsia.

Vitamin E is found vegetable oils, nuts seeds and eggs, so although these foods are still good for you, caution should be exercised over how much of these foods you should eat on a daily basis.

12.6mg a day was found to be the maximum amount of Vitamin E that pregnant women should consume in their diet every day.

One egg contains roughly 1.6mg of Vitamin E
Tinned tuna in vegetable oil contains roughly 6.9mg Vitamin E
10 Almonds contain roughly 7mg Vitamin E

An END to Pregnancy Cankles (and other water retention issues) in 5 Easy Steps!

Spring is well and truly here as this weekend saw the official start of British Summer Time.

The weather has been playing ball too and it's finally time to start thinking about lovely floaty dresses and cropped trousers. The trouble is that the last time you saw your lower limbs you couldn't tell where your calves ended and your feet began! Oh horror of horrors, you've suddenly got CANKLES!

One of my readers recently asked me how to get rid of her Cankles! She's only 27 weeks but is suffering terribly with swollen joints...

Swollen hands and feet are unfortunately all too common in pregnancy. When you fall pregnant your blood volume increases substantially. Your growing uterus puts pressure on your pelvic veins and vena cava (the major vein that receives blood back from your lower limbs), and slows down the bloodflow returning to the torso. This causes blood pooling, which in turn forces water into the tissues of your extremities (hands and feet).

Pregnancy also increases the likelihood of retaining water, which then adds to your Cankle issues!

So what can you do about it?

1. Elevate, elevate, elevate!!!

Yes you finally have a valid excuse for putting your feet up! Whenever you are sitting down, put your feet up on a stool or a pouffe.

If you are lying down, always lie on your left hand side to take the pressure off the vena cava and relieve the pressure.

2. Drink 1 litre of water for every 50lbs of body weight.

Just 2% dehydration can cause heavy water retention. If you are fed up with all the toilet trips, try putting a couple of grains of organic sea salt in a litre bottle to help you absorb the water into your cells better.

3. Get off the processed food!

Processed foods, sugar, caffeine, wheat and processed dairy all behave as toxins in your body. If your system is holding toxins it will automatically retain water to dilute those toxins so that they are not harmful to you or your baby.

Wheat, in particular, is well known for causing pregnancy oedema and oedema can even slow down delivery of your baby if your pelvic tissues are swollen and congested.

4. Get plenty of exercise

Veins have low blood pressure and so we have to use our leg muscles to help push blood back up to the heart. Strengthening your muscles through regular exercise will help your circulation.

You also need to move frequently during the day and avoid long periods of sitting or standing.

Just remember to always elevate your legs after exercising!

5. Get a massage!

Massage is great for aiding circulation and helping move fluid out of congested tissues. Hey, you now have a free pass to ask your partner for a foot massage every night!

To get all of your pregnancy questions answered, post your comments on my blog, or ask me directly through my pregnancy community

Excess Pregnancy Weight Gain Could be a Sign Your Baby is Malnourished!

Do you find yourself wanting to eat all the time?

Are you eating all the wrong things?

Are you craving sugary, processed foods?

Well you may well be malnourished!

Contrary to popular belief, malnourishment does not mean that you have to be really skinny or starving, like the pictures of the starving kids in Africa. Yes they are malnourished but they are also victims of famine.

Malnourishment simply means that your body is not getting the nutrients it needs to perform properly and support both you and your baby. So although you may be eating a lot of food, you may not be eating the right foods.

Here's a recent blog post by my friend Dax Moy about organic foods that explains why:

"Well, my last post about organic vs non-organic certainly got a reaction.

I have a deluge of emails into my inbox ranging from comments like "About time someone was talking about this!" to "This is utter nonsense. If pesticides were harmful then they wouldn't be allowed to be used on foods. You shouldn't be scaremongering!!" and practically everything in between.

By far the most common reaction though, was more like this:

"I understand and mostly agree with the need to eat cleaner, fresher and less adulterated foods but the truth is, they're more expensive and I just can't afford them as much as I'd like. What am I supposed to do?"

Again, another great question, and one that I'm sure most people ask themselves when it comes to making the decision between non-organic and organic produce, right?

Here's my take on it.

