Food, Weight & Pregnancy

I found these fanatstic articles from Susanne Myers and I thought you might like them.
Enjoy!

-Sally Aubrey

"Managing Morning sickness

You are 2 months pregnant and your morning sickness is raging at full force. You know you need to be taking your prenatal vitamins to keep your developing baby healthy and give your own body the nutrients it needs to stay healthy during this pregnancy. At the same time, simply the thought of having to swallow the vitamin pill is enough to turn your face green.

Why Do Prenatal Vitamins Make You Sick?

Prenatal Vitamins contain fairly large amounts of iron and folic acid, both of which tend to make you sick to your stomach.

During your pregnancy, you body’s blood volume increases by about one third. Your body needs the extra iron in the blood production. Without it you would feel even more tired and lethargic than you already are.

The extra folic acid is included in the prenatal vitamin to protect your unborn baby. Folic acid has shown to reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord.

Making The Vitamins Easier On Your Stomach.

Now that you know why your prenatal vitamins are making you sick and also realized that they are important for the health and wellbeing of both yourself and you unborn baby, let’s take a look at what you can do to make the vitamins a little easier on your stomach.

Always take your prenatal vitamins with some food. Take them with a large meal or eat at least a small snack that includes some form of protein with them. Drinking a glass of water in addition to the food helps as well. Whatever you do, never take them on an empty stomach, especially not first thing in the morning when you are most prone to morning sickness.

If you are having a hard time keeping your vitamins down in the morning, consider taking them right before bedtime instead. Eat a small snack like a bowl of cereal or some crackers with cheese and take your prenatal vitamins right before you go to sleep. The food will help keep you from getting sick and with a little luck you will be asleep before you start getting nauseous.

Weight Gain During Pregnancy Is Essential

No woman should ever severely restrict food during her pregnancy, no matter how much she weighs when she gets pregnant. All obstetricians recommend that a woman gain at least 20 pounds during her pregnancy, even if she weighs 300 pounds. Several studies have shown that babies that are small because they are deprived of food in the uterus are the ones most likely to die in infancy or to suffer heart attacks later in life.

Starvation in the uterus shunts blood to the baby's brain and away from the other organs, causing it to be born with small liver, pancreas, kidneys and other organs. When they eat normal amounts of food as adults, they have higher than normal levels of hormones. Their small livers cannot remove insulin after meals, causing high insulin levels that constrict arteries and cause heart attacks. Their small kidneys release chemicals into the bloodstream that constrict arteries to cause high blood pressure and strokes. The studies were done on people born during famines; they show that no woman should intentionally restrict calories while she is pregnant.

The foods you choose are even more important than your amount of weight gain. Be sure to eat plenty of whole grains, beans, nuts and other seeds, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Cut back on refined carbohydrates (white flour, white rice or milled corn, all added sugars); restrict added fats, and avoid partially hydrogenated oils."