1) Achieve a healthy weight. Being overweight puts you more at risk for health complications during pregnancy such as diabetes and high blood pressure. It can also prolong labour. However, being underweight can also make it very difficult to become pregnant and/or sustain pregnancy to full-term. Engaging in moderate, regular exercise for at least 30 minutes 5-7 days/week can help you attain your goal weight. The advantage to beginning exercise prior to getting pregnant is that it well then be safe for you to continue while pregnant. If you are already an avid exerciser then keep it up! Staying in shape can also help ease your delivery process. Prenatal exercise classes are also a great way to ensure safety while working out.

2) Tone down the caffeine. Prior to and during pregnancy, you should keep your consumption equal to or below 200mg per day. This is equivalent to about two 8-ounce cups of brewed tea or one 12-ounce cup of (ideally organic) coffee. Caffeine's diuretic properties make it more difficult for you to stay hydrated, and it can be stimulating both for you and your baby. Herbal teas are generally considered safe in pregnancy, are soothing and warm like that cup of coffee you might be craving, and as a bonus they help keep you hydrated as a tasty alternative to water. Two to three cups daily of any of the following herbal teas are desirable in pregnancy: citrus peel, ginger, lemon balm, orange peel, and rose hip. Health Canada recommends staying away from teas with Aloe, Coltsfoot, Juniper Berries, Pennyroyal, Buckthorn Bark, Comfrey, Labrador Tea, Sassafras, Duck Roots, Lobelia and Senna Leaves. (Roman) Chamomile tea is also cautioned against in pregnancy as it may cause uterine contractions, increasing the risk of miscarriage and/or preterm labour.

3) At least one month before you try to get pregnant, begin taking 400mcg of folic acid. This is the amount found in most daily multi-vitamins anyway, or even better start taking a prenatal vitamin. Come see Dr. Mingay today to find out more. Citrus, beans, and leafy greens provide folic acid, however women generally need to supplement to absorb adequate amounts for pregnancy. Folic acid significantly lowers your risk for serious birth defects.

4) Along with folic acid, adequate amounts of protein, calcium, and iron are critical to helping your body become optimal for pregnancy. Protein sources that are low in saturated fat and rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids are key, such as salmon, chicken, turkey, quinoa, beans, nuts and seeds. Eat organic or hormone-free, grass fed meats and eggs whenever possible. Many pesticides, chemicals and hormones used to treat produce and animal products contain synthetic estrogen receptor sites that have negative effects on organ and endocrine systems.
Avoid foods with empty calories such as chips, soda pop, and baked goods, as well as refined sugar and carbohydrates, as those will quickly contribute to unhealthy and unnecessary weight gain, and irregular blood sugar control.

5) Eat alkaline rather than acidic foods. Alkaline foods like non-citrus fruits (with the exception of lemon - it is in fact alkaline to your body), vegetables, and sprouts help provide the reproductive system with the ideal pH for conception and implantation. Acidic foods to be avoided include: condiments, canned foods, red meat, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, and coffee. For more information on acidic vs. alkaline foods, read my GERD post below.

6) As you prepare for pregnancy with folic acid and a prenatal vitamin, an omega-3 essential fatty acid is also a good idea as adequate amounts are difficult to obtain through food alone. Any unprocessed plant source such as raw nuts or flaxseed oil, or a deep-sea fish oil, are all great options.

7) Brush and floss your teeth regularly, and ensure you are paying a visit to the dentist at least every 6 months. Pregnancy increases your risk for gum disease, and the increased production of prostaglandins produced by gum disease can heighten the likelihood of preterm labour.

8) Avoid alcohol and nicotine. This is a no-brainer, but sometimes we find ourselves in environments where we don't realize how much secondhand smoke we are being exposed to. For example, restaurant and bar patios in the summer. Nicotine exposure throughout pregnancy not only puts you at increased risk for miscarriage, preterm labour and low birth rate, but even after you've given birth it can still impact your baby's risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

9) Stress management - if you don't create a happy and healthy environment for your fetus to grow in, who will? Yoga, deep breathing, meditation, 7-8 hours of restful sleep a night, giving yourself "you time," the list goes on. These are just some of the many ways you can lower stress in your life to provide your future child with optimal conditions in which to thrive.

10) Acupuncture to promote fertility. Acupuncture treatments 1-2 times per week for at least 5 weeks prior to IUI/IVF, or pre- and post- IUI/IVF acupuncture treatments (ideally within 24 hours of procedure). Allow Dr. Mingay to help you get pregnant today - phone 416-481-7901 to book a consult.

 Reposted from a blog written by Dr. Justin Gallant, N.D. http://www.drjustingallantnd.com/

"I would just like to declare that this is my educated speculation, please feel free to ask me any questions or debate with me. 

There have been several reports in the news lately of healthy athletes dropping dead due to a sudden heart attack. A couple of these reports, including the most recent Boston Marathon death, have shown athletes with caffeine in their systems. Some have claimed the athletes are taking a supplement which contains caffeine and the amino acid L-arginine. Caffeine alone should be used with caution in endurance training. Since caffeine is a diuretic, it can make you more susceptible to dehydration or in some cases, hyponatremic encephalopathy: a swelling of the brain due to a sodium deficiency. Most cases of hyponatremic encephalopathy are attributed to drinking too much water with the intention of rehydrating, but the diuretic effects of caffeine will lower that threshold of what is considered drinking “too much water”. 