Non organic is cheaper, it's true. The average family and especially those on low incomes can buy around 30-50% more food when bought non-organically than they can if they choose the organic option and so it would seem that whilst organic is an ideal scenario, the practicalities mean that most people simply can't justify coming home with a smaller bag of groceries with hungry mouths to feed.

I get it.

I'm a father of four and before my business took off, I was on a low income and felt the same way. I couldn't justify organic foods because of the costs.

Then, over time I started to see things differently.

I noticed that my non-organic shopping, whilst greater in quantity, always seemed to leave my family hungry. They always wanted more. Bigger servings, more snacks in between and practically non-stop cravings for more food.

By contrast, when my family ate organic, they ate smaller portions, less frequently and they rarely, if ever, complained of hunger or asked for more.

It was then that it hit me, truly for the first time ever.

The most important nutritional truth.

Ready for it?

It'll change your life (if you let it!)

Here it is.

Your body doesn't know 'food', all it knows is nutrients.

Bear with me because I know that it probably doesn't sound that amazing as you read it at your PC but it really is.

You see, we get hung up on food all the time. We get hung up on calories, portion sizes, meal frequencies and all manner of things but none of that is anywhere near as important as the nutrients within the things we eat.

Your body just knows that it is running out of certain nutrients.

"Vitamin B6 is getting low" it says and so you get a 'feed me' signal to eat and (hopefully) stock up on the missing vitamin.

"Calcium is running out" it says and again, you get a 'feed me' signal to eat and stock up on some calcium.

It's that straight forward, that simple... and that complex : )

So, when you eat denatured and nutrient poor foods, either because they've been chemically altered or over-processed, your body breaks them down, looks for the nutrients it needs and, if they're not there (which they won't be), simply commands you to eat again so that it can get what it needs.

It's got nothing to do with calories.

You might have already eaten your recommended daily amount of calories but still be lacking nutrients and so you'll be commanded to eat again, and again, and again.

This is not hunger. This is malnutrition.

The truth is hard to believe, but the fact is, many of us are malnourished!

But it's not all bad news, because the reverse is also true.

If you eat a diet that is replete with the nutrients your body requires then you eat less. You eat when your body needs a new supply of nutrients. You stop snacking, you stop feeling hungry all the time and you stop throwing excess calories into your body for no reason.

What's this got to do with where the conversation started; the cost of organic vs non-organic?

It's pretty simple really.

When you eat non-processed (including chemical processes) foods, you're getting the maximum available nutrition from everything you eat. Because of this, you simply eat less and less often.

What I'm saying here is that you don't have to buy nearly as much organic food as you do non-organic to get your nutritients so it's not more expensive to eat this way at all.

In fact, you may even find, like my family did, that it's cheaper to eat organically than non-organically because you buy much less of the usual rubbish that most families consume on a weekly basis."

So what do you think? It makes sense right? Especially in pregnancy, when your body is desparate for high quality nutrition!

So if you do find your pregnancy weight gain spiralling out of control and your food cravings going through the roof, why not take control back right here and now! Try eating clean and organic for the next 10 days and see how different you feel.

I'm betting your energy levels go through the roof, your weight gain will start to regulate and you'll feel a lot better and happier about yourself once you know you're not going to turn into something that looks more like the marshmallow man than a beautiful pregnant woman!

P.S. Please don't be afraid to leave your comments below! I always love to hear what you're thinking, as it's you that counts!

Your Pregnancy Questions Answered: Why the 140BPM Heart Rate Rule is Downright Dangerous In Pregnancy!

You may have heard or read that the best way to monitor the intensity of your workout in pregnancy is to keep your heart rate at 140 beats per minute or less, but how would you feel if I told you that this practice would at best give you an ineffective workout and at worst put you at risk of high-blood pressure, fainting and overheating?

The rule of sticking to 140 BPM is an outdated measure of monitoring exercise intensity during pregnancy. Here's why...

Heart rate during pregnancy is not an accurate measure of how hard the body is working because the relationship between heart rate and exercise intensity varies greatly from early pregnancy to mid-pregnancy to late pregnancy. Changes in exercise parameters, duration of session, the type of exercise, how hard it feels, the vascular system, oxygen consumption and fetal heart rate response, all impact what the target heart rate should be.

