How to Have the Healthiest Pregnancy Possible
It’s no secret that pregnancy is a time that is nutritionally demanding for both mother and baby. In recent years, with the increasing popularity of bone broth and mounting awareness of gut health and the microbiome, more women are asking how to have a healthy pregnancy.
If the mother’s gut is healthy, then the baby will have access to all of the nutrients available from the mother’s diet. If the mother’s gut is not healthy, then even if her diet is pristine, her nutrient absorption will be compromised, which in turn means that the nutrients available for fetal development will also be restricted.
The food that we eat does more than fill us up. What we choose to nourish our bodies with can have a dramatic impact on our digestive system, our immune system, our nervous system, our reproductive system, our cardiovascular system, our microbiome — and ultimately, the rest of the body.
Foods that are overly processed, filled with sugar, or loaded with pesticides can aggravate the tight junctions in the small intestine, resulting in leaky gut or increased intestinal permeability. The barrier function of the small intestine is meant to keep non-nutrients out of the bloodstream, while only allowing fully digested nutrients in. When this barrier function is damaged from food sensitivities and toxins, foreign particles enter the bloodstream and incite chaos, forcing the immune system to perform damage control.
When the immune system becomes activated because of leaky gut, numerous chronic or autoimmune conditions can result, like thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis, digestive problems, depression, anxiety, weakened immunity, and even infertility[1]. Because 70 percent of the immune system actually lives in the gut, overall immunity is a good reflection of the health of one’s gut.
The same can be said for mental health. Emotional stress can trigger neuroinflammatory signaling, which can increase inflammation that leads to anxiety and depression. The brain, the immune system, and the gut are so closely connected because, while much of immune system resides in the gut, the enteric nervous system is also intertwined with the gastrointestinal system.[2] The body is a single unit that works interdependently — no single body system functions without sharing space or function with one or more other body systems. It’s clear that when the gut isn’t functioning as it should, it can have devastating results for the nervous and digestive systems, as well as the immune system and the reproductive system.
If a mother’s gut is not healthy, her immune system and nervous system are also going to be compromised. These can directly impact fetal development in utero in areas of immunity, metabolism, and microbiome that can have long-lasting effects that extend far beyond birth and infancy.[3] Some elements of gut health will be beyond a pregnant woman’s control, and this information shouldn’t be used for scaremongering. Many factors surrounding pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum can end up well beyond a woman’s control. Variables can stack up quickly during pregnancy because even though it’s the most natural thing in the world, it is still utterly complex when one fully-formed human emerges from another.
One thing that a woman can strongly influence is her gut health before and during pregnancy. No, she may not be able to control the method of delivery, or ability to breastfeed, but she can control specific dietary choices before and during pregnancy to care for her microbiome.
Thanks to a blossoming field of research into gut health, we understand more and more how the foods that we eat can help or hurt gut health and the beneficial bacteria that resides in the gastrointestinal tract. The best foods to eat while pregnant are also foods that support a balanced microbiome. These foods include:
To end on how to have a healthy pregnancy, here are a few healthy pregnancy meals using some of the foods listed above.
Aimee McNew is a certified nutritionist who specializes in women’s health, infertility, and autoimmunity. Her first book, The Everything Guide to Hashimoto’s, releases Oct 2016.
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How to Have the Healthiest Pregnancy Possible
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