One of the first things I did when I found out about my pregnancy was mourn for the large bottle of gin in my cupboard. How were we going to cope with this long, cruel separation?
My friends, who miss me.
In all seriousness despite the fact that I had a reasonably healthy diet and lifestyle I knew some changes where going to be necessary. Around two years ago I started following Slimming World and lost around 4 stone in a year and a half. I then began to focus more on having a balanced workable diet that would still lead to weight loss and be easy to stick with. Did this mean I was a lean mean fighting machine? No.
When I fell pregnant I probably had another 4 stone I’d like to lose and I intend to pick up where I left off in the summer of 2015.
For now my focus is wholly on providing the best nutritional environment for my baby. I quickly began to research what kind of supplements I should be eating and what foods to avoid. I knew the obvious here – it’s nothing a quick googling doesn’t teach you. When it came to choosing a supplement I read a study on a mothers thyroxine levels and how they can impact a childs mathematical ability later in life here.
Dutch researchers tracked 1,196 healthy children from birth to age five, having recorded their mothers’ thyroxine levels at 12 weeks of pregnancy.
They then looked at the children’s test scores for language and arithmetic.
Those born to mothers with low levels of thyroxine were twice as likely to have below average arithmetic scores.
Low levels of thyroxine in pregnant women are already linked to poor mental development in infancy, possibly leading to learning difficulties and reduced physical growth.
So off I went on a little hunt to find a multi vitamin that would give me my quota of Folic Acid, Vitamin D, B Vitamins and the illusive thyroxine levels I’d need to have a genius child. My rudimentary research lead me to Pregnacare Original, it might be pricey but it had that iodine I was after.
With that taken care of my attention turned to my diet. My main goal was to eat as many simple, old-fashioned, nutritious things as possible.
winning at pregnancy
Quite honestly I feel I could do with some more support in this area. No health professionals have given me any advice regarding diet or nutrition and I don’t get the impression that guidance will be coming any time soon.
One of my less smug moments…
Does anyone else worry that they are making mistakes (other than delicious doughnutty ones) when it comes to diet? I’m more than happy to indulge here and there but I’m anxious to know if I’m getting it right by and large.
Most of what I read online talks about pergcentages of this and that or grams of protein and eating more leafy greens but isn’t there someone who can just meal plan my life!?