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!

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

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: 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

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

How I beat morning sickness!

Morning sickness playing you up?

Don't you think it's weird how they call it morning sickness when it can happen any time of day? I know mine was worse in the afternoon and early evening, when I would hit my tired points. I also suffered really badly in the middle of the night.

The last thing I wanted to do then, when I got home from work was cook dinner. If I did manage it, more than likely it would be somthing less than substantial like porridge, or an egg on toast as I wasn't prepared for it! I also started to grab at sugary quick fix snacks that would give me a temporary sugar rush then leave me feeling exhausted, moody and even more nauseated. To add to all this, more than a few times I found myself skipping dinner altogether and feeling 10 times worse later on in the night and the next morning.

Thankfully I soon realised that these bad habits were by large causing a lot of the nausea and sickness I was feeling. My blood sugar was all over the place what with bouts of starving myself followed by huge hits of sugar, sending my insulin into huge spikes and troughs. I also realised that I was just asking for trouble with my erratic eating as I was doing all the right things to create an insulin resistance in myself as well as putting my baby's development at risk.

It was time for a major change and quick style! For years I had implemented the Elimination plan with all my clients, both prenatal and postnatal and had amazing results, now I got to experience it in pregnancy myself.

Elimination is all about eating from only whole and natural food sources and eliminating all foods that are toxic or denatured by processing and manufacture. There is no counting calories or cutting out food groups so there's no need to worry about whether you'll be getting a balance of nutrients - as long as you eat from a wide variety of all natural wholefood sources, you'll be supplying your body and your baby with foods that are jam-packed with high quality nutrients. Not only that but eating the Elimination way and avoiding all toxins means that your body will get rid of any excess water and surplus fat that it is holding onto, (that is non-essential to your pregnancy). What more could you ask for from a pregnancy nutrition plan?

Well within days my sickness and fatigue had stabilised and within one week, it had disappeared altogether. I believe this was largely due to cutting out all added and refined sugars as when I finished the 30 day Elimination plan and introduced sugar back into my diet, the sickness returned with a vengeance. Needless to say, I didn't make this mistake again!

OK so I know you're gonna be asking what the nutrition plan entails. In order to clean out your system and get ot working at peak performance you need to cut out all denatured, manufactured and artificial foods. These are:

Alcohol

Wheat Products (including soups, sauces and other products that use wheat as a thickener)

Processed dairy (milk and cheese - you CAN still have eggs, live yoghurt and real butter)

Processed foods - anything with non-natural ingredients (i.e. something you can't pronounce on the label or ingredients with numbers in)

Sugar - in all forms including honey

Microwaves (as they alter the structure of food cells)

Caffeine

That's it. So all you should be left with are foods that are whole, unaltered and natural in source, i.e. your food should either come from the ground, swim in a river or sea, walk on land or fly in the sky!

In my Complete Pregnancy Support System, I take you through a complete 30 day nutrition plan to help you detox your diet and free your body from toxins safely and gradually. It is important to note that if you attempt to detox your diet too quickly you will suffer with detox symptoms which include headaches, nausea and flu-like symptoms.

As with any change in your diet you should always check with your physician and pregnancy care team first. This post is for information purposes only and is not intended to replace advice given by your medical practitioner, registered dietician or nutritionist.

37 weeks + 3 days and 2 days off elimination

I AM SO HEAVY!!!!!

Well not heavy as in scales heavy - I'm still 10 stone and 2lbs. My pre-pregnancy weight was 8 stone 4 lbs so I've done really well and hit the target range of weight gain right at the bottom end. If you start your pregnancy at a "normal" or ideal weight for your frame then you should aim to put on between 25-35lbs. I'm slighlty under that at 22lbs but then I still have just under 3 weeks to go so I should be dead on.

Anyway, I digress. What I mean is, I FEEL so heavy. This little one is no longer little and has taken over my entire body...I can't breathe 'cos his feet are in my diaphragm, I can't lie on my side because I find myself resting on his back, I can't sit properly to eat my dinner 'cos his head is way down in my pelvis and I have to spread my legs so wide I can't sit comfortably and I ALWAYS get food down my front 'cos I can't lean forward over the table and I can't sleep 'cos it's bl*ody uncomfortable - AGGGGHHHH!

I've heard it so many times from relatives, friends and clients and not really understood quite how much of a drag it is. I always knew it was uncomfortable towards the end but I never realised just how much of your body is taken over!

So I thought with just a few weeks to go I'd relax and take a week off Elimination, go out for a last dinner with my friends and then get back on it for the last two weeks of pregnancy.

In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman,


"Big Mistake, BIG, HUGE"

I had two days of eating non-elimination food -

Sunday: 1 chocolate truffle, 1 foam banana candy, 1 mocha
Monday: 1 decaf caramel latte, 1 magnum ice-cream

And I felt like dog poo! I was really nauseous, had terrible heartburn, really tired and lethargic and on top of that I felt quite down emotionally.

