PRE-CONCEPTION CARE (P.C.C.)
What is it?
Planning for your pregnancy is vital …… Why?, because your babies life depends on it.
What you do and don’t do in the 4 months before conception has a major bearing not only on your health and your partner’s health, but can influence the health of your baby not just for pregnancy and birth, but for the rest of their life. But wait there’s more (as the ad says) ….. Not only can you ensure your babies health for their life but you will also be helping your grandchildren and great grandchildren! Sounds dramatic or quite science fiction but research shows this to be true. If you can make your little human the best possible healthy version, why would you not do this?
Sadly, not enough people know about the benefits of Pre-Conception care, and unknowingly, we may be contributing to poor community health for our current and future generations by not doing P.C.C.
P.C.C. is as much about the father’s health as it is about the mother’s health. 50% of your babies DNA (genetic code) comes from the dad and ‘stressed’ spermatazoa do not make for as healthy a baby as we want
So How Do I Do Good P.C.C. ?
8 Steps to good P.C.C.
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A Healthy Diet
If you can afford an organic food diet, that is optimal. However sometimes organic is not available or too expensive. Pick the best, cleanest, freshest local fruits and veg and wash them or peel them before eating. A Mediterranean diet approach is ideal.
Avoid the ‘Dirty Dozen’ foods (see links below). If you like and buy foods on the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list then perhaps it would be good to buy the organic versions of these foods, or replace with another item.
Avoid foods in tins and packs where possible
Reduce/avoid coffee, sugar, alcohol and if using recreational drugs these need to be avoided for at least 6 – 8 months before conceiving to improve your chance of conception and improve health of pregnancy and baby
2. Reduce Toxin Load
This means avoiding contact with foods produced with pesticides, personal care products (commercial skin care, creams, lipstick, makeup and mascara – we ‘eat’ or absorb our lipstick and other products. Red lipstick is one of the most toxic colours). Also avoiding nail polish, fragrance, hair spray will reduce the risk of pthalates
Use re-usable stainless steel water bottles (plastics contain PCB’s which may disrupt hormonal functioning)
Avoid cleaning chemicals – Use Enjo or other water based or natural cleaning products. Particularly avoid chlorine.
Assess your environment for mould and take steps to remove (personally or professionally). Most people think that using bleach kills mould – but No. Moulds seem to be quite resistant to chlorine and although it may bleach the mould, it does not get rid of mould. Try bi-carb soda followed with vinegar. The vinegar breaks down the mould cell wall and breaks open the mould. Allow the vinegar to act and then follow with hot water. Please make sure you wear a suitable mask for this job, or better still have someone professional do the job.
Drinking water needs to be filtered (not bottled. It takes 10 litres of water to make 1 litre of filtered water)
The overall message is to limit your exposure to toxins as much as you can in the lead up to conception and to boost your natural fertility.
3. Employ Stress Reduction techniques for good emotional health
A happy healthy mum pre-conception, reduces the risk of post natal blues and depression
Stress has also shown to be counter productive to a healthy conception (and in pregnancy to an emotionally healthy bub). Practicing mindfulness, gratitude, saying no to additional commitments, walking, yoga, exercise are just a few of the many things you can do to help reduce your levels of stress
4. Sleep
Make sure you have good sleep etiquette and get a good amount of sleep that allows you to wake refreshed and ready for the day. Don’t know how to do this. Call me and we can discuss
5. Weight stabilisation
Overweight – If you are carrying more weight than you need or your BMI is moderately to well over the limit, chances of conception reduce. By losing just 10% of your body weight can help increase conception significantly
Underweight – just as with being overweight, people who are underweight have a reduce chance of ovulation and therefore conception. You need a certain amount of body fat for the hormonal cycle to work efficiently
Being underweight or overweight often means the mother to be is nutrient deficient (hence overeating to get the correct nutrient base, Or not eating because iron or other minerals are deficient)
6. Be Male Aware
Fertility is not all about the woman. Dad’s to be ….. please make sure you are on board and part of the important ‘team baby’. Sperm that are damaged (heat, toxins, chemicals, medication – recreational or prescribed), EMR (electro magnetic radiation), poor nutrition, stress (which chews up your nutrients) can have a major effect on sperm production, sperm motility, count, quality and the DNA the sperm head carries in order to fertilise the egg to make your baby
7. Know and chart your cycle
Knowing and charting your cycle can help iron out any problem areas that might impede conception. Phone to ask for a fertility progress chart to help you on your way (Ph: 9792 4248)
8. P.C.C. supplementation
You may think that eating an organic whole food pristine diet, doing yoga and drinking good clean filtered water is enough and you won’t need to take supplements – Wrong!
Unfortunately we live in a world where pollution, toxins, chemicals, EMR and many other things impact on us in subtle ways. Sure doing all the above you are way ahead of most people and the above steps are extremely important, however to help our body detoxify environmental pollutants and then ensure we have enough nutrients to supply our body and that of the baby during pregnancy we need to ensure we are having adequate nutrition and that means supplementation. Many research papers can attest to the benefits of taking supplementation to improve conception, pregnancy and the post partum period
Two sites for the Dirty Dozen Foods – highlight and search
- https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/
- (https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17624/12-fruits-veggies-with-the-most-pesticides-2015-dirty-dozen.html)