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.

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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!

Elimination Day 7 and baby is still breech!

Well today is day 7 of elimination and it's going really well! It's not been difficult at all - oh apart from my mum buying me a gluten free cherry and sultana loaf cake yesterday. Luckily, being gluten free it will keep for about 3 months in it's packaging so it's in the cupboard for the end of elimination, when the baby is born!

My gorgeous man made me some gluten free bread at the weekend so this time round I'm not desperate for carbs in the morning. I found it quite tough last time around as I can't have oats and porridge made with millet and rice is disgusting without milk. It literally looks and tastes like cardboard, or gruel (and I'm no Oliver Twist!).

Generally for lunch I have fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, or an omlette, or leftovers from the night before. Dinner has been the same as usual as we always cook from scratch, so last night was lamb chops, mashed potato, broccoli, mushrooms peas and parsnips. Tonight is roast chicken with loads of veggies and mashed potato leftover from last night (we cooked way too much!).

I've been piling up on berries and live greek yoghurt for my snacks and I love it!

Went to the gym this morning and started to add in lots of hip rotator exercises to encourage my boy to turn round. I did lots of downdogs, figure 8's on the swiss ball and pelvic tilts, but he still refuses to budge!!

I'll keep you posted!

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.