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Have you ever looked into the eyes of a stranger and felt an instant connection? Have you ever wondered why you’re claustrophobic, or have a fear of heights? The answer could stem from a past life. In fact, it’s commonly believed that many of our personal characteristics, experiences and even skills are closely linked to […]
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Every traveler knows to bring a camera and photocopies of important documents, but what about a fake wallet or endless supply of padlocks? For this list, we’re looking at some of the less obvious, yet surprisingly important items you might want to throw in your backpack before heading on your next trip. I never leave […]
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There are reasons people get paid handsomely to perform soul-crushing jobs in the corporate world. But feeling miserable on a daily basis is a steep price to pay. Particularly if it means working in a 9 to 5 organization that demands the kind of conformity that stifles your humanity, personal development and spirit. Of course, […]
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Most women understand that when they become pregnant, their diets may need to change. But, exactly what that means — beside skipping the wine and raw sushi, craving pickles and ice cream, and “eating for two” — often remains foggy.
So how should pregnant women make healthy decisions about their diet to support a healthy pregnancy and a healthy child? Here, I outline some of the more important nutritional factors to consider when determining how to eat during pregnancy.
(As a reminder, please check with your doctor before making any changes, and consider working with a registered dietitian for personalized recommendations.)
“You are what you eat!” You’ve probably heard that phrase before, but did you know a child’s lifelong health is also strongly dictated by how the mother ate during pregnancy? Malnutrition, stress, toxin exposure, and illness during pregnancy can affect the health of the baby for the rest of his or her life.
Not only does your nutrition affect your baby’s growth and development over the course of nine months, but it also affects the expression of certain genetic programming passed on through your DNA. This is known as “epigenetics” — the power of our environment to actually change how our permanent DNA code is used in the real world.
What’s more, your nutritional intake during pregnancy can greatly affect your own health. What you eat before getting pregnant affects your fertility, and what you eat while pregnant can affect your health risks during pregnancy. Following a healthy diet can also help reduce the risk of common pregnancy-related conditions such as preeclampsia, nausea, constipation, gestational diabetes (which can increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life), and more.
Fortunately, there are plenty of simple things you can do to make sure your baby gets the nutrition needed to thrive, and that your pregnancy is as healthy and stress-free as possible.
While calorie needs will increase throughout the three trimesters depending on a woman’s weight gain needs and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), she’s not truly “eating for two” during her pregnancy. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends the following general guidelines for calorie increases per trimester [1]:
This means that a woman who needs to eat 2,000 calories per day to maintain her weight prior to pregnancy will need to eat about 2,340 calories per day during her second trimester and about 2,450 during her third.
Keep in mind that these are rough estimates, and an individual woman’s intake will vary from day to day. Also, remember that baseline calorie needs in general — pregnant or not — may be a lot higher than some people realize. Check out this article to learn more.
Another factor influencing your calorie needs during pregnancy are your weight gain goals. Your doctor will make specific recommendations for weight gain, but generally the guidelines are as follows for a single pregnancy [2]:
If your BMI before pregnancy is less than 18.5 or greater than 30, there are increased risks of birth complications, preterm delivery, and birth defects. Ideally, you should aim to be between 18.5 and 30 before getting pregnant, but these weight-gain guidelines can help reduce the risk of complications for mothers whose BMI is below 18.5 or above 30.
Keep in mind that no matter your weight pre-pregnancy, no woman should be losing weight while pregnant. Some women lose a little weight in the first trimester if they’re dealing with severe nausea, but otherwise all women should seek to gain the appropriate amount of weight during their pregnancy.
Unfortunately, a pregnancy-related restrictive eating pattern has emerged as a growing number of pregnant women are purposefully restricting calories to avoid weight gain during pregnancy. (You might see this referred to as “pregorexia” in the media, but that is not a recognized clinical term). Dealing with weight gain during pregnancy can be emotionally tough for many women, especially when there is a past history of disordered eating. Please seek professional guidance if you have any thoughts or behaviors around restrictive dieting during your pregnancy.
What About Macros?A fair bit of controversy exists around macronutrient needs for pregnant women. Some women are choosing to go vegan, vegetarian, low-carb or even ketogenic while pregnant. While there may be special circumstances in which a more extreme diet could be recommended for during pregnancy, this article will focus on generally accepted guidelines for pregnancy.