So that was enough, I am back on it with a vengeance and not coming off until the baby is born!

Please take my advice and don't do what I did and quit your elimination before the time is up! It's just not worth it - you don't want to spend your last weeks feeling rotten because you've let up on your nutrition!

TAG! YOU'RE IT!

I got tagged by Leah Segedie of BookieBoo so here are my 7 things you didn't know about me!

1. I used to teach kickboxing in Uni

2. I have a phobia about wires! Well not exactly a phobia, but I just hate them, especially behind our TV where there are loads of leads and they are all tangled up! It drives me mad...

3. I'm a careless parker! I mean, I'm fine when I'm driving but when I'm parking my car or pulling out of a parking space, I have a tendency to daydream and not look behind me, or my attention is caught by something in a shop window and I pull out without looking! Luckily it's only been walls or bollards that I 've hit so far!

4. I would love to be a secret agent - all that cool stuff! Infiltrating gangs, uncovering terrorist activity and having all those cool espionage skills like unarmed combat, weapons training etc! I want to be the next Jack Bauer!

5. I really, really want a Siberian Husky...I'm not allowed yet as we don't have a house.Boo!

6. I love Ben & Jerry's phish food ice cream so much that I once ate a whole tub in just 3 days (agh!)

7. I eat cold baked beans out of the tin - but they gotta be Heinz!

That's it!

Now to pass it onto the next lucky 7 blogs

daily dose of dax

rocofit

Fit Yummy Mummy

Balanced Steps

Elimination Day 15 - Baby has turned! Yipee!

Day 15 cravings

Elimination has been really easy this time around until it got to the weekend. Friday night was a full moon and as those of you that know me will know, I'm like a werewolf..(no I don't grow fur and start chasing rabbits!), I am regular as clockwork with the lunar cycle and bang, there it was, PMT, a craving for chocolate, coffee and all the stuff I shouldn't be eating. I did well though. Just ignored it, but I was quite surpised that I am still craving coffee today. I mean, I haven't even had caffeine since I found out I was pregnant, so what's that all about?

Maybe it's the comfort association of a hot milky drink. I'd also love a hot chocolate but that's not going to happen for another couple of weeks so I guess I should just get over it!

The great thing is, the tops of my thighs look a lot slimmer, the water I was holding there has disappeared - they look like they did before I fell pregnant and my hip bones which were always quite prominent anyway, are now very clearly defined - there's no fat left there!

The Obstetrician

I went to see my obstetrician this morning and she scanned me to see where the baby is lying and thankfully he's turned! I thought he had a couple of days ago as I felt a sharp pain in my side, that I put down to a Braxton Hicks contraction, but later when I looked in the mirror, my bump looked like it had dropped.

So I am really chuffed! I wasn't keen on having him palpated and now he can rest easy until the big day arrives.

Don't forget if you are on Elimination, make it easy on yourself with quick recipes that are 100% compatible with your diet and ready in less than 15 minutes. The Elimination Cookbook has been my saviour during my pregnancy and I'm sure you'll find the same!

5 1/2 weeks to go and I'm back on Elimination!

Well first I have to apologise for not blogging for the past couple of weeks. Things have been a stressful to say the least. Carl was made redundant a couple of weeks ago and the job market is obviously not very healthy in the midst of this huge recession. In fact every time I turn on the TV it seems to get worse. Yesterday was the collapse of Iceland's national bank. Anyway I try not to dwell on it too much. What will be, will be.

I am very nearly there now and feeling very heavy! All of a sudden in the last two weeks I seem to be waddling more and my bump is getting huge! When I sit down on the toilet, I have to pull my trousers all the way down to my ankles instead of just my knees, to allow my knees to open and let my bump sit in between them!!


The midwife

This morning, I got a new midwife, (thank God!). My previous midwife was lovely, but she never gave me any information on anything I needed to know! She would check my urine, blood and the baby's heartbeat and that was it! No advice ever!

Anyway my new midwife is fantastic. I saw her this morning and I have to say, thank goodness I moved house and had to get a new midwife. I have an ongoing condition which means that I should have been under the care of a consultant obstetrician since the beginning of my pregnancy. Unfortunately, although my previous midwife was fully aware of this condition, she never even mentioned any other care I would need for it! Ridiculous huh? Well thankfully all is sorted and I'm seeing my obstetrician next week. I think I'll also get a scan at the same time as my boy is still in breech and the midwife said they may need to palpate him to turn him round if he doesn't turn by himself in the next few days.