If you are already dehydrated, your blood pressure will drop quite low and if you add arginine into the mix your blood pressure will drop even lower. When your blood pressure drops too low and the hypotensive triggers are gone, eventually you will get rebound hypertension. This effect is seen in surgery when a patient is purposely put into hypotension with medications that dilate the blood vessels (the same effect arginine has). Once this drug wears off, with the body’s intention of bringing the blood pressure back to homeostasis, the blood pressure elevates higher than normal (rebound hypertension).  I suspect that this effect is why these athletes usually die once they are resting or right after the event. 

Think about how hard your heart will have to work if you dilate all of your blood vessels and take caffeine. To start, you take arginine which will lower your peripheral resistance and help blood flow easier through the body. Now your blood pressure is lower because it doesn’t have to work as hard to pump to the rest of the body since there is less resistance. Now you start physically exerting yourself, increasing the demand for oxygen and nutrients to your tissues (muscles, skin, etc.). Your heart works harder to pump blood to these tissues but because the path is wider, it takes more blood to transport the oxygen and nutrients. Now your heart is trying to pump more blood than usual to these tissues. This scenario is dangerous enough and now we’ll factor caffeine into it. Caffeine simulates stress, so it puts us into the stimulated fight or flight mode. This increases the heart rate even more, first elevates and then eventually decreases blood pressure even more via the diuretic effect depleting sodium. This increases the demand of the tissues that the heart needs to pump oxygen and nutrients to. On top of all of this, our lungs have to compensate and oxygenate this increase in demand. These are sure determinants to lead to heart failure. 
There are several other factors that can make this situation even worse:

• Temperature
• Caffeine factors (how each individual metabolizes caffeine, route of caffeine administration, other ingredients, etc.)
• Underlying heart conditions (most go undiagnosed until a cardiac mishap takes place)
• How hard the athlete pushes themselves
• Duration of the athletic event
• Hydration status
• The physical condition the athlete is in
• Dose and administration of arginine
• How well the liver and kidneys are functioning
• Several other factors that need to be considered
  

Highway analogy:

Regularly your blood vessels are like a one-lane highway. Traffic will congest the one-lane highway and the main street that cars are entering it from. You take arginine to vasodilate your blood vessels into a three-lane highway. Now the cars have a calm steady flow and the pressure is taken off of the main street. Now picture all of these cars as ambulances trying to get to accidents at all the different highway exits. It’s a blizzard out there and as time goes by there’s more and more demand for these ambulances.  The hospitals are sending out as many ambulances as they can but they can’t keep up with the demand because the accidents are so far apart. Eventually the hospitals run out of ambulances and now that the arginine has worn off the highway is back down to one-lane highway and all of the ambulances start crashing into each other. 

Advice:

• Rely more on proper hydration rather than on “performance-enhanging supplements". You can drink all the coconut water or sports drinks you want but if you take a diuretic you could be negating their effects.  
• See a licensed health professional about proper training. 

To make a long story short:  

• Dehydration, diuretics (caffeine) and arginine all reduce your blood pressure. When all three of these are combined, it can be fatal, especially once the body tries to maintain homeostasis and rebounds into hypertension."

Eat frequent small meals throughout the day, roughly every 3 hours. However, be sure to stop eating at least 1 hour before bed and eat upon waking.

Sleep slightly propped up to reduce acid reflux at night, particularly if you have eaten close to bedtime.

Never eat to a full stomach.

Chew your food thoroughly.

Drink water half an hour before a meal or one hour after a meal, NOT during.

Hot drinks should always be allowed to cool a little. Extremes in temperature, both in food and drink, should be avoided. Drinks should not be taken hurriedly but sipped slowly.

Keep a food diary of foods that cause aggravation.

Avoid over-processed foods, white bread, sugar, white flour and products made from white flour and sugar such as cakes, biscuits, and rice puddings, over-cooked vegetables, condiments, pickles, peppermint, spearmint, fatty foods, tomato-based foods, onions, carbonated beverages, strong tea and coffee, alcohol, flesh foods, fried foods, spices, refined cereals, and tinned and canned foods. You're probably thinking...what's left to eat? Do your best, and as I mentioned above, keeping a food diary can help you rule out non-aggravating foods that can then be added back into your diet!

Gastro-esophageal reflux disorder (GERD) sufferers should avoid all sweets containing chocolate. Chocolate contains a substance called methylxanthine, which lowers Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES) pressure, allowing stomach acid to reflux into the esophagus.

Consume three different juices diluted with water, half an hour before each meal (or as often as possible). Carrot juice is especially beneficial as it has a very restorative effect. It is an alkaline food, which soothes the stomach.

Fruits and vegetables like bananas, avocados, papaya, pineapple, apples, melons, pears, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots and leafy greens are also alkaline (soothing) to the stomach. Eat your vegetables without any added fats or sauces to improve digestion and eliminate risk of GERD symptoms.