Protein needs are slightly higher during pregnancy. Dietary protein provides vital structural proteins that form the building blocks necessary for the healthy development of your baby — collagen, elastin, muscle, tendons, enzymes, everything. For this reason it is critical to get into the habit of eating enough protein early in your pregnancy.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) recommends a minimum of 71 grams of protein per day during pregnancy, compared to the 46 grams minimum for the average woman [3]. That’s a daily increase of 25 grams of protein, which you find in about four ounces of meat (a palm-size serving) or a cup of plain Greek yogurt, for example.
These guidelines are a minimum, however, and most women (particularly active women) can benefit from higher amounts of protein. To determine how much protein you really need, check out this article. Keep in mind that any deficiency in calorie intake can lead to protein deficiency during pregnancy, so don’t skimp on your calories, regardless of your protein consumption.
Most women develop some protein aversion during pregnancy, so it can take a little more effort than normal to hit a higher protein goal. While eating enough protein is important during pregnancy, there’s no need to overdo it, and excessive protein consumption could have adverse effects on your baby’s health [4, 5, 6]. Sticking with three to four palm-sized servings of protein per day should be enough for most pregnant women. As stated earlier, it is always best to consult with your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian for more individualized guidance.
Ideally your protein intake should consist primarily of complete proteins from animal sources, however if you’re vegetarian you need to ensure that your foods are properly diversified to provide all essential amino acids. You can learn more about diversifying your protein sources here.
Fat is an important source of calories and vitamins during pregnancy, so don’t avoid it. The NIH recommends that at least 20 percent of a pregnant woman’s daily calories should come from fat [3]. For a woman eating 2400 calories per day, this would be around 54 grams of fat per day.
Fat-containing animal-based foods such as egg yolks, milk, yogurt, butter, and grass-fed meats are great sources of nutrients essential for optimal fertility and a healthy pregnancy. A slightly higher fat intake than the bare minimum requirements provides higher amounts of the fat soluble vitamins that are so important for fetal development. Learn more about dietary fat recommendations here.
Essential fatty acids, particularly omega-3 fats such as DHA and EPA, are crucial during pregnancy as well. Pregnant women should aim to eat 1.4 grams per day of omega-3 fats, and try to limit their intake of omega-6 rich seed oils to keep their omega-3-to-omega-6 ratio lower than 1:5 [7].
Carbohydrates may be the most controversial macronutrient for pregnant women. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is set at a minimum of 175 grams per day (versus 130 grams per day for non-pregnant women), and generally low-carbohydrate diets are not recommended during pregnancy.
However, there are many nutritionists support the use of low-carb diets during pregnancy, particularly for women at higher risk for gestational diabetes.
According to the NIH, identifying with one or more of the following increases a woman’s risk for gestational diabetes:
If you know you’re at higher risk for gestational diabetes, or you’ve had gestational diabetes in prior pregnancies, it’s possible that a lower carbohydrate diet could work well for you. If you do intend to consume a very low carbohydrate diet (fewer than 150 grams of carbs per day) during pregnancy, I’d strongly suggest enlisting the guidance of a registered dietitian who can assist you with planning an appropriate low-carb diet.
My philosophy is that, while lower carbohydrate diets are unlikely to be “dangerous” during pregnancy, for most women they’re neither necessary nor beneficial, especially for active women.
For most women who are active and have good blood sugar control, I’d suggest a carb intake of somewhere around 40 percent of total daily calories, ideally coming from whole rather than refined and processed foods. For a woman eating 2400 calories per day, that is 240 grams. To learn more about carbohydrates, check out this three-part series here, here, and here.
Does It Fit Your Micros?One problem with overemphasizing macronutrients like protein, carbs, and fat is that it can cause us to forget about the many micronutrients that are necessary for optimal health, particularly during pregnancy.
There are several nutrients of concern that women must consume in adequate amounts (i.e. higher amounts than pre-pregnancy). Many of these are contained in high-quality prenatal vitamins, but it’s important to prioritize them (and others) in your diet.
Here are the most important ones, and the best ways to get them:
As you can see, liver is a nutritional powerhouse. Aim to eat about three to four ounces per week during pregnancy, but no more than a pound per month unless specifically instructed by your personal doctor to do so. Liver is high in vitamin A, which, in significant excess could increase your baby’s risk of birth defects.
