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Health and Wellbeing Podcast #12 with Guest Kellie Holland from Tonik Health

In the first of two sections on a Naturopathic approach to pregnancy, Kellie Holland from Tonik Health and I chat about some of the most common issues that pregnant women deal with including morning sickness, stretch marks, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and fluid retention. We also discuss some things it’s important to start doing with as soon as possible during pregnancy, and go into detail about the nutrients we need most during pregnancy.

Podcast Breakdown: 

0:00 Intro and disclaimer
0:59 Meet Kellie, and I talk a bit about what we will cover in these pregnancy episodes
3:10 Morning sickness, nausea in pregnancy and hyperemesis gravidarum.
4:06 Ginger for nausea: doses and the different forms you can take it in
5:15 Vitamin B6 for morning sickness
5:48 Keeping your blood sugar levels stable can help reduce morning sickness
6:59 Other factors which can contribute to morning sickness, stress and digestive problems, and dealing with these issues before you conceive.
9:42 Stretch marks
10:39 The oil I’ve been using: Vanessa Megan Mummy’s Tummy Pregnancy Oil 
11:29 Nutrients needed to reduce/prevent stretch marks
13:00 Gotu kola and diet for stretch marks
13:33 Exercise during pregnancy
15:00 Things to get started with early during pregnancy : yoga, flossing, nutrition, probiotics
17:35 Probiotics in pregnancy in helping prevent eczema, management of Group B Strep, digestive health, candida
19:01 Folate (folic acid, folinic acid) – important before conception as well as during pregnancy
19:50 Other essential nutrients for pregnancy
21:31 Iodine
22:05 Vitamin B12
22:51 The different forms of folate (vitamin B9/folic acid/folinic acid)
23:50 Iron
26:49 Selenium
27:19 Calcium
28:52 Vitamin K2
29:29 Vitamin D
32:31 Magnesium
33:46 Pre-eclampsia
35:16 Stress
36:30 Gestational diabetes
41:08 Fluid retention

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Connect with Kellie

Kellie is a naturopath, clinical nutritionist and medical herbalist based on the Central Coast of NSW where she lives with her husband and daughter. She runs a successful blog on her website at www.tonikhealth.com.au where she also has free healthy and delicious recipes available.

Website: http://www.tonikhealth.com.au/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tonikhealth
Instagram: http://instagram.com/tonik_health#
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonikhealth

See other videos and podcasts I’ve done with Kellie :

Kid’s Immunity

The post Naturopathic Approach to Pregnancy (Video) – Part 1 appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

10/1/15

Vitamin D for healthy blood sugar levels in pregnancy

If you’re not getting enough Vitamin D while you’re pregnant, your blood sugar levels may suffer. This could mean that you’re more likely to get issues with blood glucose and insulin regulation, which can lead to conditions such as gestational diabetes (1).

The worse the vitamin D deficiency, the worse the blood sugar level control is. (2) Vitamin D deficiency usually occurs when your blood levels become lower than 50 nmol/L, but personally, I suggest keeping them around the 90-120 level for optimal health.

Over 3 in 5 pregnant women in Australia have insufficient Vitamin D, and during pregnancy you need about 4-5 times more Vitamin D, as it has such an important role to play in the health of yourself and the baby (3).

Vitamin D is involved in the regulation of calcium metabolism, blood sugar levels (4), immune health and is also an important nutrient for keeping breast cancer risk low. Vitamin D is also well known for it’s involvement in bone health.

Pre-eclampsia, low birthweight, preterm birth, increased risk of post-partum depression and autoimmune disease are also associated with Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy. (5)(6)

Why so many people are deficiency in Vitamin D despite living in the ‘Sunny Country’ is still not completely understood. Unfortunately Vitamin D testing has recently been removed from the Medicare rebate list (except in rare circumstances), so this is a test that will need to be paid out of pocket. Because of this, and also because of the high safety levels of vitamin D supplementation it’s likely that the best course of action during pregnancy is to supplement at a range of 1000-2000IU Vitamin D in addition to what is contained in pregnancy multi-vitamins, as well as getting smart sun exposure. (5)(7)

Tips on how to get vitamin D from the sun while still being safe:

• Vitamin D is best absorbed between 10am and 3pm.
• Get 7-10 minutes of sun exposure to arms and legs.
• Follow with SPF30+ sunscreen.
• Always protect the face.

Works Cited

The post Vitamin D helps blood sugar level stability during pregnancy appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.