Controlling Weight Gain Through Proper Pregnancy Nutrition

The most common question that women have throughout pregnancy is how to control their weight with proper pregnancy nutrition. After all, you want to eat right to give the maximum nutritional benefits to your baby as it grows and develops within you.

Keeping your weight gain to a minimum is helpful after you have the baby, as it's much easier to get back into shape if you don't have much weight to lose. An average weight gain of around 20-30 pounds will help you stay fit and active during pregnancy while still giving your baby everything she needs to grow healthy for birth.

So how can you keep on track with a healthy weight gain through pregnancy? The best tips for eating well and controlling your gain are presented below.

Avoid Processed Foods

Processed foods are best avoided during pregnancy, as they contain excess fillers, sodium, and calories that can lead to water retention and weight gain. How can you eliminate processed foods from your diet?

To start with, instead of eating lunch meat while pregnant, you should find a whole and natural source of lean protein instead. Raw nuts, nut butters (without added salt), lean cuts of organic and hormone-free meat, and organic eggs are all excellent sources of protein.

These protein sources are also lower in calories, free from fillers, and don't contain the excess sodium that is found in processed meats and foods. They're a great way to stay on track nutritionally without ingesting those questionable extras that come with processed foods.

Reduce Your Intake of Gluten and Wheat

Even if you don't have sensitivity to wheat or gluten when not pregnant, you can develop one when you are carrying your baby. So if you are experiencing issues with excess weight gain and water retention, try eliminating wheat and gluten from your diet.

You can replace these carbohydrates with quinoa, millet, brown rice, and sweet potatoes, all of which are healthy grains.

These grains also have the added benefit of being high in fiber, which will help you maintain regular digestion and elimination throughout pregnancy. These grains are also great for reducing gastric bloating and indigestion, a common complaint during pregnancy.

Eliminate Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners

It's time to tame your sweet tooth if you want to keep from gaining excess pounds during your pregnancy. Cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other sugar derivatives should be avoided if you want to combat water retention and weight gain during pregnancy.

But don't think that artificial sweeteners will help, either. These man-made sugar substitutes are chock-full of questionable chemicals that could potentially harm your unborn baby. Instead, seek all-natural sugar alternatives such as raw honey, agave syrup, stevia, and xylitol. All of these will help curb your craving for sugar without chemicals or a huge caloric punch.

Cut Back on Caffeine

Finally, one of the best nutritional choices you can make during pregnancy is to cut back on caffeine. If you are addicted to coffee or tea, you should slowly step down your consumption rather than try to quit cold turkey. The detox symptoms from suddenly ceasing your caffeine habit can be particularly difficult to handle during pregnancy.

Most physicians agree that you can consume 150mg of caffeine daily without harming your baby, so try to bring your consumption down to that level. You can step down from coffee to black tea to green tea to white tea, and finally switch to herbal teas if you want to eliminate caffeine altogether. Try upping your intake of water during this time to flush toxins from your system and help eliminate any detox headaches you may experience.

Are you looking for the best advice about pregnancy nutrition? Need to know which foods to avoid while pregnant? To learn more about pregnancy nutrition and get exercise recommendations and eating tips for a healthy pregnancy, visit http://whattoeatwhilepregnant.com.

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Lemon Detox Diet: Good Or Bad?

etox "boom" that started several years ago, was provoked by dozens of patented detox diets that are promised to give you amazing weight loss results in minimum time. But are those diets really so effective as they are claimed?

Lemon detox diet is very close to starvation: you have to drink nothing but lemon juice mixed with maple syrup, water and cayenne pepper. Your daily calorie intake is minimum, and it is very dangerous to consume less than 1200 calories per day, unless you are supervised by specialists. Of course, you will lose weight if you don't eat anything. But this effect won't last long. As soon as you finish dieting, your organism will store even more fat than before. The reason this happens is that when you starve, your body enters the so-called "starvation mode". It shuts down some of its functions, as a result, you feel sleepy, fatigue, you lack energy, can't work and concentrate. When you start eating normally again, your organism, after experiencing this shock, makes energy reserves by storing fat, in case it will have to starve again.

If you are trying to lose weight, you should exercise also, as diet alone will never give you lasting results. But since your energy levels become so low, your exercising becomes almost impossible, and ineffective.

Besides, the weight you lose is not only fat. If you starve longer periods, you start losing your muscle as well, as you deprive your body of much-needed ingredients, and it needs to get them from somewhere. And later, this lost muscle mass will be replaced with fat, too.

So, what are the effects of lemon detox dieting? Short-term weight loss, long-term weight gain, strong side effects - both physical and psychical, and great stress to the entire organism and all its systems.

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A Successful Weight Loss Campaign Begins With Nutrition

If you want to lose weight fast, and if you are anything like the rest of the people in the world who are packing on a few extra pounds, you invariably do, nothing will melt away that fat faster than a healthy nutrition plan.

Many people think that exercising alone will help you lose weight. The fact remains that exercise, although very important to being healthy, is practically useless unless you give your body the nutrients it needs to function.

One way of doing this is to eat a proper diet of the right proteins, carbohydrates and vegetables. Yes I said carbohydrates in there. We all need them and they aren't bad, you just need to eat the right ones in the right amounts.

