Super pregnancy

I OFTEN get asked, 'does nutrition play a role in pregnancy?' To that question, I answer 'yes' and in my head a thousand voices are screaming: pregnancy is the most important time in a child's development - cell multiplication is at its highest and a healthy pregnancy could give a child the best chance in life!

The unborn baby takes everything from its mother. The placenta that is feeding the baby in the uterus acts like a sponge, absorbing all the good and bad things that the mother is ingesting. This is why good nutrition is of utmost importance during pregnancy.

In fact, nutrition should be incorporated even before pregnancy, before conception. The health of both parents makes a big difference in the health of the unborn child.

In my nutrition office, I've been seeing a few common signs of a 'lack of good nutrition'. These present themselves mostly as nutritional deficiencies. Iron deficiency is very common in pregnancy as well as zinc. Pregnancy entails an increase in blood circulation, therefore a bigger need for iron. And, zinc is needed for all the functions of the reproductive system, especially for a mother who is carrying a boy because zinc is needed more for the formation of the male reproductive system and it will take all it needs from the mother. A deficiency in zinc will appear as white spots on the nails.

Vitamin D is another common deficiency in pregnant women. People in the Middle East tend to be very sheltered from the sun and therefore get very little of the all-important vitamin D. So get out there and get some sun!

And, last but not least, essential fats. I find these to be commonly lacking in pregnant women. They are needed for the child's development, IQ, vision, and brain! If the mother lacks these oils, all these systems could suffer and she could also be more likely to suffer depression after giving birth. These essential fats can be found in raw nuts and seeds, omega oil blends and some types of fish.

On a different note, when I got pregnant the first time around I was living in London and I was doing everything by myself: the shopping, carrying the bags, the washing, everything. Then I moved back to Bahrain when I was seven months pregnant and noticed that whenever I started to carry something, or get very active, people stopped me, telling me that I was 'doing too much.'

I found that very strange since I was doing just fine before that. But there seems to be a myth that you're not supposed to exert yourself at all when you're pregnant! If your pregnancy is high-risk for some reason, then you should slow down, but if everything is normal, then you can certainly carry on doing what you were doing before you got pregnant, including exercise.

Another myth I always hear is 'you must eat for two now that you're pregnant'. This is completely invalid. You're not carrying a hippo, so no need to eat for two! But what you do need to watch for is an appetite or cravings that are getting out of hand.

Sometimes a woman who starts off her pregnancy underweight will naturally want to eat more to gain enough weight to sustain her pregnancy. Sometimes we get cravings because our body needs a particular nutrient that we're not getting from our food. So our body keeps telling us to eat more, in the hope that we obtain that nutrient. But when you eat processed junk food that is so common today, you're very unlikely to get what you need and therefore continue to have cravings and binges.

Speaking of binges, there is always the question of weight gain during pregnancy. I have spoken to women who are afraid to get pregnant for fear of gaining weight; others who diet fiercely before getting pregnant to allow for weight gain; and others who see pregnancy as their ticket to pigging out and gaining all the weight they want!

I must say, none of these options is the healthy one. Gaining 10-15kg during pregnancy is normal, and if the food you eat is healthy, then you should have no problem losing it.

In today's society, women (and even men) are often judged by their weight. Losing weight quickly after delivery has somehow become an indication of success. When I gave birth last year, I received more comments about my weight than I did about the baby or any other aspect of my health. How did weight loss become a good indication of motherhood?

So just keep this in mind: if you eat healthy (i.e. fruits, vegetables, salads, beans, wholegrains, fish, etc.), you should be able to breeze through pregnancy and sing through its niggles.

For example, the tiredness that pregnant women feel during pregnancy could be linked to an iron deficiency and a good dose of rest. Morning sickness in pregnancy could stem from excess toxicity on the system and can often be alleviated with regular snacks and sometimes ginger.

And, most commonly, digestive discomforts that are part of the package of pregnancy could also be helped with good nutrition. For example, the two most common digestive complaints I hear about are constipation and heartburn. Having heartburn during pregnancy does NOT mean your baby has a full head of hair, as the old wives tale goes, it could mean that you're having too much sugar and greasy food. Constipation could be an indication of dehydration and lack of fibre.

I have exposed my personal pregnancy diary in my upcoming book on how to use nutrition to have a healthy (and slim) pregnancy. Make sure you're on my mailing list so I can let you know once it's out. Sign up at www.AliaAlmoayed.com