A healthy and happy pregnancy is somewhat dependent on the steps you have taken leading up to this point, and it can be worrying if you are feeling very nauseous, craving loads of junk food, or struggling to keep down any food at all - which is one reason why going into pregnancy as nourished and robust as possible is key.
However, what you eat as a Mum during pregnancy is vital to support the various stages of development your baby will go through as well as maintaining your own physical and mental health during pregnancy and your recovery after birth.
There are certain physiological changes which will occur that are perfectly natural and normal and are to be embraced. Changes in our immune function support the growth of a new life whilst changes in energy metabolism and gut bacteria support weight gain to store energy and nutrients which are needed for breast feeding.
This does mean that you will put on fat and you need to - however, this does not mean that eating an uncontrolled diet during this time is a good idea. The quality of the food you eat now is more important than ever before - many pregnancy complications can be directly impacted by diet.
Using ancestral research, we can look at what we would have naturally eaten during pregnancy before the whole process became so highly medicalised. Needless to say animal foods and healthy fats play a central role!
Now you have considered the pregnancy itself, it's time to consider maternal health post birth.