So, by example, very fit women in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy will struggle to get their heart rate up to the target 140BPM without working very, very hard. Therefore, prescribing a standard target heart rate formula as a safety measure is unwise.

So, how should you monitor your workout?

The best and safest measure by far is the BORG Rating Of Perceived Exertion Scale. This scale measures how hard YOU PERCEIVE YOU ARE WORKING and is therefore subjective and responsive to your state of wellbeing on any given day.

The BORG Scale runs from 1-10 with 1 being no exertion whatsoever to 10 being working flat-out at 100% intensity.

Pregnant women should be exercising at between 5 and 7 on the scale, with 7 being "working somewhat hard".

For a full copy of the scale visit BORG SCALE FOR PREGNANCY and scroll down. The document link is on the left hand side of the page.

For your chance to have your pregnancy health and fitness questions answered, post your comment on my blog, or email me at

Nisha@the9monthclub.com

Your Pregnancy Questions Answered: What's the best exercise you can do throughout pregnancy?

"Hi Nisha, what exercise can you do throughout pregnancy? whats the best for each trimester please? Also I heard that you cannot let your heart beat go over 140? Any advice greatly appreciated as I want to stay trim but not do anything that could harm me or baby. Just in the trying to get pregnant stages now. thank you"

Thanks Julena for this great question!

This is a common concern for pregnant mums, especially for those who are in the delicate first trimester of pregnancy. You want to stay trim and in shape, yet the last thing you want to do is take the risk of harming your baby. It's hard to know just how much activity is safe so a lot of newly pregnant mums err on the side of caution and stop doing exercise altogether. The thing is, this can do more harm than good...

Stopping all activity during pregnancy can slow down your metabolism and lead to a build up of fat. This in turn can affect your hormonal balance as roughly 30% of oestrogen comes from fat cells. If you are trying to conceive, (like Julena), this hormonal disruption will greatly reduce your chances of getting pregnant.

If you are already pregnant, excess fat can add a serious risk factor to your pregnancy, increasing chances of pre-eclampsia, and fetal birth defects.

So what is the most effective way to stay in shape and maintain the healthiest pregnancy possible whilst exercising safely?

Resistance Training!

Now you don't need to be lifting heavy weights - in fact one of the most effective forms of resistance training for pregnancy is body weight exercises. After all, you should always be able to move and carry your own body weight safely and effectively without causing yourself injury, right?

To make sure you are exercising safely but still getting the most out of your workout, stick to simple exercises that mimic everyday movement, such as squats, rows, presses and overhead lifts.

For early pregnancy and for those who are new to exercise, choose up to 6 exercises and either string them together in a circuit fashion and repeat 2-3 times.

If you are used to training and have been exercising regularly for at least 6 months prior to getting pregnant try pairing up the exercises and performing them as a superset. Repeat each superset 2-3 times before moving onto the next couplet.

Either way, your workout should take you no more than 15 minutes to complete.

If you are exercising smartly, 15 minutes is plenty of time to get a good workout so the bonus to you is that you no longer need to spend long boring sessions slogging it out on the treadmill!

The great news is that all of these exercises can be adapted for each trimester. Not only that but as your pregnancy progresses you will be adding your own overload to your workout from your increasing body weight!

I hope this answers some of your concerns about exercising in pregnancy. Look out for my next post where I'll be giving you a video workout that you can do along with me, with some of the best exercises to support your pregnant body and banish back pain and other common pregnancy aches and pains.

Until then, stay sexy, self-confident and superfit!

Nisha

P.S. If you want your pregnancy questions answered just post your comment in Pregnancy Questions Answered

For access to more articles, videos and other resources on pregnancy fitness join my pregnancy community at http://www.the9monthclub.ning.com

Pregnancy: Your Questions Answered!

The reason I decided to take my knowledge online was because when I fell pregnant I was at a loss where to begin.

Although I was a fitness professional myself, I found myself sadly dissapointed by the lack of specific, structured advice on health and fitness through pregnancy.

