Beautiful Babies

It's no secret.  I CAN.NOT. wait to have a baby!  I think about it often.  Having had anorexia and missed menstrual cycles most of my life, it was something I had always worried about. BUT it was also something God confirmed to me would happen.

At the right time.  That time is not now, and so... I can wait.  And whether you have a baby, are pregnant, or are in that waiting time, it is not wasted time.  I'm learning to embrace this time as a time I can choose to heal my body, bringing restoration to each cell and fiber of my being, and then start that next chapter.


That brings me to Beautiful Babies by Kristen Michaelis (author of the Food Renegade blog).  When a friend told me about this book I was enthralled.  All my life I had heard of pregnancy myths, pregnancy diets, and what you can and cannot do.  Never had anybody introduced or taught me the concept of preparing your body for pregnancy.

What a foreign concept.  Did you know that our culture is really against the norm?  In traditional cultures around the world, women prepare for pregnancy 6 months prior to getting pregnant with 3 months of detoxing their body and then 3 months of absorbing all those awesome nutrients.  Why?  Because modern science has shown that it takes nearly a 100 days for a woman's egg to mature before it is ovulated and seventy-two days for a man's sperm to form.  So a three month period of optimal nutrition for a couple will produce the healthiest possible egg and sperm.

 While the cultures and diets vary widely, there are certain things in common:

Homemade bone broths
Fermented foods
Traditional fats and oils

Not very popular in the American diet. And yet crucial for healing.

With 15% of all American couples today being infertile, diet is a likely suspect.  In fact, a low fat diet can increase your likelihood of infertility up to 85%!  And it's not just infertility rates on the rise.  A 2003 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that two out of every five girls will contract diabetes.  41% of all children born in 2012 will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.

This is not said to scare you but it is said to scare you.  What you put in your mouth- pregnant or not- matters.  What you feed your newborn baby matters.

Take the time to understand food labels.  If you can't read it, NIX it!  Know the other names for MSG, corn, soy, GMOS, and artificial dyes and sweeteners.  Personally, I'm anti-gluten but that will be another blog entry :o)

It may take more time and be more expensive at times. Prioritize.  In Beautiful Babies, Michaelis recommends prioritizing getting high quality fats and oils, then buying raw or fermented dairy from grass-fed animals, then getting high-quality meats and fish and eggs (pastured, humanely raised and wild caught), and then buying organic fruits and veggies.  This comes from her research that organic fruits and vegetables will have the smallest effect on your fertility, health and nutritional well-being.

It's an investment. For your children.  For your children's children.

Pay it forward.