How good nutrition prepares and strengthens the body and the uterus making labor more efficient, quicker, and helping to avoid complications so that you can give birth naturally, safely at home or in the water.

Here you will learn what foods consist of a highly nutritious diet for pregnancy. You'll learn what foods are best to avoid and why so that you can make educated decisions for your own body and adjust accordingly because not every one's body is the same. Are there really some foods that contribute to having more complications or a longer labor? Are there really some foods that increase or decrease bleeding at birth and postpartum? Here we will learn the answers to these questions and more.

Lots of Protein

Protein is essential for the mother to have lots of energy while she is growing a baby. Pregnant women should consume at least 80 g of protein a day. Meat is a good source of protein if it doesn't contain added growth hormones, antibiotics, or heavy metals or are genetically modified to produce more estrogen. Most of the meat in grocery stores today do not pass this check list. Not to worry, there are other great sources of protein including legumes:

Beans and rice make a complete protein combination

Quinoa is a complete protein by itself

Raw nuts and seeds have a good amount of protein and a host of other great things

Good Naturally Sourced Supplements

It is important that the prenatal vitamins you consume come from real food that was grown organically. It has become easier to synthetically fabricate vitamins and minerals to put into supplements. These synthetic molecules are similar to but not identical to the molecules that occur in nature. They are not easily absorbed by the body because the receptors on our cell walls are created to fit the naturally occuring molecules. Its like a lock and key. On the outside of the cell membranes (walls) are all these little receptor sites (key holes) and molecules come to the receptor sites and try to get in. The naturally occurring ones fit in just perfectly and go on to nourish the cell. The synthetic ones have a slightly different chain and get stuck on their way in, clogging up the receptor site, not being able to nourish the cell and making it more difficult for future nutrients to be absorbed. Some good brands include: