The health of your child is determined before you even conceive. We have within us the power to create an incredibly health child, and to experience and enjoy vibrant health during the process. We call pregnancy a five-trimester process, which includes: pre-conception, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimester and post-partum. Each phase is so crucial to the overall experience.
1) Preconception:
The quality of the egg and the sperm begin 90 days before the conception, so your habits, lifestyle and current state of health are all very important things to consider. We always suggest that the mother run a series of lab work in this phase, which includes, but is not limited to: running a complete hormone panel, including testing all four thyroid hormones, cortisol and DHEA (the stress hormones), doing blood work for heavy metals in the blood, checking for food sensitivities, candida/yeast, and any underlying viruses.
On your own:
TEST YOUR PH: Check and balance your pH, because the body must be in a balanced state to create an optimal environment for conception.
TEST YOUR THROID: Do a basal temperature test to check your thyroid. To do this, you put a thermometer under your arm upon waking and lie still for 10 minutes before checking it. If it is under 97.4 consistently, you will want to give you thyroid some support since it is the regulator of the body and a healthy thyroid allows for much quicker conception.
FIVE THINGS TO DECREASE:
Caffeine
Alcohol
Sugar
Soy
Gluten
FIVE THINGS TO INCREASE:
Greens
Raw Butter/Milk/Cream (see our blog)
Medicinal Bone Broth (see our blog)
Coconut Oil
Mineralized Water
A few other things to consider:
1: Strengthen the liver (Take a Greens Complex supplement, eat grass fed beef liver, or drink dandelion tea)
2: Engage proper food combining: do not combine fruit and carbohydrate/grains/beans/root vegetables
3: Prenatal Supplements: Prenatal Complete, (Mitocore for men), fish oil, Vitamin D/K, high-quality probiotic
2) First Trimester:
Nervous System and Brain
During pregnancy, you always want to make sure that you are nourished and taking time to eat, even if you are not hungry, because your baby will always take what they need, and if you aren’t nourished, that will create many nutrient deficiencies in mom. Your baby’s nervous system is forming in the first trimester and if you are not taking in enough calcium, your body will leach it from your bones in order to give it to your baby. You want to avoid this type of drain at all costs.
The four most important nutrients in the first trimester are:
Salt (trace minerals) – drink mineralized water, eat sea veggies, Himalayan and Celtic sea salt daily.
Calcium – leafy greens, raw nuts and seeds, especially sesame seeds.
Folic acid – 800mcgs in your prenatal and in asparagus, lentils, broccoli and citrus.
Protein – 70 grams/day.
3) Second Trimester:
Skin and Bones
Your baby’s skin and bones are forming in the second trimester, so he/she is requiring much more magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin C and collagen than ever.
We recommend at this phase, switching your fish oil supplement for these three months to Green Pastures High Vitamin A Butter oil, adding in a food-based Vitamin C (Premier Research Labs makes a great one), drinking 2 cups of bone broth daily (assists in collagen production) and eating more foods that are high in magnesium like buckwheat, millet, nuts and seeds, and of course, raw chocolate. If you are getting muscle cramps, foot cramps, restless legs at night or headaches, then we suggest supplementing with a high quality magnesium oil (Health and Wisdom is our favorite brand). You do not ingest it; however, you do a 20-minute foot soak at night with 2oz magnesium oil to 64 ounces hot water.
4) Third Trimester:
Brain and Fat Layer Develop
Baby’s brain is growing quickly in the third trimester, and taste buds are continuing to develop. What you eat, your baby will develop a taste for. The lungs are developing “branches” of the respiratory tree as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. Baby is first beginning to utilize their organs on their own. Baby begins to eliminate waste.
Foods that support lung function include lotus root and all antioxidants like turmeric, acai, cloves, apples and red, yellow and orange bell peppers.
The other food focus should be on pastured animal meats, high quality egg yolks, grass fed beef, wild fatty fish, lamb, turkey and the adding back of the fermented cod liver oil and butter oil blend.
5) Post-Partum:
Hormonal Balancing
Eat breakfast with protein and healthy fat within one hour of waking, make sleep a priority, avoid sugar at all costs.
Consider another hormone test and then balance hormones naturally working from the pituitary and the hypothalamus gland.
Take time for yourself. Include some stress reducing activates in your life like movement, yoga and or meditation.
Hello! The link for the prenatal takes me to a blank page. What is the brand recommended here? Thanks so much 🙂
I am in my 2nd semester and feel like I have serious “baby brain”. Do you have any suggestions for what will help with this? I eat a lot of leafy greens…
Butter oil blend where can I find that?
Christa,
Love your book! I am wondering if you recommend continuing to take the Ortho Biotic into the first (or what you call the 2nd) trimester once conception has been confirmed. Thank you!
Christa,
I know I have Candida, but I am currently nursing my toddler so I can’t be on the cleanse. We also hope to become pregnant in the near future, so there may not be a window for me to do the Candida cleanse. What do you suggest I do?
Christa
Thanks for all the great insight. Is the vitagreen mineral product safe for those dealing with a hypothyroid condition? Safe to use as a prenatal as well as preconception? I was using a different green product until I learned how raw kale, cruciferous veggies,etc can effect the thyroid negatively. Thanks for your feedback.
Absolutely it should be Rachel – always take methylated Bs.
Can someone please share a link to the prenatal that works?
Christa,
I have heard recently that folate should be taken in place of folic acid. Specifically for those with an MTHFR, but pretty much everyone. What do you think of Seeking Health Prenatal in place of New Chapter?? Also, wondered what you might think about a product called Mini-minerals. They don’t have a lot of research out there on this one, but I like the idea of getting all those minerals that don’t need to go through digestion!!