When considering seafood, keep in mind that older, larger fish such as swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish tend to have a higher mercury content. Tuna is also a concern, and pregnant women should limit servings of tuna to no more than two cans per week, choosing chunk light instead of white tuna.
The Environmental Protection Agency states that it is safe for pregnant women to eat up to eight to 12 ounces of fish or seafood low in mercury per week (or approximately two meals). Safe selections include shrimp, salmon, pollock, catfish, anchovies, and trout [11].
Nausea and vomiting affect 70 to 80 percent of all pregnant women [8]. As uncomfortable as it is, take solace in the knowledge that nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is completely normal to experience and is even associated with better pregnancy outcomes (who knew?)
One downside to nausea during pregnancy is that it can make healthy eating — or eating at all — quite challenging.
A few tips for getting the nutrition you need while minimizing nausea include sticking to bland foods as much as possible, minimizing the amount of spices and seasonings in your food, and eating starchy foods such as rice, bananas, bread, or potatoes. Eating smaller, more frequent meals can help reduce some of the nausea experienced when your stomach is empty.
Two supplements that are helpful for nausea are ginger and vitamin B6. Ginger can be taken as a pill, drunk as a tea, or eaten whole (candied ginger is particularly palatable), and is a safe and effective nausea-reducer for pregnant women [9]. Vitamin B6 is another effective supplement for reducing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, with doses between 30 to 40 mg per day recommended for pregnant women [10].
While the goal of the tips in this article is to empower you to optimize your health and nutrition during pregnancy, it’s important to remember that these guidelines can also help women prepare their bodies for pregnancy.
Don’t forget to enjoy your food, listen to your body, and, if a craving strikes, have some ice cream and pickles!
The post How Nutrition Needs Change During Pregnancy appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.
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What was once relegated to the making of guacamole — fabulous in its own right — avocados are now taking the lunch table by storm. Smooth and buttery and loaded with healthy fat and a good dose of vitamins and minerals, the avocado offers a cornucopia of choices as to how to serve it.
Check out these 10 delicious ways to turn an avocado into lunch.
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Every day is a balancing act, literally!
No, really. You balance every single day, even when walking on flat surfaces. It’s very easy to take it for granted because it’s such an automatic part of life for most of us.
While this kind of “balancing” is pretty second-nature, improving overall balance fundamentals offers great benefits. Aside from practical benefits like walking safely over a log to cross a stream while hiking, or walking on a treacherously icy sidewalk up to your front door, intentionally challenging your balance on narrow surfaces can improve ankle, knee, and hip stability, alignment, and vestibular and proprioceptive systems. In essence, working on your balance makes you sharper overall.
To start practicing balancing a stable narrow surface like a 2×4 board is all you need. You can even start on a flat surface with tape on the floor. In fact, that’s where we’re starting today: on the ground with a balancing drill.
The single-leg swing can help you to find your center of gravity while shifting your weight from one leg to the other. With this basic drill, you line up your center of gravity over your standing leg and swing the free leg forward and backward. Shifting your weight over the standing leg will help you to feel more stable. You’re balancing!
The next step is mastering the art of counterbalancing, or the ability to “catch yourself” before you fall.
Practicing counterbalancing is important for everyone, but it’s particularly important for older adults, athletes, and anyone who is recovering from an injury or surgery who wants to reduce their risk of falling.
When you learn how to counterbalance more efficiently and effectively you lower your risk of injury and gain self-confidence to do things that you may not have tried in the past if you hadn’t practiced these skills, like walking across ice or very rocky terrain.
In the video below, I demonstrate how you can intentionally throw yourself off balance in a controlled and safe environment. Start on a flat surface (in the gym, on grass, in your living room, really anywhere with a stable flat surface). When you’re feeling more confident start practicing on a narrow (but still flat and stable) surface, like a 2×4 board or a sidewalk curb.
Now that you’ve practiced the single-leg swing and gotten more comfortable with counterbalancing, you can start to add some forward locomotion, or movement from one place to another. Try walking on a narrow surface. Beginners should use a stable, narrow surface that is not too far from the ground. A 2×4 board is a great tool for starting to train your balancing skills.
