Every pregnant woman wants to have a healthy pregnancy with no complications; a healthy delivery and a beautiful, bouncing, healthy baby. It is possible to save our babies from some food deficiency related birth defects and help them have very good immune systems simply by eating the right foods, cultivating good habits and carrying ourselves in the right body postures. A mother can determine a lot about what her child will look like and how healthy the child will be right from the first day you know you are pregnant by taking conscious steps towards achieving the delivery of a baby you can be proud of. A perfect baby is an infant that is healthy with no birth defects. Even though you the mother or your spouse has a defect that might be present in your genes, it is still very much possible to have a baby that would not show these defects. The children we bear are expected to carry our genes and look like us. Our children can look like the improved us if we live healthy life styles and help them along the way when pregnant. Once you know that you are pregnant, the first thing to do is to offer a prayer of thanks to God the creator of the baby in your womb. God has ordered us to be fruitful and multiply. “After creating the first man and woman, He looked at His creations and saw that everything he had made was very good (Genesis 1:31 NKJV).” Mark the word “Very”. He did not just see that they were good; He saw that they were “very” good. God created all his creations as very good. Your unborn baby in the womb is very good. Other words for good are good quality, fine, excellent, first-class, first-rate and superior. When you are pregnant, thank God for your very good baby and then do the right things to help your baby along during development. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (James 1:17 KJV).” After thanking God for your very good baby, then start saying out loud to yourself what you want your baby to look like. Do not forget that our babies carry our genes and would look like us or someone else in the family. We want our babies to look like the better of that person. So start imagining the physical traits you would want to see. Longer richer hair, longer legs, long eye lashes, strong bones, if female, small waist or hippy, if male, strong body and whatever you desire. Then tell that baby in your womb what you want him or her to look like. “If your faith is as small as a mustard seed, you shall move mountains (Matthew 17:20 NKJV).” What ever you believe in this life will definitely work for you. “But faith without works is dead (James 2:20 NKJV).” It is not enough to want a perfect baby, you have to work for it by knowing you are already pregnant with a very good baby, prophesying to your baby what he or she would look like, eating the right foods and living a healthy life style.
YOUR BABY IS WHAT YOU EAT
It is a great thing of joy to have a healthy baby. Our choices in life determine a lot about what we will look like and whether we will be successful or not. Sayings like
“garbage in, garbage out”
“You are what you eat”
have been proven to be true in life. If you consume un-healthy things, you are sure to have an unhealthy baby. If you place garbage into a machine that can give life, you will reap garbage that is alive and stinking. Your womb is the machine that God has created to help give life and nurture the embryo that is formed after the fertilization of an ovum by a sperm and implantation in the uterus. Once your pregnancy result comes out positive, just know that you have just been appointed a nine months contract from heaven and is expected to be good at it. Your job description is to feed your very good embryo, carry your very good embryo and nurture it with good postures and other good things.
Let us dive into biochemistry and take a look at the composition of the cell. The cell is the basic fundamental unit of life and is composed of small molecules, organelles (nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, golgi apparatus and the lysosomes) and macromolecules (lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acids). The cell is also composed of water which makes up about 70% of its volume. Macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids and polysaccharides) constitute 22%, lipids about 2% sugars about 3%, inorganic ions about 1%, amino acids about 0.4% and other small molecules about 0.2%. That means the human cell contains the following in order of decreasing abundance; water, macromolecules (protein, nucleic acid and polysaccharides), sugars and then lipids. This also means that to survive, the human cell needs all of its constituents in the right amount and from the right sources.
What are proteins? Proteins are complex macromolecules made up of amino acids. Proteins from animal sources include red meat, poultry and egg to mention a few. Proteins from plant sources include beans and others. Proteins from animal sources might not be the best choice for a pregnant mum with great health plans. Some dangers include mercury in marine fish and microbes like filarial worms in meat. Also, excess consumption of red meat can increase risk of cardiac related ailments. This does not mean you should completely avoid protein from animal sources. Everyone cannot be vegetarians. You can combine meat and other proteins from animal sources but in accordance with the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of diet.
