Natural Ways to Prepare your Body for Pregnancy

{Note from Jessica: Today’s post is shared by my sweet friend Jess Kuh. Jess is a fellow real food lover with a passion for natural living, herbs, and anything that keeps her family and home healthy.}

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Pregnancy is an exciting time in a woman’s life. We look forward to all that comes with each milestone and of course, that snugly little babe that will soon be nestled in your arms.

Something that is often overlooked is the importance of preparing your body for the burden pregnancy creates. Anyone that is looking to conceive should begin cleaning and nourishing your body three to six months before pregnancy. Ideally, that is the case, but we all know that surprises do pop up. 😉

A lot of times either cleansing or nourishing is emphasized but I really feel you need to do both:

• Clean out the systems so that the excess of pregnancy hormones don’t become stagnant.
• Nourish to build up reserves in your body for not only the baby but for mama as well. Mama will have a much easier time if her bowels, liver and lymph systems are moving well and that she has a reserve of nutrition to support a growing baby. 

I know it can seem overwhelming ,but I’m going to offer you a few tips that will be easy to incorporate into your daily routine. If you’d like to look at a more in-depth approach to cleansing and nourishing your body for conception, I highly recommend checking out my friend Donielle’s books (affiliate link) from Natural Fertility and Wellness. Her books are well written and make cleansing seem easy and doable.

1. Drink Nourishing herbal infusions

Herbs are great at nourishing your body as they give your body nutrients that are easy to assimilate. Many of the herbs are full of minerals that you will need for growing a healthy baby. Starting your herbal infusions now will also make it easier to be in the habit for drinking them while pregnant.

Check out a great list of herbs that you could use, here. A note of caution, make sure you herbs that are pregnancy safe since you are working at getting ready for conception. It is best to consult with an alternative physician or licensed herbalist regarding this.

2. Cleanse the liver

This one is HUGE. Pregnancy creates large rushes of hormones and your liver is the primary source of flushing them through your body. If your liver is already taxed, then it is going to be very overwhelmed with pregnancy.

Dandelion and milk thistle are great ways to support the liver. Adding lemon to your water is also a great way to get a daily dose of gentle liver cleansing. Jessica’s Love Your Liver Herbal Coffee is also a great option for daily liver cleaning. For recommendations on where to buy quality, organic herbs, click here.

3. Move lymph fluid

My favorite way to move lymph fluid is through dry skin brushing. Skin brushing not only removes dead skin cells so your skin can breathe better but it helps move the lymph fluid in your body. Your skin is the largest way to remove toxins so keeping it clear will help your body work more efficiently.

If you do this and become pregnant, you can still brush but take caution while brushing your belly. A softer brush may be needed for the sensitive stretching skin.

4. Build up your adrenals! 

Your adrenals are so important and they really need to be in good shape for a pregnancy. A simple, daily method of supporting them is a pinch of real sea salt in a glass of water each morning.

Vitamin C is also another wonderful way to just support them daily. Read my friend Lydia’s post on why vitamin C is so critical for adrenal health. Also, check out this post on liposomal vitamin C and why it is far superior to the vitamin C you’re used to.

Lots of good rest is also key! In bed by 10pm if you can handle it. If you can go to bed earlier, that is even better. Shoot for a minimum of 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night, but if you can get 9-10, that is fantastic!

5. Keep the bowels moving.

I know that this is a topic that nobody likes to talk about it, but it is über important, whether you are pregnant or not. Pregnancy is a time when the body can become lax and bowel movement is one of those areas that can be tough for pregnant woman.

If you can handle a bowel cleanse before conception, you’ll be in a good shape before things have a chance to get backed up. You want to make sure you either use herbs that are pregnancy safe or sure you aren’t going to get pregnant while doing the cleanse.

Bowel cleansing is a great place for everyone to start because if that channel is clear, so to speak, then your body will have an easier time releasing the rest of any toxins in your body.

Feel like your gut’s a little out of whack? Take time to heal it before pregnancy. To learn more on why bowel health is so important and how to heal your gut, check out these posts:

• Fiber and Inulin: Your Best Friends for Gut Health
• Suffer from Food Sensitivities? Read This.
• Why Your Gut is Making You Sick (and what to do about it)
• The Key to Health Lies in the Gut
• 6 Facts About Digestion and What You Can Do to “Heal Your Gut”
• 3 Dirty Ways to Recharge Your Gut Health

When embarking on a cleanse, make sure you consult with your physician and do your research. Our bodies are so different, our needs vary greatly.

