With a little help from the Mayo Clinic… here is a great article about just that.

Pregnancy and exercise: Baby, let’s move!

During pregnancy, exercise can help you stay in shape and prepare for labor and delivery. Here’s the lowdown on pregnancy and exercise, from getting started to staying motivated.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Pregnancy may seem like the perfect time to sit back and relax. You may feel more tired than usual, your back may ache, and your ankles may be swollen. But guess what? There’s more to pregnancy and exercise than skipping it entirely. Unless you’re experiencing serious complications, sitting around won’t help. In fact, pregnancy can be a great time to get active — even if you haven’t exercised in a while.

Why exercise during pregnancy?

During pregnancy, exercise can:

• Ease or prevent back pain and other discomforts
• Boost your energy level
• Prevent excess weight gain
• Reduce the risk of gestational diabetes, pregnancy-related high blood pressure and postpartum depression
• Increase stamina and muscle strength, which helps you prepare for labor

Pregnancy and exercise: Getting the OK

Before you begin an exercise program, make sure you have your health care provider’s OK. Although exercise during pregnancy is generally good for both mother and baby, you’ll need to proceed with caution if you have a history of preterm labor or certain medical conditions, including:

• Poorly controlled diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Placenta previa, a problem with the placenta that can cause excessive bleeding before or during delivery

Pacing it for pregnancy

For most pregnant women, at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise is recommended on most, if not all, days of the week — but even shorter or less frequent workouts can help you stay in shape and prepare for labor.

Walking is a great exercise for beginners. It provides moderate aerobic conditioning with minimal stress on your joints. Other good choices include swimming, rowing and cycling on a stationary bike. Strength training is OK, too, as long as you avoid lifting heavy weights.

If you haven’t exercised for a while, begin with as little as five minutes of physical activity a day. Build up to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and so on, until you reach at least 30 minutes a day. If you exercised before pregnancy, you can probably continue to work out at the same level while you’re pregnant — as long as you’re feeling comfortable and your health care provider says it’s OK. In general, you should be able to carry on a conversation while you’re exercising. If you can’t speak normally while you’re working out, you’re probably pushing yourself too hard.

Remember to stretch before and after each workout. Drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated, and be careful to avoid overheating. No matter how dedicated you are to being in shape, don’t exercise to the point of exhaustion.

Activities to approach with care

If you’re not sure whether a particular activity is safe during pregnancy, check with your health care provider. It’s best to avoid any exercises that force you to lie flat on your back, especially as your pregnancy progresses. Activities such as scuba diving and hiking at high altitudes are generally discouraged, as are contact sports and activities that pose a high risk of falling — such as water skiing, downhill skiing and in-line skating.

Staying motivated

You’re more likely to stick with an exercise plan if it involves activities you enjoy and fits into your daily schedule. Consider these simple tips:

• Start small. You don’t need to join a gym or don expensive workout clothes to get in shape. Just get moving. Try a daily walk through your neighborhood. Vary your route to keep it interesting.
• Find a partner. Exercise can be more interesting if you use the time to chat with a friend. Better yet, involve the whole family.
• Use a headset. Listen to music or a book while you exercise. Use lively songs to energize your workout.
• Try a class. Many fitness centers and hospitals offer classes designed for pregnant women. Choose one that fits your interests and schedule.
• Get creative. Don’t limit yourself. Consider hiking, rowing or dancing.
• Give yourself permission to rest. Your tolerance for strenuous exercise will probably decrease as your pregnancy progresses.

Listen to your body

As important as it is to exercise, it’s also important to watch for danger signs. Stop exercising if you notice:

• Dizziness
• Headache
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Abdominal pain
• Vaginal bleeding

If your signs and symptoms continue after you stop exercising, contact your health care provider.

A healthy choice

Regular exercise can help you cope with the physical changes of pregnancy and build stamina for the challenges ahead. If you haven’t been exercising regularly, use pregnancy as your motivation to begin.

If a woman is trying to conceive, she should also be thinking about how she plans to prepare her body for that new life.  She should start by keeping a daily food diary. What are you really eating?  Do you get 5-7 servings of vegetables and fruits a day?  Are you eating a lot of white carbohydrates?  Do you eat more than 1 serving of sweets per day?  Do you indulge in coffee or caffeinated sodas?

Our O.B.s usually spend about 5 minutes discussing nutrition with us. They might tell you that sushi and hot dogs are dangerous to eat.  They might tell you that you need to avoid tuna as well and to drink lots of water to stay hydrated.  But is 5 minutes and a few warnings really enough?

Did you know that when you are pregnant your blood volume increases by 50%, but the red blood cell count remains the same?  This is why many women need to take steps to avoid pregnancy induced anemia.  As a pregnancy continues, the placenta will take the iron it needs right from mom. Maintaining a diet rich in iron will help to ensure she remains healthy during this time when her body is using her own personal nutritional stores to grow a healthy baby.  It is recommended that pregnant women try to get as much of their iron through food instead of relying on supplements. To find out which foods are high in iron, please click this link

What about salt?  Women in pregnancy actually have increase cravings and need for salt in their diets.  If you avoid processed foods and salt to taste, you should get just the right amount.

A famous and well respected OB, Dr. Tom Brewer created a high protein and nutrient dense diet called the “Brewer’s Diet”.  He had a remarkable record of preventing pre-eclampsia, swelling and high blood pressure in his patients.  One of his tricks was to His research showed that women in pregnancy have cravings for salty food because they need more salt in their diets.  A complete breakdown of this diet can be found here at the Blue Ribbon Diet. Also please check out more information here.

Weight gain is a hot topic among both health practitioners and women. Years ago it was thought that maintaining a low weight gain of just 10 – 20 pounds would prevent complications like toxemia and overly large babies. However, it only made some pregnancies more dangerous and caused more low-birth weight babies and infants with neurological defects. This is not ancient history either. This was as recent as 1985 in the decade most of you were born.  Currently, maternity care providers are watching nutrition as opposed to watching the scales. Midwives are leading this movement with their interest in the physiology of normal and natural pregnancy.  A good diet will help you nourish yourself and your baby, as well as achieve a nice, steady weight gain quite painlessly.  In fact, you might enjoy your new healthy lifestyle and continue after baby is here!

I have only touched briefly on some of the benefits of why nutrition is so crucial to a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. Good nutrition really can help to prevent many pregnancy complications. I invite you to ask a care provider for more about this subject along with doing some research for yourself.

-Tammy

http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp001.cfm

http://www.midwiferyservices.org/pregnancy_nutrition.htm

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/nutrition.asp