Don't get me wrong, there was loads of information on pregnancy, but it was either all very vague, too medical in nature, or there were a lot of conflicting opinions about. There was no direct guidance that instructed pregnant women on exactly how to achieve the healthiest and fittest pregnancy possible whilst still doing it all safely.

So I find myself writing posts on a weekly basis on things that I experienced during my pregnancy and on topics that friends have asked me about, but it still feels like I am waffling to cyberspace! So I thought about how I could target my posts better to help my pregnant readers with their specific problems.

The answer was staring me in the face - ASK THEM!

So today's post is all about you! What do you want to know about any aspect of your pregnancy health and fitness journey?

It could be nutrition, exercise, relaxation and sleep, hydration... you name it and I will answer it!

Post your questions below and I promise to reply to them all!

Could Your Man Handle Pregnancy?

Check out this video on what men think the worst thing about pregnancy is! Seems like they really don't know the half of it as most of them think that nausea is about as bad as it gets!

What about the guy who thinks it's his perfect life of eating whatever he wants, sleeping a lot and then tells his wife that her butt got fat?! LOL!

If only it were that simple huh?

Although I loved being pregnant, there were definitely some aspects that I didn't enjoy so much, like Round Ligament Pain, which I suffered badly with. The timing was rubbish too as it fell across my holiday to Ibiza for my friends wedding - I spent the whole two weeks in so much pain, I could hardly even walk!

My boyfriend thought I was making it up and got really fed up with me taking such a long time to walk anywhere! If only he could have spent 1 day in my body he would have realised how bad it actually was!

What about you?

What are you finding a struggle in your pregnancy and think your man couldn't handle?

Post your comments below and I promise to get you an answer to your problem!

Top 5 Pregnancy Superfoods

This last week has been a bit of a nightmare for me. River has not been himself and has been constantly upset, refusing to eat and getting up every 2 hours at night then refusing to go back to sleep! As a result, my nutrition has gone a bit haywire - I'm not eating badly, (I'm still on elimination), but rather I'm hardly eating at all as I just haven't had time!

Which got me to thinking, we all know how important it is to eat a nutritionally supportive diet through pregnancy and beyond, but sometimes this is easier said than done!

Thinking back to my pregnancy, I had my fair share of morning sickness in the first trimester and then heartburn and sickness in the last trimester. Not only that but I found as my bump started to get big, I had no room for food - I would be full after just a few mouthfuls as the baby had taken over my body! So to make sure I was getting all the vital nutrients that I needed for both River's development and my glowing health, I would try and make the most of the food I did manage to eat.

So this week I have tried to do the same thing and I made sure my meals included my Top 5 Pregnancy Superfoods!

1. Leafy Greens - High in Folic Acid, these alternatives to the limp old lettuce leaf will give both you and your baby a spring in your step! Folic acid is essential for the prevention of neural tube defects and spina bifida.

Leafy Greens are also great sources of calcium, magnesium and iron - all essential for baby's healthy development!

Dress them with ginger, coriander, lime juice, garlic and chilli to add a fresh and fragrant taste that will also work wonders for morning sickness!

2. Berries - Bursting with nutrients for you and your little one, berries are bountiful of antioxidants, fibre, vitamin C and folates. Have them with natural live yoghurt and organic wheat free muesli for a Pregnancy brekkie that packs a punch!

3. Oily Fish - Omega 3 is essential for your baby's neurological development and the only way your baby can access this fatty acid is through your diet. Omega 3 is rich in DHA which your baby needs to form his brain and eye tissue. However, mercury can also be present in some oily fish so avoid tuna, shark, swordfish, tilefish and shellfish.

Try and go for 2-3 portions of salmon, herring, sardines or mackerel every week.

4. Natural Live Yoghurt - Rich in calcium and good bacteria which help aid digestion. The friendly bacteria in live yoghurt restore the healthy balance in your bowel and intestine and also prevent outbreaks of thrush or candida.

Try using it as a basis for a breakfast smoothie, or layered with strawberries, mint and agave syrup for a decadent dessert!

5. Eggs - My favourite pregnancy superfood! (and they are great for new mums who have zero time to prepare nutritious lunchtime meals!:0) )

Protein is the building blocks of life and eggs are one of the best sources of a complete protein. They are also packed with vitamin D, vitamin A and B12 (folic acid).