The first thing that you need to know when it comes to weight loss and eating healthy is knowing exactly how much to eat. The general rule of thumb is to eat six times everyday or one meal every two and half to three hours. This gives your body a constant supply of nutrients. This constant supply helps fuel your body and keeps your metabolism running at a high rate to help burn the fat.

Even if you eat six times a day not eating the right things won't do you any good either. Each meal should consist of a serving of protein, a serving of carbohydrates and a serving of green vegetables. These servings should be equal in size and should all be about the size of your clenched fist. Using this method removes the need for scales and measuring. The process of eating healthy can be challenging enough without adding the extra work of weighing and everything out.

Now that you know how often to eat and how much to eat, you need to know what it is you will be eating to help lose weight. This is actually simpler than you might think. Your proteins should be lean meats, fish, egg whites or egg substitutes, low or no fat cottage cheese to name a few. Always bake or grill your food whenever possible, and if you must fry something use a non stick cooking spray such Pam to reduce the amount of bad fats that you incorporate into your nutrition plan.

Your carbohydrates work the same. Instead of eating anything that is white enriched switch to the healthier alternative. For example, instead of white bread, eat multi-grain, instead of white potatoes eat a Yam, replace your white rice with brown rice, and replace those sugary "soft" drinks with water or Crystal Light.

Polish it off with a serving size of a green vegetable and you will be well on your way to a healthier meal and a successful weight loss campaign.

About the Author:

You can read more of Mr. Tucker's articles by visiting: Triond.com

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How to Lose Weight With the Lemonade Diet!

The lemonade diet is for people who want to cleanse the body and lose weight the natural way. It was written in 1976 by Stanley Burrows in his book "The Master Cleanse" and was revived in 2004 in Peter Glickman's book ''Weight, Have More Energy and be Happier in 10 Days". The main idea behind the diet was to cleanse toxins from the vital organs and deep tissues in the body. However, this resulted in rapid weight loss and today it is used my many people including celebrities who need to lose weight fast.

It is also known as a type of 'fasting' because you are not allowed to eat solid food for ten days while on the lemonade diet. It is a very demanding and requires dedication and commitment. Although you are not allowed to eat solid foods, the diet allows you to maintain a moderate energy level. Before you decide to go on this diet plan, you must first discuss it with your doctor.

The main ingredients in the lemonade diet are lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Once you have all the necessary ingredients, you can get started. First, combine one or two tablespoons of organic maple syrup with two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Then, add 1/10 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Remember to use organic lemons because the non-organic option contains toxins pesticides. If the main purpose of the diet is to remove toxins from the body, then using a non organic lemon defeats the purpose.

You must also remember to use freshly squeezed lemons and not canned lemon juice. The canned option does not contain the necessary vitamins and nutrients that the body will need throughout the ten days of the lemonade diet. The cayenne pepper should be powered as opposed to the ungrounded option. This is the ingredient that many people have the hardest time with because it is an acquired taste. However, cayenne pepper is an important element due to it's powerful healing properties.

This ingredient is one of the best healing herbs in the world. It contains vitamins B and C and can also increase blood flow. It can also help prevent heart attacks. In order to make the cayenne better a little easier to drink, start off with a very small amount then add a little more as time goes on until you reach the required amount. This should make the process a lot easier.

You will need to drink at least six cups of this mixture each day for a period of ten days. Along with the diet, you will need to drink decaffeinated laxative teas to keep the bowels moving. Most people prefer the organic peppermint or green teas. You can also try the salt water flush, which should be done each morning during the cleanse. This consists of warm water and a teaspoon of organic tea salt. If the substance is a little hard to drink you can add a little lemon juice to the salt water flush.

After the lemonade diet is complete, you should prepare the stomach to assimilate other foods by drinking orange juice for two days. On the third day, feel free to incorporate raw fruits and salads and on the fourth day you can resume normal eating patterns.

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Seven Nutrition Info Tips for Rapid Weight Loss and Low-Cal Healthy Dinner

Are there any easy nutrition info weight loss tips to help me lose weight faster and eat a Low-Cal healthy dinner if I don't want to cook?

1. You can make a smoothie with 1% or fat-free milk, frozen fruit and even adding wheat germ.

2. If you must eat a fast food burger, get the smallest burger with mustard and ketchup and forget the mayo and a no-calorie beverage. Then when you get home, add an apple or baby carrots for your fruit/veggie and fiber.

3. Do you like peanut butter. Make a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread. Add a glass of 1% milk and an apple or whatever fruit you enjoy. You can find low fat peanut butter for a lower fat and calorie meal or snack

4. You can have in your freezer, precooked chicken strips and add broccoli topped with parmesan cheese. Yummy!

5. You can find in the frozen section of your supermarket a healthy frozen entree. Add a salad and a glass of 1% milk.

6. You can scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet or use egg substitute. Add some asparagus or any vegetable that you like in the microwave and then add a slice of whole wheat toast. Ask your doctor how many eggs you can eat per week.

7. You can take a bag of frozen vegetables heated in a microwave, and top with 2 Tbl of Parmesan Cheese and 2 Tbl of chopped nuts.

Always consult your doctor when changing your eating habits or starting a diet.
Enjoy your foods. You have to like what you eat.

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