Another important macromolecule is the nucleic acid. Food sources high in protein content contain nucleic acids. Nucleic acids are responsible for carrying genetic information from the parents to their children. Soybeans are nature’s richest source of protein that can be found in plants. Its protein content can be compared to that found in meat and it is beneficial to the skin through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Soybeans can be prepared for consumption as cooked soybeans, flour, soy protein for preparing meatless dishes, soymilk or as tofu.
Polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates and can be found in peas, starchy vegetables and whole grain cereals. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose in the body and are used in the cells and in the brain. Carbohydrates are the primary sources of energy to humans. Complex carbohydrates provide fibre, minerals and vitamins that are important to the health of a person.
Refined or processed carbohydrates like candy, carbonated beverages and table sugar provide energy also but lack fibres, minerals and vitamins. They can also be referred to as useless sugars.
By now, you should have guessed that it is very important that you drink a lot of water while pregnant so as to prevent dehydration to both you and the baby in your womb, and to help the body cleanse out impurities. It is very important to supply the baby in your womb with very essential nutrients that will aid in proper and healthy development during the nine months of pregnancy. If you consume excess calories and refined sugars, your baby might end up with deficiencies or become genetically tuned to be fat. This kind of fat is very hard to get rid of because the smallest increase in the amount of calorie intake can make the person fat. Some people are known to have lean protein such that no matter the amount of calories they take they would never be obese. Their body has the natural tendency of getting rid of excess fat that it does not need. All this is determined during the development of the infant in the womb most especially during the first 3 months of conception. That is why it is important to eat the right foods. You do not want a baby that will end up with enzyme deficiency or nutrient deficiency due to imbalanced diets, or underdeveloped organs due to consuming harmful foods. Pregnant women are known to have cravings for certain types of foods. If your craving will do your baby no good, it is best to avoid it.
Some of the harmful foods that a pregnant woman should totally avoid include alcoholic beverages, salt water fish (ocean or sea fish), caffeine, raw eggs, soft cheeses, pate, unpasteurized milk and chalk. Alcoholic beverages and all foods that can intoxicate should be totally avoided because they can result in developmental delays, underdeveloped organs and brain damage. No amount of alcohol is good for a pregnant woman. Just imagine the way you behave and feel when you take intoxicating foods. Imagine the effect on your baby whose system is not as fully developed as your own and tell me if it feels right to consume intoxicating foods when pregnant. Knowing only too well that you can not give these intoxicating foods to your toddlers (children between 1-3 years old), how much less your baby in the womb. The presence of mercury has been detected in our seas and oceans. The marine life is constantly round the clock exposed to this mercury which is absorbed into their body. Consuming sea or ocean fish can pose a health risk to your baby in the womb because the mercury is passed on from the fish to you and to your baby which can result in brain damage and developmental delays. Mercury is more present in some fish like shark and mackerel than others and it is best to totally avoid eating them until after weaning your baby. Foods like raw eggs contain salmonella and soft cheese, un-pasteurized milk and pate contain listeria. These are bacteria that can cause miscarriage in a pregnant woman.
Completely avoid smoking anything. From cigarettes to steroids. Smoking can cut down the oxygen supply to your baby. If you are in a smoke filled room, your oxygen supply reduces and your metabolism slows down. Your heart beats faster and this results in more stress to your body. The same thing happens to your baby. Smoking tobacco and other steroids can slow down the growth of your baby in the womb which can lead to your having an under-developed baby that would end up in an incubator with deficiencies that you would spend so much money trying to manage throughout the baby’s life time. Also your baby will grow up to continually manage a disorder throughout his life time as a result of your in-ability to control your urge to smoke or stay away from people that smoke.
To read more on topics like "your baby is what you wear, see and hear", and "show me your hobbies and I will tell you who your baby will be", visit these sites below
