As a few of you might remember, I posted a while back about my struggle at ages 18-20 with anorexia. At the time, at 5'3" I'd gotten down to 93 lbs, had lost my period, and was getting increasingly more drained. From the time my sister and her husband confronted me and said I needed to get better, it became my goal to be able to recover, and maybe some day being able to have a baby, without using birth control or resorting to eating junk food. I prayed for God to give me discernment between truth and false advertising... Something that kept me from believing I could eat to satiation without getting fat. The magazines said to eat a certain amount of calories. The FDA said to eat low-fat. But it left me feeling miserable. I found out asking for discernment meant I needed to get in and do the work of lots, and lots, and lots of research. So, from age 20 onward, I researched, read medical journals and studies, and really started to pay attention to nourishing my body and not just filling my stomach. I read up on Weston A Price/Nourishing Tradition and had great success getting back up to a good weight without accumulating too much body fat. Because it emphasizes lots of nourishing fats (the essential building block of hormonal health), my period returned after over two years. But still, it included soaked grains, which I found out my body doesn't handle too well. (Some bloating, some breakouts, sluggishness after a meal, weight gain, more hormonal symptoms-- general inflammation) Come to find out, this is how grains affect most people, but they attribute those symptoms to anything but grain! Carbs naturally promote the body's release of insulin, which stalls weight loss and can lead to inflammation if it's released too much. Then, I discovered Trim Healthy Mama about two years ago at age 21 but only loosely followed it -- not quite understanding the effect all sugar/carbs had on my body, and then later not understanding the difference between sweeteners (so ran into a lot of stalling right before my wedding! 😟) Anyway, after getting married and becoming pregnant, I knew it was my diet that needed tweaking. I started the Primal Blueprint approach because it matched the research I'd done over the last few years. This time, I started with no deviations like I'd allowed before. It is super, super simple and with a very real-food approach. No sweeteners, a dab of honey here and there, no corn/soy/wheat/potato products or carbs from dairy. Grassfed meat if possible. It focused on getting enough sleep, managing stress, moving around naturally throughout the day, and eating a nutrient rich, grainfree/low inflammation variety of foods. Lots of fat, moderate protein, lots of veggies, and some fruit. It was so doable, so I jumped in. It meant cooking at home, but I was saving money, feeling less inflammation and seeing results immediately. During the first trimester I had zero appetite, except randomly craving meat, Kimchi and eggs. So I gave into that craving! After hitting 4 mos I had an appetite again but stuck to the simple things I knew I wouldn't react badly to. That meant saying no to milkshakes and corn tortillas. I knew how my body reacted to grain of any kind (badly!) so avoiding that kept any vomiting at bay! When I cheated with mexican food, the next day I'd be throwing up and realize "i know exactly what did this!" Throughout the whole pregnancy I felt phenomenal-- no excess weight gain (I gained what was the baby, fluid & placenta, and lost fat everywhere!) and hardly any swelling unless I had carbs of some kind or was low in magnesium. My blood pressure was always nice and low. The last few weeks before delivery I had more sugar in the form of dates (usually at night) and made a point to drink Red Raspberry Leaf Tea ... as well as lots of walking and regular activities. My pelvis and muscles were pretty sore for the last month or so, so I maybe worked out three times during the whole pregnancy. Ended up delivering 6 days before my due date and the whole labor lasted maybe 6 hours. Pushed for 30 min. Recovery has been AWESOME. I encapsulated the placenta and have had no PPD, or even blues. And Baby Asher hardly dropped much from his birth weight and has gained a pound in the first two weeks! He's a strong little boy-- the doctor said he has the shoulder strength of a 4-month old! Today, I still follow more of a Primal Blueprint style of diet, with Intermittent Fasting happening naturally and no focus on calories, just lots of good fats, quality protein and vegetables (some low GI fruit). Most of all, I eat when I am hungry, till I am satisfied. That's it! No low blood sugar or distracting hunger.
Now I realize everyone is different, yes. Everyone has different upbringings, cultures, and cravings. However, Primal style eating (and elements of Trim Healthy Mama) set the groundwork for finding the BEST nutrition, eating a VERY low-inflammatory diet, and nixing the top offender (sugar) in hormonal problems, cell health and pregnancy "symptoms". You don't have to be miserable just cause you're pregnant. Cheat day? No thanks.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |