Wednesday 11 April 2012

Paleo and Pregnancy

I know when you mention pregnancy and diets, most people freak out. Well, here goes nothing!

Over the past three months, I have drastically changed my diet. My sister and a few friends had started this Paleo diet. I had never heard of it and always thought it sounded nuts! No grains, no dairy... what?!? But I saw these friends lose lots of weight and keep it off. They also felt fantastic.

I on the other hand, had gained some weight since high school. About 25 pounds. Knowing I wanted to get pregnant, I needed to lose this weight and give my body some time to stabilize before gaining pregnancy pounds. So, I decided to try it.

The first week, I cut out grains. The next week, dairy. After that, I slowly increased my exercise regimen. This led to a loss of almost 20 pounds since January. My goal is to lose about another 10 pounds. But the better news is I feel awesome! I have twice the energy I used to! Normally, I would go to sleep around 9 every night (or earlier). Now, I can easily make it to 11 without feeling tired the next day. I still go to bed at a decent hour, but I can enjoy nights with my husband without feeling exhausted. Not to mention, I've lost 2 pants sizes and my clothes fit so much better!

So, what is Paleo? Paleo is the idea that we should be eating the way men ate thousands of years ago. Like cavemen. They ate meat, vegetables, and fruit. Grains, bread, chips, and cookies, these thing were not part of their diet. Our bodies haven't evolved enough to process these grains. Grains are processed. I have cut out all processed foods.

When you stop eating grains, you will no longer be starving. In the past, I would feel sick if I didn't eat every 4 hours or so. Now, I'm hardly ever hungry. Those hunger pains are long gone.

Also, grains cause your body to retain water. All of us are walking around with unnecessary pounds of water weight. When you stop eating grains, you will lose tons of water weight (pee a lot) and keep it off too.

I love eating this way and love the way I feel.

So, here's the drama...

I don't want to stop eating this way. I want to continue this diet when I'm pregnant and even after that. I don't want to go back to my old ways and feel like crap again.

So I'm going to keep eating this way. I've done lots of research and really feel like it's best. Most women eating Paleo and pregnant have found they have less nausea, more energy, and less weight gain. My friend gained 30 pounds when pregnant with her first two kids. Once she started paleo, she only gained 18 ponds for her last two pregnancies.

I'm really not even concerned about the weight. I just want to eat healthy food and feel healthy. Paleo is the way to do that.

I'm excited to see if I can keep it up and how this all works out for me.

Not to mention eatings boat loads of vegetables, fruit, and lean meat make you super fertile!

Just a few paleo resources:


LOVE,

BEFORE BABY LADY

15 comments:

  1. I know people who have done it during pregnancy. I went paleo for a while before I got pregnant (not to lose weight, just because i thought it was healthier) but during my first trimester there were a lot of times when all I could eat were saltine crackers and ended up giving up on it. Now I'm just doing the diet I was on when I lost 20lbs once upon a time, which includes grains like oatmeal and brown rice. I might go paleo again one day...

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  2. I'm sure it's hard to stick to it. Your baby girl is so sweet! I'm glad she's feeling better. Good luck on your weight loss!

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  3. I need to check this diet out! Thanks for sharing. :) Anything to have more energy, right? My husband will be ecstatic! LOL!

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    1. haha! you should! I love it and I always HATED diets. I could never stick to them.

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  4. Very interesting! You must have some serious self control... we LIVE on bread! I know it isn't good for us but I really dislike vegetables! Have you always liked vegetables?

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    1. After a while, you won't even want to eat it. It's so weird. I really didn't like vegetables. My mom always made us eat them though. I think now, I've learned to cook them so that they taste really good. (thanks to my husband.) My advice would be to cook them on high heat for just a few minutes and season them really well. If they are soggy, they're really gross!

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  5. First off, love the idea behind your blog. Secondly, that diet sounds a little extreme for me,but I think doing it in moderation may be alright. I'll have to get some more info about it although I would have a really hard time cutting out dairy. I love ice cream.

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    1. thank you! you can make paleo ice cream! I never have, but I do have a recipe pinned on pinteresst! Some people on paleo do eat dairy. I eat it sometimes too! I love ice cream and frozen yogurt!

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  6. I just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to Paleo. I've been following the lifestyle for over a month now. My husband has also changed his diet too and we are slowly changing our daughters diet to Paleo as well. I'm planning on getting pregnant in a couple months and plan to keep this lifestyle while prego too. I feel so much healthier and so much happier! Thank you again! xoxo

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    1. oh my goodness! you are so welcome! I'm excited you took my advice and are loving it. good luck with trying to conceive! thanks for reading!

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  7. I too have been on paleo for a few months and naturally just lost weight. I feel better. I still have cheat nights usually friday just for a treat. That way I dont cave and go over board lol. My husband is eating that way too and its pretty good for us. It just makes sense its a lifestyle change really. I am hoping to get pregnant soon and I was wondering if there are any problems with paleo and being pregnant? I wouldnt think there would be maj concerns. I am taking a prenatal vit and eating healthy.

    Thanks,

    Melissa

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  8. I know lots of ladies that continued their paleo lifestyle throughout their pregnancies. I talked with my obgyn and he did advise me to add dairy. This is a good source of fat and calcium for you and the baby. Maybe just change one of your snacks to dairy each day. I also supplement with calcium chewables. I would ask your obgyn what they think though. I've slipped up a lot lately and haven't been following it as closely, but I'm hoping to get back into it very soon. Grains just don't really provide that many nutrients. I'm going to do paleo with dairy and additional folic acid.

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    1. You actually get more calcium from greens than dairy. Dairy is actually a poor source of calcium. Not to mention the hormones in milk and the milk proteins are bad for our digestive systems. Please look up Dr. Cordain's studies on milk for more info.

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  9. hey thanks for sharing this post..it is very informative for pregnant....thanks for sharing it
    diet during pregnancy

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