In preparation to conceive I’ve been working on my nutrition. I’ve been working on it about six months now, with some serious slacking off in November. But I worked hard at it again in December and pretty much so far this month. I can tell because my pants don’t fall off without a belt now, lol, which means I’m getting some healthy padding for the baby. And the winter. Because geez it’s cold up here!
I am a firm believer in the Brewer Diet after having had three very healthy babies born after three wonderful labors and excellent births – all while following the Brewer diet. While my second child was a baby I began to read a little on the works of Dr. Weston A. Price and became very interested in his work after my third child was born. I have been working on the diet for pregnant and nursing mothers recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation since I got interested in Dr. Price’s work.
This diet is the Brewer diet with some extras and notes added in. It includes focus on rich bone broths, yummy fermented foods, and just a lot of good common sense. I’ve been following this diet and adding in some things found to be good for conception in with them.
I really think diet is one of the keys to a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby which is why I stress it so much on NBBC and stress it with myself. It can be a challenge to “eat so well,” especially when there is so much convenience food out there. It will especially be challenging in early pregnancy if I feel sick at any point. With my previous pregnancies I felt some nausea, and with my third baby it was persistent nausea for weeks. I’m hoping the good nutrition starting in the preconception period this time will prevent that. But I know it could be an issue.
With that in mind I’ve been thinking of ways I can plan very healthy meals that don’t take too much energy. I’m also working on my meal planning techniques. I have been able to do effective menu planning for awhile – it just takes practice. It makes it much easier to get all the nutrition needed in. Now I’m working on learning how to plan meal preparation. One time period of chopping all my veggies for the week makes for a solid block of time in the kitchen but saves a lot of later labor. It seems to work best shortly after the shopping trip.
I think this will help during pregnancy because even if I feel tired or ill I can quickly throw pre-chopped ingredients together. And the planned meals will let me be sure that I have everything I need in my diet – from protein to yummy greens. I’ll continue more about nutrition and meal planning later.
