So you realize you are pregnant? Now the fun is starting. First you feel tired, then you feel nauseous. You take a pregnancy test, and sure enough, it is positive. What do you do now? I suggest you welcome the little one growing so quickly inside you. Those cells can hardly contain their joy of being able to multiply. They can't wait to shape and form this new person. Cells start to multiply by 2. 2 then 4, then 8 and 16, and 32 until they separate into the body parts that we recognize as a person. This is so amazing.
So you need to eat. While feeling nauseous, eat every few hours. Snacking is great, but trying to eat protein, drink nourishing fluids and notice if you are getting vegetables and minerals in your diet. Sometimes, just adding a little salt can calm a touchy stomach or take away a headache. Getting a variety of foods will satisfy the cells in your body which in turn will benefit the cells in the new developing body inside your body.
The placenta will need to be nourished, as it is forming the nourishing lake for baby to get its nourishment without crossing into mother's blood stream. To be nourished, the placenta basically needs mommy to eat at least 7 proteins (half the size of a person's hand) a day plus at least 3 quarts of water. Including the vegetables is important so baby can receive a variety of vitamins and minerals. Those who take a prenatal vitamin, may falsely assume they are getting enough nutrition to avoid deficiencies for self and baby. The truth is that insufficient vitamin D can cause schizophrenia, diabetes and skeletal diseases later in life. Essential fatty acids are needed to protect baby's intelligence. Choline, is needed in a generous proportion to avoid learning deficits in children. Also, overconsumption of sugar and vegetable oils do interfere with normal growth development in ourselves and our fetuses. Facial deformities do arise from the mother's lack of nutrition or her misunderstood knowledge about nutrition. Unfortunately, the medical professional has not been trained in nutrition and may be complacent about finding out nutritional advice when aiding a couple in their preparation prior to conception and after.
Vitamin pills do aid a pregnant mommy in being properly nourished, but they do not replace real foods. Real food is good to eat, but we must also become aware of whether the food is grown in fertile soil and not genetically modified with chemicals that kill other bugs. As we hopefully learned in science, the food supply is either well nourished or horribly tainted by all food sources that it received. So an animal that eats the natural growing grasses of the field that was fertilized by healthy animals, waters and sunlight, will be healthy. Animals that have eaten from foods that have been sprayed with pest control, poisons, or chemicals, will contain some residue of these, even if time and rain and sunlight has also been part of their life cycle. These affect our human bodies and life spans as well. If a bug was sprayed to not infect a food, and the chemical for the bug affected the stomach of the bug, where it self destructed, that chemical stays on the food product. If a human eats that chemically treated food, it is probable that it will affect the stomach or intestinal tract of the person who consumed that food product. So, do eat real food, but be conscientious about the food choices and be educated in choosing healthy foods.
By week 28, if mother has eaten well, has had enough protein, vegetables, minerals, and water, the placenta will be healthy as it supports baby for the rest of its development within mother. Mother will feel well. Mother's iron in her blood will remain at a healthy level for labor, birth and birth of the placenta. No hemorrhage will be too much if there is not a problem because the rich blood will coagulate appropriately.
Sometimes a mother's blood will be low in iron. If mother increases her consumption of molasses, or dates or spinach or liver or other meat products, she can bring that level into an acceptable range. If mother has a high blood pressure, or on the verge of toxemia, mother needs to eat more protein, and the Brewer diet highly recommends increasing the salt in the diet.
So, to be a well nourished pregnant mother, increase your consumption of good foods, eliminate the eating of not so good foods, eat lots of protein. (If you are vegetarian, there are lots of food combinations that make protein. Learn what they are.) and drink plenty of water. Nourish yourself. Don't be afraid to eat. No diets please, except from bad foods. Your good nourishment will nourish your baby and you won't be sorry. A healthy baby and a healthy future for baby or for baby's next generation will be enhanced by you.
References:
Deep Nutrition by Catherine Shanahan, MD
Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Balch and Balch
No Nonsense Guide to a Naturally Healthy Pregnancy and Baby by Joseph Mercola
Traditional Foods are your Best Medicine by Ronald Schmid
The Very Important Pregnancy Program by Gail Brewer
http://drbrewerpregnancydiet.com/