6. Take care of your teeth

Dental work is one of the crazy things that I do not like to do while pregnant. I do not want anything released into my body during pregnancy and I for sure do not want  x-rays. I really recommend having a routine cleaning before trying to get pregnant so it’s all out of the way. Pregnancy has a way of making your gums more lax and they can have a tendency to bleed so starting out clean important.

A natural way to keep up with the cleaning is oil pulling. It can also help prevent and even reverse some dental issues. You can read more about that, here.

Enjoying the Journey

Pre-conception is a great time to fill your body with nutritious healthy food and heal areas that may not be quite up to par. Lots of colorful vegetables and healthy fats will go a long way in getting your body ready to carry a baby, as well as quality sleep and gentle exercise. There is a lot that goes into preparing your body for pregnancy, but it doesn’t need to be overwhelming.

What’s your favorite tip to offer someone preparing for pregnancy? 

Supporting the Thyroid & Adrenals Through Herbs in Preparation for Pregnancy

When it comes to preparing for your pregnancy, supporting the adrenals, thyroid, and blood sugar (because they are very closely linked) will be a key area of focus. The whole endocrine system plays a specific role in fertility.

During this preparation time, caffeine may not be your best friend. While those with sluggish adrenal glands and underactive thyroids tend to feel run down and in need of a regular pick-me-up (like coffee and other caffeinated beverages), in the long run, caffeine can do more harm than good while you are healing. I go into the “whys” around caffeine and your adrenals in this detailed post here. In addition to the caffeine, there are other constituents, molds, and mycotoxins that can show up in coffee that some people find they react to.

When I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease and adrenal fatigue, one of the first things that had to go was coffee. To be honest, I never drank coffee because of the caffeine. I drank coffee for the taste and aroma, as well as the emotional experience I felt to my morning cup of joe. For me, it was a ritual that I looked forward to every day (and sometimes multiple times a day). Whether I was brewing it at home or going to my local coffee shops, the experience was one that I clung to tightly.

But, when I was faced with new health struggles, I knew I had to do whatever I could to support my body and give it the tools it needed to heal. Giving up coffee and caffeine was one step in this direction.

And it sucked.

I turned to the coffee substitutes on the market in a desperate attempt to recreate the ritual I had grown so fond of, but nothing ever tasted the way I wanted it to. Nothing ever gave me that same experience that my cup of “real” coffee did. I knew there had to be something better, but I simply could not find it on my health food store’s shelves.

Necessity is the mother of invention so that is why I created my own coffee substitutes. They were made with organic, sustainably harvested herbs with zero grains, zero gluten, and zero caffeine. Just herbs. Herbs that not only tasted delicious but supported my body’s function, like liver detox, bile production, digestion, blood sugar balance, etc. In my mind, if I can get something to not only taste amazing but do amazing things for my body, then it’s a no brainer!

I sold these pre-made blends on Etsy for awhile and the demand was more than I could keep up with. People literally LOVED these blends and were stunned at how much like coffee they actually tasted. Customers who had been dealing with a variety of chronic illnesses had given up coffee to heal their bodies, but like me were deeply missing their morning cup of joe ritual.

After careful consideration and work with some highly experienced advisors, I decided to stop selling the pre-made blends and instead share my proprietary recipes in the form of an eBook. That way I could arm people with the knowledge and recipes they needed to make their own caffeine-free, gluten-free, grain-free blends in the comfort of their own home. 

That is why I created the best-selling DIY Herbal Coffees eBook: A Complete Guide To Making Delicious Herbal Coffees to Support Healing & Stress Relief. Now in its second edition, this ebook features all of my proprietary herbal blend recipes to you can craft a homemade herbal cup of “coffee” at home.

In addition, you get a ton of researched information about coffee’s impact on the health of those dealing with issues like adrenal fatigue, blood sugar dysregulation, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, and any other chronic illness.

Lastly, you get access to your own personal coffee shop. I show you how to recreate your favorite coffee shop drinks and pastries with wholesome, nourishing real food ingredients. No junk here.

This book truly is a comprehensive guide to supporting your health, reducing your stress, and bringing a little something special back into your healing journey. You can learn more and download your own copy of this revolutionary wellness guide here, or simply click on the image below.