Pregnancy is not the time to let yourself go.
It is not an excuse to eat whatever you want. It is not the time for you to rationalize that second piece of pie, or laying on the couch when you could be out for a walk.
In fact, it’s just the opposite. When you’re pregnant, it is the most important time to take care of your body. Because really, you aren’t just taking care of you anymore. You’ve got another human relying solely on you to give them the best chance at life when they enter this world.
I’m not just talking about how much weight you do or do not gain, or how quickly you “bounce back” afterward. Get your gossip magazines out if you want to talk about that. What I am talking about is your identity, and even more so how you treat yourself, what you put into your system, environments you’re in, and so on.
When you’re pregnant, it is not the time to just wing it and hope for the best. There’s a difference between stressing so much about each facet of pregnancy and choosing to be blissfully, if not dangerously, unaware. Get educated, ask questions, know your family history/potential risks, and talk to your doctor.
Staying healthy during pregnancy has so many benefits for not only you, but your baby, too! Don’t we all want to give our little ones the best opportunity at a healthy life? If you agree with that, “Eating for two!” should not become your rally cry. Eating well, exercising and making good lifestyle choices has been linked to improved fetal brain development, a smoother labor and delivery, a baby with a healthy birth weight, and more.
There will be days, of course, when you won’t feel like getting off the couch, or you just want a little extra dessert. That’s okay. Pregnancy isn’t always easy and some days you need a little reprieve. Just be mindful.
Are there cases of women who are healthy the entire pregnancy and still have complications/issues? Yes – I was one of them. So, don’t get me wrong – I know that being healthy doesn’t guarantee a complication-free birth or a 100% healthy baby. Some things are just not preventable. However, making mindful decisions during your pregnancy still does a significant amount of good.
Great article!! I found that it actually became EASIER and more natural to walk, do yoga (would NOT have had such a good birth without it), and eat healthy once I became pregnant and even more so when he was born and started breastfeeding.
I mean, if not eating cheese means this little guy screams less, then by ALL MEANS I can wait two years for some queso.
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