How to prepare your body for pregnancy!

Attention all ladies who want to become a mom one day! Here are some tips to prepare your body for a healthy and easy pregnancy!

Whether you’re a teenager dreaming to have a baby or an already married woman planning to have a baby someday, these recommendations are useful for you regardless of your age to prepare you for the big day. These recommendations will pacify your fear of pregnancy and delivery and prepare your body for an easier pregnancy and lesser pain delivery! So follow them and enjoy an easy and healthy pregnancy and delivery!

1) Lose the extra weight: if you are overweight, start planning to lose weight, and if needed, seek the help of a dietitian.  Being overweight during pregnancy increases the risk of developing gestational diabetes, hypertension and varize. Accumulation of fat happens easily during pregnancy and being overweight will lead to a tough final stage of pregnancy. The best solution is to lose weight before becoming pregnant and make sure you are in your ideal body weight range.

2) Stop smoking: When you stop smoking you have better chances to become pregnant. Some studies even show that smoking decreases male fertility!! Men also benefit from this recommendation! Smoking increases the risk of premature delivery, complications during pregnancy, babies with low weight and sudden death syndrome in the babies! What is worse is that this affects, to some extent, passive smoker, so stay away from smoking in public places!

3) Moderate your drinking intake: If you are someone who consumes lots of alcohol, start learning to moderate your intake so you can easily stop drinking when you become pregnant. Alcohol and babies don’t go well together since alcohol can also affect a baby’s weight and can cause serious problems like cardiac diseases, problems with uterine fetal growth and even problems in cerebral development!

4) Change the quality of food you eat: if you are one of those people who diet on fast foods, sweets, and drink lots of high sugar juices and soft drinks, and don’t eat homemade foods, you probably lack most of the nutrients you need to become pregnant and to have a healthy and easy pregnancy! By the way eating healthy increases the chances of becoming pregnant! That includes 5 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, diner, and snacks between main meals composed of whole wheat complex carbohydrates, low fat protein sources, beans and cereals, raw walnuts and almonds, fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and derivatives, in the right quantities.

When you start nourishing your body, you will provide it with vital reserves of nutrients like iron, calcium and folic acid (vit B9) among other nutrients. Those are crucial from the very beginning for the creation of the baby.

·         Iron:

You’ll need a lot of iron to create the volume of blood of your baby. Make sure you have a good iron stock before becoming pregnant by consuming iron-rich food sources like meat, poultry, fish, beans and dark green leaves, along with a vitamin C food source to ensure better iron absorption (like kiwi, bell peppers, orange, broccoli etc…)

·         Calcium:

Start consuming 3 portions of low fat milk and its derivatives daily & white beans and sardines weekly for a good stock of calcium to guarantee a good skeleton for your baby and a good heart function for yourself during pregnancy and delivery.

·         Folic Acid (vitamin b9):

It is important to consume folic acid daily 3 month prior to pregnancy to avoid the risk of neural tube defect in your baby and a premature birth. Found in spinach, walnuts, almonds, melon, broccolis, beets, egg, avocado

Also avoid consumption of fried food, fatty and sugary foods. They will make you gain unwanted excess weight and will rob important vitamins and minerals needed by your body!

5) Exercising: Swimming, aerobics and walking are important for an easy pregnancy and for an easy delivery. You would gain less weight, strengthen the body for childbirth and also reduce anxiety.

Physical activity before pregnancy will:

- Increase the chances of a normal and fast delivery without complications and without pain because the mother will have a better muscular and cardio respiratory resistance

- improve the hormonal and body changes during pregnancy without pain and anxiety

- avoid blood pressure and high blood sugar

- reduce stress

- help you get back to your initial weight before pregnancy

- help you have more balance to adapt to your new weight

- good for your heart and lungs decreasing dizziness, bloating, varize and tiredness as well as pain in hands and feet

Physical activity will help also during delivery. How?

- Increases your energy levels and you’ll be ready for the energy you need to push the baby out

- You become resistant and more tolerant to pain due to the production of endorphins, a natural analgesic produced by the body

- Avoids complications after delivery like urinary infections

These are a few examples how exercising and a healthy eating pattern can help you have an easy pregnancy and delivery without pain, fear, overweight and other complications.

Samia Khoury Dietitian
Online Diet Consultation available wherever you live

www.samiakhoury.com
Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com
Please Like my facebook page: samia khoury diet clinic