It’s no secret that we live in a polluted world, and babies are affected by that. One study actually found a total of 232 toxic chemicals in umbilical cord blood and another found 287 different industrial chemicals and pollutants. This means that detoxing while pregnant can not only benefit your health but the health of your unborn child as well. While some choose to engage in liquid detox diets, a pregnant woman’s body can actually benefit from other types of detoxes while still receiving the vitamins and nutrients they need to feel vitalized and healthy.
Keep Track of Your Intake
During pregnancy, you are likely watching what you eat as well as closely monitoring your vitamin and medicine intake. As a part of the process of detoxing your diet, you will want to monitor what you are eating to ensure you are receiving an adequate amount of calories, essential nutrients and minerals you need to give your body and the growing baby what they need. Ensuring you get enough folic acid, iron, iodine and calcium is especially important. This also goes for monitoring your intake of other things that aren’t simply calories and vitamins such as salt, which can lead to pregnancy complications. Lowering your salt intake is not only an effective way to detox your diet but it is a great way to reduce water retention. Lower your sodium intake to less than 2,400 mg/day to help with this.
Related reading: How To Detox Salt From Your Body
Avoid Foods with Chemical Additives
By avoiding foods with chemical additives and opting for fresh fruits and veggies whenever you can, you are not only increasing your overall health in the long-term but you are ensuring that no complications arise during your pregnancy due to chemicals that can be found in artificial sweeteners and packaged foods. Grass-fed and hormone-free meat fall into the category of avoiding chemicals as they have also been shown to translate harmful chemicals to fetuses. Getting your healthy dose of protein as a pregnant woman is easier if you stick to range-free meat that is high in protein and low in saturated fat. Staying away from animal-based Vitamin A is recommended; instead you should get your Vitamin A and other daily nutrients from raw fruits and vegetables when possible. If raw isn’t an option, go for all-natural cold-pressed juices or lightly steamed veggies.
Also, check out this comprehensive pregnancy guide that covers topics such as prenatal care, dangerous drugs during pregnancy, and breastfeeding.
Drink More Water
One of the most effective ways to detox your body, even while pregnant, is to stimulate gentle liver cleansing, as it is the master detoxifier of the body and can also help to regulate hormones. Therefore, drinking water, and especially lemon water, is one of the best ways to detox your body while pregnant. Simply add the juice from half a lemon to one quart of water and drink the entire mixture when you first wake up. While you’re hydrating your body and helping flush harmful toxins out, studies have found that adding lemon may activate liver detoxification enzymes. As an added benefit, lemons are a great source of Vitamin C and antioxidants.
Listen to Your Body
As your hormones change, you will be able to learn how to listen to your body in order to assess what it is craving. This motherly intuition, along with routine medical checkups to ensure you have the right levels of everything that’s essential, will allow you to safely engage in detoxing to purify your body of harmful toxins that can affect the life and health of your child.
Related reading: Cravings – What Do Your Crazy Food Cravings Tell You?