Scrambled eggs with salmon and chives on wheat free toast makes a great Sunday brunch!

(Eggs in pregnancy should be cooked through properly to avoid any risk of food poisoning)

What about you? What are your favourite shortcuts to a healthy pregnancy diet? Any suggestions would be gladly received by a time-starved new mum!

For more tips on pregnancy nutrition and what NOT to eat visit my free community at The 9 Month Club

A Strong Pelvic Floor Will Complicate Your Labour!

Whilst I was pregnant, I was religious about doing my pelvic floors and transverse ab exercises. I wanted to give myself the easiest time in labour possible, so I did my exercises 3 times a day every day - and 5 times in the last trimester.

I knew that a weak pelvic floor would lead to stress incontinence, (where you leak urine when you cough, laugh or sneeze, etc), both during pregnancy and after and that was a problem I definitely wanted to avoid!

One day whilst training I got chatting to a couple of ladies in the gym who had children and we got onto the subject of, "your body will never be the same again". We started talking about pelvic floor exercises and they both said to me that my strong pelvic floor would slow down my labour and make delivery difficult!

I asked them why they thought this and they said they'd been told that the pelvic floor was used "to help everything stay closed" and therefore it would work against me when I wanted to push my baby out!

Apparently this was something one of them had read in magazine somewhere and she'd been telling all the pregnant women she knew - me included!

I could see where she'd gotten mixed up. In a way the pelvic floor does help keep everything closed. The pelvic floor is a saddle of muscle that sits like a hammock across the bottom of the pelvis. It has several functions:

1. It helps your bladders stay closed - stopping leaking and incontinence, especially when sneezing or coughing

2. It supports your pelvic organs and the contents of the abdominal cavity and keeps everything in place. Older women with weak pelvic floors can suffer slipping - where the organs slip down and an operation is needed to put everything back in place. (My ex-boyfriends mother had this and it's not pleasant I assure you)

3. It controls wind and your bowel movements

4. It improves your sexual awareness

In pregnancy the pelvic floor is stretched and weakened by the increasing pressure and load of your baby so it is EVEN MORE important to do pelvic floor exercises to maintain its strength and prevent stress incontinence both during and afterwards.

A strong pelvic floor will not hinder labour but in fact it will help in the second stage of labour and will reduce your pushing time - that's got to be good!

A Real Life Example

After I gave birth to River, I had a pretty speedy recovery - I was back training within 10 days of giving birth and I felt pretty strong and in shape. I was still doing my pelvic floors and transverse exercises, but as the weeks wore on and I got more and more tired and sleep deprived, I started to forget to do them. I became very blase about the whole thing, thinking that as I had done so much work already, I didn't need to stay on top of it to keep my pelvic floor at the same level it was.

BIG MISTAKE - BIG - HUGE!!

I had stupidly forgotten, (in my new mum foggy brain), that the pelvic floor is a muscle just like any other...

IF YOU DON'T USE IT - YOU LOSE IT!

I started back at the gym 5 weeks ago and my first foray on the treadmill was not a pleasant one! Within 3 minutes of jogging I had my first experience of stress incontinence! I was severely disappointed in myself. I knew that if I'd have kept up my pelvic floor exercises, that would never have happened.

So now I'm having to work very hard to get it back. So my message to you today is

DO NOT FORGET YOUR PELVIC FLOOR EXERCISES!!!!


Here's some simple exercises you can do:

1. To find your pelvic floor try stopping the flow of urine midway when you go to the toilet. This is what it feels like to contract your pelvic floor.

NB: ONLY DO THIS ONCE! This is just so you know what it feels like to squeeze your pelvic floor. You should not not do this regularly whilst urinating as you may cause urinary tract infections.

2. Now that you know how it feels - contract and hold your pelvic floor for a count of 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times, working up to a set of 20 as you get stronger. Remember to breathe!

3. Imagine your pelvic floor is an elevator. Move your pelvic floor up inside you from floor 1 to 5. Hold for 1 count then descend slowly from 5 to 1.

You will probably find the descent very difficult to control at first. You'll know you are getting stronger when you are able to control the descent better!


Repeat 5 times, working up to a set of 10 as you get stronger.