Ideally, if you're planning your pregnancy you want to spend some time pre-heating the oven haha! That means making sure you're going into it with a healthy metabolism, appetite and mindset towards food. There will be two things you will likely be faced with in your first trimester 1. wanting ALL THE CARBS and 2. the dreaded morning sickness nausea that can only be relieved most times by eating. Having a healthy metabolism will give your body a better chance at adapting to the extra food intake. So if you're currently in a mindset towards food that supports skipping meals, avoiding carbs, restricting calories and ignoring your appetite you're not going to do yourself any favors! Those are the things, I am here to help you with.
Which leads me to my first tip: Before you get Pregnant, Work on Making Sure That you are Eating Enough to Fuel Your Activity Levels. Visit a Qualified Nutritionist or Dietitian to help you. This will not only help your energy levels throughout your pregnancy but also make sure that you and bub are getting enough calories to thrive.
Tip #2: Balance Your Blood Sugars
Morning sickness is a bitch! You throw up when you’re starving and you throw up when you’re full. Your nausea will feel better when you balance your blood sugar levels as best you can by making mindful nutritional choices, lots of healthy fats, protein and low GI Carbs. If you’re choosing to snack on lollies or lots of high GI carbs without any fat or protein to accompany it, you’ll likely skyrocket your blood sugar, which will be a vicious cycle of more nausea, more lollies, throw in a headache and around and around you go. Tip #3: Try not to Stress, Sometimes you Just Need to Survive.
For some woman morning sickness completely takes over, you might be completely off meat, struggle to keep anything down, or gag at the sight of a vegetable. This is not to time to worry about sticking to your diet! Do not stress yourself out about it, it’s not worth the anxiety for you or bub. Instead use that energy to survive one day at a time. In my first trimester, I struggled to keep water down and I basically lived on tinned spaghetti, nachos and shapes. It felt like it would last forever but it past eventually. You have good days and bad days, so make good choices on the good days and roll with the punches on the bad days. Tip #4: Try to Stay Active This one is a no brainer! If you were already exercising, keep it up but remove all expectations and pressure. Every pregnancy is different, you might rock up to training buzzing with energy 5 times a week whereas someone else might struggle to find the energy to put on pants in the morning. So listen to your body! If you’ve got the energy, get to the gym, if you need to rest and binge watch Netflix for a day or two, do that guilt free. Listen to your body during training, if it feels good, keep it up! Just don’t leave the ego to decide, listen to your gut (or your coach) if they tell you to pull back, then do it. If you didn’t keep up a regular exercise routine before-hand then even a daily walk can help to get the blood pumping, relieve some stress and some of those pesky preggo symptoms. Tip #5 Acknowledge Your Emotional Baggage Pregnancy is going to bring up a whole host of emotions. Past issues with your own mother, lost pregnancies, anxieties about giving birth, your capabilities of being a mum. When emotions come up for you, acknowledge it and process it. If we don’t, we’re likely to shove them down with 8 profiteroles and call it pregnancy cravings. There is certainly no harm in speaking with friends or visiting a Counsellor to talk through any unresolved issues you might have.
Tip #6 Manage your Stress This is not just important for you but also for bub! Firstly learn to notice how stress affects you in your life. Do you get emotional, irritable, do you eat, feel overwhelmed? Once you can acknowledge it you can manage it. Talk to friends, reach out to your partner for support no matter how small or silly the anxiety might feel. Try meditation, taking time out for a cuddle with a pet, journaling your thoughts, walks on the beach or a pregnancy massage. Whatever makes you feel more relaxed and calm.
Tip #7 Listen to your body This is not only important when exercising, and managing stress and emotions but also when listening to your appetite! You only need an average of an extra 300 cals each day, which generally equates to an additional snack. While we might think pregnancy gives us a license to eat the whole cake cabinet at Coles, it does not. So listen to your appetite, eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full, eat mindfully (blog post here) and have the wisdom to tell the difference between "I’m freaking OUT" so I’m going to nail this box of cookies and I’ve had a busy day and I need some fuel for the two of us!
Obviously each and every pregnancy is different, hormones and genetics do play a role to a certain extent but these tips will help you through.
All the best Mamma’s!!
