Pre Conception Health- Prepping Your Body For A Healthy Pregnancy

Jun 6

pre conception health Pre Conception Health: Prepping Your Body for a Healthy Pregnancy

There is a lot of information out there about what to do with our diet and what vitamins to take once we are pregnant.  But what about before pregnancy? Does that time matter?

Some say yes, indeed it does. 

Let’s take a minute to think about that.  During pregnancy a woman’s body provides not only nutrition to the growing fetus, it also is the environment in which the fetus lives.  As the saying goes, “we are what we eat”.  I mean that quite literally, every cell in our body is made up of the building blocks we give it (food). Other things can affect the integrity of a cell as well. Toxins, pollutants, and xenoestrogens (hormone disruptors), to name a few.  So we aren’t just what we eat, we are also where we live, what we choose to put on our skin, the air we breathe, and more!

Of interest is that these factors — food, environment, etc, are not  just important today, but for many days.  The life-cycle of cells in our bodies are varied — Blood cells live for about 100 days, a skin cell lives about 20 days, and an ovum (egg) takes about 3 months to go from hibernation to ovulation. Our cells are comprised of what we have eaten, and been exposed to, in the last three months or more.  Therefore, we are not just what we EAT, but also what we ATE!

Why not take a few months before trying to conceive to prep the body for this very important time in your baby’s life? Optimize your baby’s environment and building blocks by improving your environment and building blocks.  See your naturopathic doctor or natural health care provider at least 3 months prior to trying to conceive for a treatment plan that can help you do this. Or, If you are already trying to conceive, see your naturopath now for tips on how to maximize your body’s fertility signals and the pregnancy environment.

The side effects of such treatments and caring for your body — increased energy, healthier looking skin and nails, improved moods, fewer aches and pains, and feeling great in general, hmmm… doesn’t sound that bad, does it?

Tune in next time for Part Two of this blog on preconception — Optimizing Hormone Balance To Improve Fertility.

Contributed by Dr. Elise Schroeder.   For more information on Nutrition and Fertility, click here.