When practicing forward balance walking, maintain good body alignment (shoulders over hips, hips over ankles, and ribs down). Find your point of contact by leading with the ball of the foot, shift your weight to the leading foot, and then swing the back leg forward.
You may have noticed in the video above that I’m landing on the ball of the foot when balancing (as opposed to landing on the heel the way we normally do when we walking on flat, stable surfaces). Landing on the ball of your foot allows you to gather information about the surface you’re getting ready to step onto while balancing on a narrow surface. For example, if you are on a log you definitely want to know if the log is slippery, stable, or dead (which means that it can easily break) before fully committing more weight.
(This also leads to precision landing for jumps because when you land a jump properly, the ball of your foot touches the ground first, then the heel drops. But that is for another article!)
Once you’ve got the forward walk down, you can start to play with the backward balancing walk.
When navigating a narrow surface, sometimes it’s necessary to change direction because walking backward isn’t the safest or most efficient option.
When you need to change your direction one of the most stable ways to do it is by using a skill that MovNat calls the cross reverse.
When you step forward, place the foot perpendicularly to the board (or to whatever surface you’re on), shift your weight to that foot, then pivot the back foot so that the toes are pointing in the direction to which you are turning. Swing forward with the leg that was leading.
There are times in life when you may have to carry something (or someone) over a narrow surface. That’s challenging enough in and of itself. Now, imagine it’s a young child or an injured person who needs to be carried across a narrow surface. You don’t want to drop that precious cargo! Not only will balance carries help you train your stability and grip strength, this drill has a tremendous practical carry-over (no pun intended!).
In the two videos below, I demonstrate two beginner-friendly balance carries: a hand carry and a waist carry.
The balancing foot-hand crawl is a more advanced balancing skill, and I recommend building strength and efficiency in the foot-hand crawl on a flat surface before crawling on a narrow surface.
When you need to lower your center of gravity to feel more stable on a narrow surface, you might find yourself in this foot-hand position. The more points of contact you have with the surface, the more stable you will feel. It’s instinctual to lower yourself closer to the surface for safety and security. Sometimes you may have to stay low to move across a narrow surface.
For most people, a workout full of drills like crawling and balancing training might not really sound too exciting. It’s not as motivating as perhaps working toward a deadlift PR, or mastering pull-ups, but it’s undeniable that these are beneficial skills for all of us. The good news is that you don’t have to trade in your barbells and kettlebells. You can add some balancing training to your current workouts, and reap the benefits while still keeping an eye on other strength and performance goals.
Choose any of the following balancing drills and superset them with one of your heavier or more intense lifts.
For example, you can perform a superset like this:
Deadlift 5 x 5
Forward and Backward Balance Walking 5 x 10 meters
You can also perform any of these balancing drills as part of your warm up as way to stimulate your vestibular and proprioceptive system and stability. You can even incorporate any of the balancing drills at the end of your training session as part of a combo or finisher. For example:
Kettlebell Swing 5 x 20
Hand Carry 5 x 10 meters
Foot-Hand Crawl 5 x 10 meters
You stand to benefit from including balancing drills into your training program, and over time, you’ll notice many carry-over improvements in other exercises and movements. These drills can help you to feel more present, develop more situational awareness, and build self-confidence in your ability to move safely in different environments.
The post Find Your Balance appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.
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(Image credit: @kindsnacks)
An art installation in New York City’s Times Square is making a statement about the sugar consumption of American children. It’s conceptualized and executed by KIND Snacks, and reportedly went up Tuesday morning before 5 a.m.
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Experiencing food is a multi-sensory affair. It’s not just about taste and flavor profile, you know. Equally important are aroma, visual aesthetic, and the auditory experience. If you’re skeptical on the latter, then know that there’s an entire world for individuals with Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (or ASMR) who enjoy specific food sounds, and there are tons of videos to prove it.
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(Image credit: Trader Joe’s)
Cauliflower crusts are all the rage these days. They’re made from vegetables, after all, and are a low-carb option for those looking to cut back or who can’t eat gluten. Trader Joe’s brought a pre-made cauliflower pizza crust to its supermarkets earlier this summer, which quickly gained cult-favorite status, and now they’re going the extra mile. The grocer is back with a ready-to-bake gluten-free cheese pizza featuring a cauliflower crust.
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