Top 10 superfoods to eat during pregnancy. The most important time to eat healthily to keep you, the mum in tip top shape during pregnancy and to give your baby the nutrients he/she needs.

1.Yoghurt. This is rich in calcium and look for a yoghurt that is fortified with vitamin D. Both vitamin D and calcium are essential for healthy bones in mother and baby.

2.Berries. They are full of nutrients – vitamins c, fibre and of course antioxidants. All are important for the mother and baby. In particular antioxidants are good for the immunity. Vitamin C helps with the mothers of absorption of iron and the fibre can help prevent constipation.

3. Sweet potatoes. These are an excellent source of beta-carotene – this is the form of vitamin A that is found in vegetables. Vitamin A is essential for the development of the babys heart, eyes and brains. High levels of vitamin A can damage an unborn baby, so vitamin A from animal sources should be limited

4. Salmon. Your intake of salmon and oily fish should be limited during pregnancy, but should not be eliminated totally. Oily fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are important for the development of the babys brain.

5.Broccoli. Broccoli, along with other green vegetables, is a great source of folate, which is essential for the development of the babys brain and spinal cord.

6.Oats. Oats are low in fat and high in fibre. Unlike some other carb rich foods, oats release their energy really slowly which helps to maintain your blood sugar levels.

7. Pulses. Pulses such as lentils, peas and beans are a source of protein, vitamins, fibre and many minerals. One portion of any of these count towards one of your five a day.

8.Rapeseed oil. Healthy fats are an essential part of all diets. Rapeseed oil has healthy monounsaturated fats and has the lowest saturated fat content of all oils. It contains antioxidants, vitamin E  as well as omega-3 fats.

9. Dried aprocots. Dried apricots are a great snack and these are packed with folci acid, iron and fibre.

10.Water. Water is need to keep the body hydrated and helps with blood pressure and can also help avoid constipation.

Every day we lead our life through habits – some of these habits need to be changed to enable us to become healthier and as difficult as it may seem – you can do it.

Whether it’s spending too much money, drinking too much coffee, eating the same food, drinking alcohol every day, drinking too much fizzy sugary drinks, not exercising – these are all habits that can be changed – but not all at once.

What is your goal?

What is most important to you – and what habit is restricting you from reaching that goal?…..start there.

How to change habits

Pen to paper – write down your goal.
What triggers your habit? Find a healthy replacement.
Every time that trigger occurs – use the replacement – i.e. every afternoon I would come home from school/college pick up and crave biscuits – I now have a protein shake ready for as soon as I get back in the door -change this one habit every day for at least a month for the healthier habit to kick in.

You are now asking – how do I do that when I have lots of habits that are not great.

Change only one habit at a time. Changing any habit is difficult. If you try to change more than one habit at a time, you are more likely to fail and then give up on all of it. Find the most important change and start there.

Write it down. Just saying you’re going to change the habit is not enough. Write down what habit you’re going to change so you can see it and read it each day.

Write down how you are going to implement this in a plan. Your plan should include your reason for changing, obstacles (what will stop you from changing, triggers(time of day, boredom).

Start small because habit change is difficult, and trying to take on too big a task will make it more likely that you will fail. Going to start walking each day – start with just 20 minutes every other day and build it up. Want to go to the gym – start with going twice a week and staying for half an hour.

You reasons for change – are they strong enough? You have to really understand why you are doing this, and what the benefits are going to be to you for doing it. If you’re just doing it to look good, this may not be strong enough of a motivator. You may need something stronger. Maybe cutting out fatty foods for you and our  your family – means making yourself healthier, less likely to develop diabetes type 2 and also the whole family are learning healthy habits to prevent them from developing weight related conditions. One cause of obesity is environmental – i.e parents being over weight or obese and passing on the eating and behavioural habits to their children.

What are your triggers. For a smoker the triggers might include waking in the morning, having coffee, drinking alcohol, going out with friends. Most habits have triggers. Identify all of them and write them down.

For every trigger, identify a positive habit you’re going to do instead. For smokers when you wake in the morning – what can you do instead of smoking? Some positive habits could be: going for a walk, yoga, cooking a dinner for the evening,  the house and more.

Become really aware of self-talk. You talk to yourself, in your head, all the time — but too often we’re not aware of these thoughts. These thoughts can inhibit habit change. They are often negative: “I can’t do this? Why should I bother?It won’t work anyway? It’s important to know you’re doing this and more important to change those thoughts into positive ‘of course I can do this – I’m doing this because I’m important – it will work if I stick to it’

Drink lots of -being dehydrated leaves us open to failure as we feel tired and crave our old habits to perk us up. Stay hydrated!

If you fail, figure out what went wrong, and try again. Don’t let failure and feeling guilty stop you from trying again. You will learn something from failure – and take that with you to carry forward. Let go of the guilt. Try again – you can’t fail if you keep trying.

Have rewards – regularly. You might have these as your bribes – it’s a positive bribe. Write these into your plan along with positive feedback from each day you successfully manage to kick those habits.

Remember 1 habit at a time – complete this habit for at least a month – if you have been successful and feel you got it and can handle another one – add it in.

You’ve got this

My course this weekend has highlighted a few things for me – it was fascinating and scary and would make anyone rethink their nutrition.

The risk of getting diabetes type 2 is very real if your waist size (f) is over 31.5 inches and (m) 37inches – being over weight with a high bmi – eating an unhealthy diet high in sugar and high processed diet – 1st degree relative with diabetes type 2 – an inactive lifestyle.

With this in mind – what else would make you change your lifestyle and get fit. If you are over weight and think you are reaching a stage where you could develop diabetes type 2 – what else will make you rethink your food intake and lifestyle – cause if this doesn’t – then what will?

Pt’s, gp’s, nutritionists and anyone else in the health profession can only help so much – We can advise you what to eat to help you lose weight – advise you on portion control – advise you to move more – but if you stick to your same behaviour patterns of eating food that’s high in saturated fat, eating too much sugar, too much alcohol, too much coffee – and not moving as much as recommended then you will see no weight loss – it’s harsh but it’s true – you could go on to develop problems with joints, cardiovascular issues, diabetes, hormonal issues, Ibs issues and many more weight associated problems –

So what am I saying? – take responsibility for your lifestyle and assess your food – make those changes that will help the weight loss – going to the gym once, twice even three times a week but outside those 3 hours a week you are binging on unhealthy food, drinking a few glasses of alcohol each night and just sitting for more time than moving – then what a shame and what a waste – don’t get me wrong those 3 hours are better than nothing and they are most definitely helping you get fitter and helping your cardiovascular system – but if it’s weight loss you are after – it won’t happen – not unless you and only you make that change.

How bad do you want that weight loss?

Are you prepared to make changes to your life?

Can you cut out some or all of those items that are causing you to put on weight or just stay at a weight you don’t want to be at?

Have you got what it takes to do it?

You know what? You have got it, and it all starts with mind set and wanting to lose weight more than you want that extra food – dig deep, set those goals, take charge of yourself and start working towards what you want – cause I know you don’t want diabetes or something else weight related – do you?