“Keeping a Healthy Pregnancy: Avoid Overeating!”
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Happiness, Health, Wealth and wellbeing self help books and personal development articles about improving your Happiness, Health & Wealth, increasing your wisdom on how to be happy, pregnancy diet health life using self help resources like self help site with free self help books on being happy with loving relationships, high self esteem & self confidence using self actualization and pregnancy diet health life self growth resources.
If you are slim and non-pregnant, gaining extra weight and eating high calorie but low nutritional food may not be such a great issue. But to the “infanticipating” woman, there may be more serious consequences if she is not meticulous in watching what she eats. Here's the whys and hows of being more prudent with your palate during party time.
Why You Should Not Gain Too Much Weight
Too many calories and extra pounds can put you at a higher risk for pregnancy complications such as hypertension or diabetes, and may make labor and delivery more difficult. Although you do need extra calories during pregnancy, particularly during the last trimester, you also need lots of extra nutrients, so those extra calories need to be chosen wisely.
A woman who is not pregnant needs between 1800 and 2200 calories per day. When you are pregnant, contrary to popular belief, you only need to increase your calories by about 300 per day, so keep in mind that what matters is quality, not quantity. Remember that if you gain way beyond the prescribed weight, your chances of having a large baby also increases, which in turn may also increase your chances of ending up with a Cesarean section.
Here are tips to help you keep the scale from tipping over.
1. Prioritize your requirements.
Make sure you meet your daily requirements first before you allow yourself the treats. Get your fill of the salads and protein sources while filling your healthy carbohydrate requirements to help you create energy. Eat your fruit first before you hover over the dessert table. Hopefully, that would have killed your craving for the pastry department.
2. Avoid starvation.
It is truly difficult to control your appetite if you arrive ravenous during a party. You are bound to eat everything in sight! So before you go to the party, have a nutritious snack like a granola or muesli bar, veggie sticks with yogurt-garlic dip, or some dried fruits and nuts so you won't be obsessing over the buffet table.
3. Drink before you leap.
If you have the urge to splurge, gulp down a glass of water, fruit juice, or some clear soup. That will instantly appease your grumbling insides and allow you to be more sane and prudent in your choice of food.
4. Cheat sensibly.
If you must absolutely give in to your sweet tooth, at least make the wiser, more nutritious, lower calorie choice. An oatmeal or ginger cookie is better than an empty sponge cake or a fatty cheesecake.
5. If you must indulge, eat only a portion.
If you can't resist the cheesecake, instead of gobbling up the whole slice, eat only half or a few bites of it. Remember, it doesn't matter whether you have had 50 bites or only two. In the end, your mouth is empty. But the 50 bites will take your weight farther up the scale.
6. Burn what you eat.
Just because you are pregnant doesn't mean you cannot exercise. As a rule, you can still continue your exercises, dances, or low-impact sports. Remember that brisk walking for 20 minutes will raise your metabolism and cause you to burn calories faster.
7. Don't be a stress chomper.
Resist the impulse to munch away your stress. Be prepared with your arsenal of anxiety busters such as yoga, meditation, or a massage, instead of taking it out on food.
Remember that staying within your prescribed weight will ensure a more favorable outcome for your pregnancy, as well as prevent your risk for breast cancer. Now that's really worth dieting for.
Happiness and wellbeing self help books and pregnancy diet health life personal development articles about improving your Happiness, Health & Wealth, increasing your wisdom on how to be happy, and using self help resources like self help site with free self help books on being happy with loving relationships, high self esteem & self confidence using self actualization and self growth pregnancy diet health life resources.
The Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Diet Your Health Your Life!
Because I believe diet and exercise are so important, I'm often frustrated with the recommendations I receive. Nutrition and natural health ideas are often so negative (don't eat this, watch out for that) or so rigorous (be sure to eat some raw, natural, organically grown vegetable I've never heard of) or so complicated, I end up ignoring them. And yet, I know diet is critical to my health and well-being, so I made up my own rules. My objective was simplicity, so all of you with greater will-power and more discipline, cut me some slack, OK? For the rest of us, I hope you find them useful.
1. Eat less. I used to eat until I was full, and then snack as a hobby. And, sometimes I still do. But, more and more, I decide when I've eaten enough, leave room for a treat later, and simply choose to eat a little less. I think it helps.
2. Drink more water. I used to try to drink 8 glasses a day, but I usually ended up either losing count…or just going to the bathroom a lot. Now, on my way to the table I stop by the sink and grab a glass of water. I figure that's more water than most people drink, it probably helps me eat less (see Rule #1), and sometimes it reminds me to drink even more. Close enough.
3. Eat more fruit. Benjamin Franklin said, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." I just know apples, a banana, some grapes or something "exotic" like a mango or a kiwi tastes good, and it's the fastest, most portable and convenient food I've found. A handful of those little baby carrots beats a sandwich by a good 90 seconds!
4. Eat your vegetables. Yeah, still listening to my mother. But on the positive side, they're so easy! No sauces, no mixing or blending or nothing! Raw, steamed or microwaved, they're great for adding color to a meal (greens, yellows, and beans in all sorts of colors). I know fresh and organically grown is best, and sometimes I buy them that way….
5. Eat more rice and baked potatoes. I score points with my doctor, my "significant other" and again, it's about the easiest cooking I've figured out.
6. Stretch when you feel like it. I used to follow a routine that recommended stretching and yoga for about 30 minutes every morning. Wonderful stuff! Very healthy. And someday I'm going to give it another try! For now, every morning, and several times during the day, I stand up and try to reach the ceiling. I bend, twist, shake my shoulders, breath deep, whatever seems to feel good at the moment. Then I get back to work.
7. Avoid exercise and elevators. OK, I believe jogging and sweating and lifting weights are good for me. And I do some of it. But I also find it useful to walk around the block to get the mail (the box is across the street) or take the stairs instead of the elevator. I walk the dog, push the lawnmower and play tennis and golf with my friends. That way I figure I'm exercising and leaving the gyms open for the rest of you.
8. Spend time with friends. Talking, sharing dreams, giving and receiving support, solving life's great mysteries and debating politics or religion with a friend does wonders for the soul. And, hugs are good. And if you have a life-partner, I find talking regularly seems to avoid a number of other problems, as well!
9. Laugh every day. Tell a joke, wrestle with your dog or play with the kids next door, but have some fun! Life's short.
10. Plan for dessert! At the end of the day, I really like something special to top it all off. So, I plan for a bite of chocolate or a cup of low-fat pudding or yogurt or a handful of fresh grapes. It sure seems to beat restlessly searching the cupboards and refrigerator for "something" and ending up with a big bowl of ice cream!
Finally, a few words of experience. It's OK to "slip" once in a while. At least it better be OK...I seem to do it periodically. Just get up again tomorrow, make the rules simpler, more fun or more appropriate for your situation and get right back on! I don't think the objective is perfection -- there's no point in having a heart attack getting all stressed out about the rules! Just go have some fun!
Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It's all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com
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