Natural Pregnancy Project

Holistic Nutrition helps individuals achieve optimal mental, physical and spiritual health through the use of food and nutrients. It is used to help already healthy people stay healthy, but it can also be used to help improve symptoms of disease for those already living with a chronic ailment. It is a perfect nutritional plan for pregnancy because it is tailor made to your specific needs.

The focus is on eating foods that provide your body with the highest levels of nutritional value and supplementing one’s diet with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids when necessary.  It is more than just eating a balanced diet though.

Diet and nutrition have a serious impact on physical as well as mental health.  The wrong food and/or a lack of balanced nutrients can lead to many problematic psychological and physical symptoms as well as chronic health conditions.

Holistic Nutrition: As Individual as the People Who Use It

Getting to know your body and what it needs is one of the most important steps you can take if you want to live a holistic lifestyle and follow the principles of holistic nutrition. .  Everyone is different which means every body is different and will need different foods and nutrients.  It all depends on your biochemical make up.

Becoming attentive to your body as well as your thoughts, feelings and reaction to what you put in your body will provide you information on how each nutrient, food or supplement affects your body.  Keep a journal of physical and psychological symptoms and then research their relationship to diet and nutrient levels.  Keeping a journal is helpful, but getting a biochemical workup of your blood is a wise idea. This will give you some exact measurements to judge your progress. Allergy tests can also help you identify hidden allergies that are affecting your body.

Holistic Nutrition is very individualistic. You will need to meet with a holistic nutritionist to figure out exactly what your body needs, and set up a program individualized to your needs.

The Basics of Holistic Nutrition

Even though holistic nutrition is largely individualized, there are some basics that apply to all individuals who wish to follow a holistic nutritional plan. Here are some of the basics you will need to know if you plan to follow a holistic nutrition plan. If you plan to use holistic nutrition during your pregnancy talk to your doctor and make sure she is open to helping you with your nutrition.

- All food should be organic as much as possible.

- Avoid junk food and processed food.

- No food with additives and preservatives.

- No sugar or caffeine.

- Drink adequate amounts of pure water. Filtered and free of chlorine and other contaminants.

- Avoid microwaves.

- No genetically engineered food.

- Identify hidden food allergies.

- Address nutritional deficiencies.

- Eat whole foods in their natural state as much as possible.

Getting started with Holistic Nutrition

If you are going to start living a holistic nutrition lifestyle during your pregnancy you need to take it slow. This is a major change from the average American diet. Start making one change at a time until you are meeting all the requirements for holistic nutrition. Be kind to yourself, this is not an easy process.

You also want to which changes are having what affect. If you make too many changes at once you will not be able to tell which changes were beneficial, and which were not.

Make sure to read labels ~ even at the health food store. All products marked as “organic” may not be completely organic. It’s important to know exactly what you are putting in your body.

As your body responds to the changes you are making, as well as the further you move into your pregnancy you will need to reevaluate your plan, make sure you are still getting all the nutrients and vitamins you need. As you move forward in your pregnancy you may find your nutritional needs have changed. Also food allergies may get worse or better simply by changing your eating habits. This needs to be watched and adjusted for if it does happen. You may find your food plan for this month may not be what you need next month.

No matter where you are at in your pregnancy you will find holistic nutrition a helpful way of life. You will find you have more energy, a clarity of mind, strength and a strong healthy body with which to give birth.

Thank you for stopping by the Natural Pregnancy Project. This is an ongoing project so please subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up to date with all future research! Thanks for visiting!

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photo credit: ralphbijker

I’ve been reading a lot lately on food allergies, sensitivities, and even natural chemicals that are in some foods and how they affect our children’s behavior, as well as our own.

I was getting concerned with some of my little one’s behavior and was talking to a friend. She mentioned to me that it sounded like food, and not necessarily discipline. That’s where my research started. As with most things, it seems once I start doing a little research the more the subject comes up.

If you have had food sensitivities or food allergies it’s more likely your children will have similar interests, so it’s wise to find out what you can do while your pregnant and your children are young to decrease the likelihood of food allergies.

Here are some of the resources I have found.

Fed Up With Food Additives This site is very comprehensive and will give you tons of information on food allergies, food sensitivities, as well as sensitivities to naturally occurring chemicals in food.

The author of this site also has written a book called Fed Up . She is from Australia and I was only able to find it on Amazon. It is a very good book, especially if you are already experiencing issues with food sensitivities. It provides all the information on which foods contain which additives/chemicals, as well as an explanation of the elimination diet. She also provides quite a few recipes in the back with explanations of what chemicals/additives they do have. If you think your children are experiencing behavior related to food additives I highly recommend this book.

IF you decide the FAILSAFE diet is for you and your family she has also written a The Failsafe Cookbook to help you follow the Failsafe diet.

Today I was watching Good Morning America and saw an American mom who is battling some of the same issues. She is working on getting artificial food colorings taken out of American foods, and spearheading a movement to make our foods more natural.

Her website is very informative, and written in language Americans will easily understand. She provides a list of doctors who are helping her, including Dr. Sears. She provides many studies and informative articles, as well as an ongoing blog about the subject. This information starts with what moms can do while they’re pregnant to help prevent allergies in their children, and continues on to how to manage allergies in schools. Allergy Kids is a great website, and provides so much useful information for the new mom, and the moms dealing with this issue.

I’d love to hear what you think about the issue of food additives, colorings, and your experiences managing these issues in your children. Feel free to leave comments or join us on the forum!

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