To Your Health
May, 2008 (Vol. 02, Issue 05) |
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Changing your eating and drinking lifestyle is vital for your health and the health of your future baby. With all the unhealthy choices out there, it's important to make the right choices now, not after you're pregnant. And implementing a healthier eating lifestyle and making it part of your everyday living could have a huge impact on how you feed your entire family.
A Healthy You Helps Ensure a Healthy Child
The National Women's Health Information Center (www.womenshealth.gov), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommends women take the following measures before becoming pregnant:
Control your stress. When it comes to work and family, figure out what you can and can't do. Set limits with yourself and others. Don't be afraid to turn down requests for your time and energy if it's too much to handle.
Move your body. Once you get pregnant, you can't increase your exercise routine that much, so get started before baby is on the way.
Get any health problems under control. Talk to your doctor about how your health problems might affect you and your baby. If you have diabetes, monitor your blood sugar levels. If you have high blood pressure, monitor these levels as well. If you are overweight, talk to your doctor about how to reach a healthy weight.
Get enough sleep. Try to get seven to nine hours every night.
Tell your doctor if you smoke or use alcohol or drugs, none of which are healthy for you or your developing child. Your doctor can provide you with information on the dangers of these habits and a strategy to help you quit.
Ask people who've had children about their pregnancies. Did they have morning sickness or problems with labor? How did they cope?
Find out what health problems run in your family. Tell these to your doctor. You can get tested for health problems that run in families before getting pregnant (genetic testing).
Get checked for hepatitis (B and C) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These infections can harm you and your baby. Tell your doctor if you or your sex partners have ever had an STD or HIV.
Review all of the medicines you take (prescription, over-the-counter and herbals) with your doctor. Make sure they are safe to take while you're trying to get pregnant or are pregnant.
Get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. Eat foods fortified with folic acid (leafy green vegetables, kidney beans, orange juice and other citrus fruits, peanuts, broccoli, asparagus), take a multivitamin, or take a folic acid pill to get your daily dose. Studies show that adequate folic acid intake reduces the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida.
Claudia Anrig, DC, practices in Fresno, Calif., and is on the board of directors of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, an organization that can answer your questions regarding the value of chiropractic care during and after pregnancy.