Dax Moy's Elimination diet

Elimination Day 3

No caffeine
No alcohol
No processed foods (i.e. anything on a label that you can't pronounce or has a number in it and is not recognised as a natural food)
No wheat
No processed dairy (pasteurised and homogenised milk, cheese, cream etc)
No sugar

So the big day is looming and I'm back on elimination to detox my body, get rid of any excess water that I may be holding and get my body into peak performance ready for the big day. I want all my pelvic tissues to be totally toxin free so that they are working at optimal levels and also to make sure that I don't have any signs of pelvic odema, (fluid in the tissues which causing swelling), which can play a major role in slowing down the birth and causing complications.

I must say it's been surprisingly easy this time around. Granted today is only day three, but as I haven't really had caffeine since I learnt I was pregnant, (maybe 3 cups the whole time), I've not been drinking much alcohol, I can't have wheat as I'm celiac and we always cook from scratch, the only thing that I'm missing is dairy. I would love to have cheese if I could but for the sake of having an easy labour and getting by body back quickly, it's really not worth it!

I don't think I'm going to have any detox symptoms at all this time but I'll let you know tommorow!

For easy Elimination recipes that are ready in minutes take a look at the elimination cookbook

Top 5 Nutrition Tips for a Perfect Pregnancy Profile!

Ever wonder how some mums to be have a perfect neat bump without piling on pregnancy poundage anywhere else? You know the ones, you see them from behind in the supermarket and you wouldn’t even know they were pregnant, then they turn around and, hey presto, there’s a perfect neat bump!
Is it to do with their body type? Well in some cases yes. We’ve all got a friend who can eat whatever she likes, never exercise, (apart from on the dance floor), and not put on an ounce, whilst we struggle to maintain our figures on high protein, low GI diets and an exercise regime that would scare the marines, but thankfully these skinny minnies are in the minority. Most of us fall into the category of watch what you eat and exercise regularly and your body will obey. Indulge one too many times and you’ll pay the price in those skinny jeans!
The same applies in pregnancy. It’s amazing just how many women will use pregnancy as an excuse to “take a break” from their healthy lifestyle, just because they know they’re going to get bigger anyway. In fact someone close to me said to me in the early stages of my pregnancy, “this is the only time you get to eat whatever you like and not worry about it!”. I was amazed as she had just had a baby herself and was struggling to lose her pregnancy weight a year on. Didn’t she realise that the more you put on in pregnancy the more you have to lose after?
So here are my top 5 tips to make sure you keep your sexy mama figure through pregnancy and pop back into shape quickly afterwards:
1. Eat small meals little and often – yes I know you’ve heard this one a million times before, but it’s important. For one it’s even more important in pregnancy to keep your blood sugar stable to avoid feeling exhausted, faint or sick. Two; small meals mean you won’t feel bloated and uncomfortable or suffer with indigestion and heartburn. Three; if your blood sugar is stable you won’t go rushing for the chocolate in a desperate bid to get your sugar levels back up quickly. Stable blood sugar = No sugar cravings.
2. Avoid processed food – all those chemicals, preservatives and stabilisers just aren’t any good for you or baby, not to mention all the hidden sugar and salt. Processing denatures food and kills off the nutrients so that the nutritional value of a processed food versus a natural product is virtually nil. What that means to you is that you will have to eat a lot more processed food to provide your baby, and your body, with the nutrients it needs to function properly and feed the growing life inside you. Eat all natural and you won’t feel the need to eat nearly as much food to satisfy your body’s nutritional needs.
3. Eat lots of fibrous fruit and veg – pregnancy brings with it the joys of constipation so make sure it doesn’t become a pain in the proverbial by including a big variety of fruit and vegetables in your diet. Aim to eat fruit and vegetables of all colours in the spectrum to provide you with a balance of vitamins and minerals and try to include more of the high fibre fruit and veg, such as apples, pears, berries, clemetines, broccoli, cauliflower, leafy greens etc.
4. Avoid all sugar – Sugar, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, beet sugar, it all does the same thing. Creates an aggressive insulin response. Insulin is your fat storing hormone. The higher the insulin response the more fat you’ll store. So eat added sugar = store more fat. All food contains sugar so there’s no need to add it to anything.
5. Eat protein with every meal – protein is essential for the cellular growth and development of your baby. It is also necessary for the placenta, amniotic and maternal tissues and the 50% increase in blood volume that accompanies pregnancy. Not only that but protein also makes you feel fuller for longer, and doesn’t create an aggressive insulin response, meaning that you won’t be craving a sugar fix an hour after eating.
If you follow these simple rules you should find that you only put on what’s necessary during your pregnancy in order to support you and your growing baby. A healthy weight gain is between 24 – 34 lbs over the course of your pregnancy. That’s roughly just over ½ pound / week. You’ll also find it a lot easier to return to your pre-pregnancy size afterwards if you’re already eating a healthy and balanced diet.