The Scoop on Pregnancy Nausea
When I was pregnant with my first two, I had all the symptoms. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, everything.
With the first I was still in college, so I’d go to class, go to the toilet, go to class, go to the toilet.
With the second, I was a dance instructor. So I’d teach a class, go to the toilet. Teach a class, go to the toilet.
It was horrible. But I was told it was normal.
I did a lot of learning between pregnancies and by the time I was pregnant for the third time, I knew better.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of education for women when it comes to nausea & vomiting during pregnancy. We’re told this quintessential pregnancy symptom is “normal”, but what if that weren’t true?
One of the biggest predictors of your outcomes in pregnancy is your DIET. Specifically, your nourishment before you are even trying to get pregnant. If you haven’t listened to my podcast on the Art of Preconception, I’ve talked a little bit about this concept there. However, if you are wanting to get pregnant and have the BEST possible outcomes, it’s essential you lay a foundation of nourishment.
When it comes to the most common pregnancy symptoms of nausea and vomiting, let’s talk about what is contributing to the (sometimes violent) episodes most women experience.
As you probably already know, or could assume, there are a lot of different hormonal changes occurring during pregnancy, especially during those first few weeks. We won’t dive into all the nitty gritty of that today, but one thing I want you to understand:
Increasing your hormonal demands DIRECTLY increases your mineral consumption.
Your body requires minerals for all hormonal processes, and when your hormonal demands increase (as is the case during pregnancy) your mineral demands increase as well.
Where I think we get a lot of women experience nausea and vomiting because they are starting pregnancy from a negative mineral reserve. I know this was the case for me in my first two pregnancies. I thought I was eating clean. I thought I was the pinnacle of health. I ate a ton of vegetables, lean protein, and didn't consume dairy or gluten. Yet I was still plagued with severe symptoms during those pregnancies. Unfortunately, even eating the “cleanest” of diets can leave you devoid of the minerals most necessary to not only sustain life and pregnancy and have optimal progesterone output, but keep you symptom free throughout the course of your pregnancy.
Before I got pregnant for the third time, I had spent the two years leading up to it flooding my body with as much nourishment as humanly possible. This looked like 150g plus of animal based protein, tons of raw dairy and fresh fruit, about 2600+ calories a day (because I was also breastfeeding at this time AND exercising – which increases your mineral demands as well), and working to nourish my body through the reduction of stress and building a strong thyroid function. I also spent those two years learning to balance my blood sugar, which is another major cause of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
With baby #3, I experienced ZERO nausea and vomiting. Those two years of nourishing the heck out of my body paid off. And when I got severe food poisoning at 12 weeks pregnant (which threw off my blood sugar and minerals) I was able to pinpoint where my symptoms were coming from exactly and nourish the heck out of my body to bring me back up to par.
Now, I hear you. Maybe you’re already pregnant and stuck with your head in the toilet. What can you do?
My encouragement to you is to focus BIG on blood sugar balance to start. Meaning, eating as soon as you get up no matter what. Even if you’re gagging through it to start, I think it’s so important. Find SOMETHING easy to consume. Maybe a glass of raw milk or some yogurt with honey. The mornings are generally the worst because you’ve just spent 8+ hours fasting. You could even employ your husband here to bring you something in bed before you even get out of bed. Whatever you do, eating SOMETHING with protein, carbs, and fats. And then set timers to eat every 2-3 hours after that. Proteins, carbs, and fats at every meal.
On top of prioritizing blood sugar balance, increase your mineral intake. And NO, a prenatal is NOT enough. Get some beef liver in your diet. Drink raw milk. Drink adrenal cocktails (i’ll put a recipe below). Take Cod Liver Oil and Magnesium Bicarbonate. Put quality sea salt into your water. Wherever you can add more minerals into your diet, do that. YES, it’s most important to lay the foundation before you are even pregnant to prevent the nausea, but if you are currently pregnant and struggling, these things could be very beneficial to you.
YES, there is a lot of nuance to this. There are a lot of vitamins and minerals at work with your hormones. Lay the foundation.
I don’t know why women aren’t given the tools to have an incredible pregnancy. We’re kind of left to our own devices to figure it out. I think there’s a better way.
