4 Tips for a Happy, Healthy Pregnancy
- alcohol, smoking, and drugs
- Both alcohol and carbon dioxide from cigarette smoking pass through the placenta from your bloodstream right into your unborn child. Alcohol remains in your child for Eat a healthy diet of organic and natural foods
All of the toxins in the foods you eat cross the placental barrier and end up in your unborn child. Once there, they affect the child’s immune system, its brain, and its growth.
Residues of the pesticides used on food crops remain in the foods themselves. RoundUp Herbicide, which is used on all GMO (genetically modified organism) crops, has inert ingredients that are known to kill placental, umbilical cord, and embryonic cells.
Studies have shown that soybeans which have been genetically modified to allow usage of heavy applications of RoundUp herbicide weed killer have high residues of RoundUp’s ingredients in them.
Nowadays it is difficult to find wheat, corn, or soybean products that have not been genetically modified to withstand applications of RoundUp. Eating organic fruits and vegetables is the healthiest choice for your unborn baby and for you.
GMO crops are fed to animals in the factory farms, plus animals in factory farms are also given lots of antibiotics. Thus, it makes good sense to eat grain-fed, no-antibiotic, free range natural and organic meats also.
- Take your prenatal vitamins
Prenatal vitamins usually have more Folic Acid and Iron in them than the usual adult vitamins. Folic Acid helps prevent serious problems with the baby’s spinal cord and brain. Iron is necessary for your baby’s growth and proper development.
A good prenatal multivitamin will contain Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Zinc, Copper, and Vitamins D, C, A and E.
Avoid much longer than it remains in you because the unborn child’s body cannot break down the alcohol like your body can. Thus, you put your child at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder when you drink.
In addition to the carbon monoxide that goes into your baby when you smoke, all of the many chemicals that are now put in cigarettes end up in your baby also. When the approximately 600 chemicals in cigarettes are burned, they create over 7,000 chemicals that can lead to cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, premature babies, and many other problems.
- Maintain a healthy body image
Pregnancy comes with weight gain and body changes that some women find overwhelming. Psychologists say that other women feel strong, sexual and very feminine when they are pregnant.
Being pregnant means your body will go through a host of changes, like hormonal fluctuations, weight gain, enlarged breasts, and sometimes even enlarged feet. But a positive mental attitude toward these changes can offset any feelings of being less attractive when you are pregnant that you may have.
One way to achieve this positive mental attitude is through the use of positive affirmations.
Here’s how to create and use them:
- First go out a buy yourself some wonderful clothing like nylon maternity shells that accentuate your beautiful, pregnant body.
- Then make a list of all the negative idea you have about yourself sicne you became pregnant, starting with “I look fat,” (which is usually at the top of every pregnant women’s list).
- Once you have this list, take each item and turn it into a positive affirmation. Be sure to avoid using any negative terms in the positive affirmation. For example, instead of saying “I do not look fat” (which contains the negative word ‘not’), say “My extra body weight helps me produce a healthy baby” or “I look very attractive as a pregnant woman.”
- After you have rephrased each negative thing you feel about yourself into a positive affirmation, have a small ceremony in which you state you are releasing the negative ideas about yourself as you safely burn the list of negatives.
- Record your list of positive affirmations, replay them for yourself up to 5 times a day for a month, and you will own the new behavior.
- Remind yourself constantly how fortunate and blessed you are to have a beautiful newborn baby as a new addition to your family.