wavebreakmediamicro/
AdobeStock.com
healthy kids Natural Mama
Holistic Approaches to a Healthy Pregnancy by Julie Peterson
D
uring her first pregnancy, Sarah Wallace, a former registered nurse in Atlanta, was chronically anemic. “I was so tired I would fall asleep while I was eating dinner,” she says. Tat pregnancy resulted in a baby with a low birth weight.
Fortunately, Wallace learned more about nutrition and wellness. Her now 4-year-old has caught up to the growth charts and is thriving, and her next pregnancy went smoothly. No matter how pregnancy is counted—280 days, 40 weeks or three trimesters—
mama and baby share blood, nutrition and air for the duration. “Taking a holistic path before and during pregnancy is about embracing the nature of our bodies and committing to maintaining all aspects of wellness during this journey,” says Nancy Peplinsky, founder of the Holistic Moms Network, based in Caldwell, New Jersey.
Nutrition for Two Te right foods nourish the growing baby, the placenta and the mother’s increasing blood volume, maintaining the mother’s body during the complex mission. Whole foods rather than processed are best. Te Whole 9 Months: A Week-By-Week Pregnancy Nutrition Guide with Recipes for a Healthy Start, by integrative obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN) Jennifer Lang and dietitian Dana Angelo White, makes it easier to select the proper nutrients along the way and provides ways to deal with nausea and cravings. Choose organic foods when possible to reduce exposures to pesticides. If organic
isn’t an option for every food, Te Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, from the Environmental Working Group (
ewg.org), can be downloaded and taken to the market. Either avoid foods on the “Dirty Dozen” list or go organic for those items. A high-quality prenatal vitamin fills nutrition gaps. Wallace saw a difference between
her first and second pregnancy by switching brands. “Te first time, I took generic prenatal vitamins. With the second pregnancy, I found whole-food supplements. I never got that exhaustion, and my second baby was a healthy weight,” she says. “Research has shown that healthy nutrition during pregnancy improves outcomes
for mom and baby, while unhealthy food choices can lead to premature childbirth, high-risk pregnancies and poor developmental outcomes in children,” says Peplinsky.
22 Central Florida
www.NACFL.com
In addition to clean food, it’s important
to reevaluate body care products and household cleaners for toxicity. Te National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has linked personal care and cleaning product ingredients to endocrine disruption, developmental and reproductive disorders, neurotoxicity and cancer.
Body Love Kristen Burgess, in Fife Lake, Michigan, creator of the website NaturalBirthAnd
BabyCare.com, teaches classes for moms- to-be. “[Exercise] helps your blood volume increase, brings plenty of oxygen to your baby, increases your stamina and endurance for labor (which is an athletic event), and perhaps best of all, keeps you feeling great,” she writes in her blog. Options such as stretching, walking
and prenatal yoga can be soothing for mom and baby. Burgess also advocates prenatal belly dancing to raise the heart rate “while bonding with your baby and relishing your beautiful pregnant form.” Peplinsky notes, “A holistic approach
to pregnancy also embraces integrative therapies such as meditation, yoga, acupuncture and chiropractic, which
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
