Welcome to 23 weeks! Feeling baby’s movements inspires many pregnant people to focus on the quality of their daily lifestyle choices. Good nutrition, movement, and lifestyle choices are three things you can turn to your advantage. Making good choices improves your chances of avoiding complications during your pregnancy and birth. Considering good choices can sometimes make us uncomfortable based on judgments of what we or others think we “should” be doing.

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Ditch the shoulds and embrace the coulds that make you feel good. A simple example: I could pick a dark green vegetable rather than a starchy one. A dark green, leafy salad could provide my baby and me with playful texture, crunch, vitamins, and live enzymes. Let decisions become more supportive by removing the word “should.”

A healthful way of eating becomes highlighted during pregnancy. Choose food and beverages that support vital organs to grow a healthy baby. We offer three areas of attention this week.

Hypertension

Many people have found great success with The Blue Ribbon Diet (also known as the Brewer Diet), developed by Dr. Tom Brewer, which is proven to help avoid complications of preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and premature birth. The top six Brewer Recommendations are:

• 4-6 3-ounce servings of protein a day (doesn’t have to be meat)
• 10-12 glasses of water a day (skip carbonated drinks which leach minerals)
• Salt to taste — a little iodized salt helps balance your fluids
• A daily green, leafy vegetable like kale or turnip greens
• An orange veggie like yams, carrots, or pumpkin a few times a week
• One fresh fruit or a tea made from hibiscus flowers most days

Gail Tully, Founder of Spinning Babies®, saw amazing results when protein recommendations were followed exactly. Food choices for the Brewer Diet could be updated for today’s dietary science. However, this program works!

Gestational Diabetes

Lily Nichols, RDN, CDE, CLT, shares current science and smarts in food choices for controlling blood sugar and offers meal plans in her book Real Food for Gestational Diabetes: An Effective Alternative to the Conventional Nutritional Approach. Nichols does an excellent job of breaking down the confusion around this diagnosis and puts the pregnant person in charge of real change. Nichols’ approach combines eating and movement. Blood sugar is controlled by how we eat, what we eat, and good habits of movement. While no plan is 100% applicable for all people, this one is stellar and an exciting development for today’s generation.

Movement

Moving your body throughout pregnancy is at the heart of Spinning Babies. Our top recommendation? Walk briskly five times per week, working your way up to 3 miles. Walking with full motion lengthens the psoas muscles — a large pair of muscles shaped like narrow, internal “wings” that swing forward from the inside of the spine and over the front of the pelvis to the thigh (more on the psoas here). A supple psoas aids digestion, helps you feel grounded, and also helps baby engage on time. Find other tips in Daily Essentials: Activities for Pregnancy Comfort & Easier Birth.

Things to Do This Week

• Laugh!
• Do something for someone else occasionally.
• Rest. A bedtime before 11 p.m. every night supports your internal clock.
• Be in a safe place. Choose to surround yourself with loving people.
• Get a doula. Doulas are “proven to improve” outcomes.
• Avoid drugs that aren’t vital to your life or mental health (don’t stop taking prescription drugs without clear help from your doctor).
• Avoid alcohol. There is no safe level of alcohol for a baby’s brain or your gut.
• Avoid smoke, including secondhand smoke from tobacco or marijuana.
• Avoid chemical cleaners and find “green” household cleaners.
• Avoid changing cat litter, or wear gloves — and a face mask.