I just came across this great article that suggests 21 inspiring ways to prepare your body before pregnancy.

21 Tips To Prepare Your Body For Pregnancy

BY LORI BREGMAN

If you want to become pregnant, or have been trying for some time, here are some tips that can help you prepare your body, mind, and soul for the journey of bringing life into the world.

1. Clean up your diet.

When I prep someone for pregnancy, the first thing I do is remove unhealthy foods from her diet and add healthy foods. Here’s the way I look at it: A gardener always gets the soil as nourished as it can be before he plants precious seeds — the healthier the soil, the more vibrantly those seeds will grow. Our bodies are similar: the healthier we are physically before pregnancy, the better the environment to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Eat organic, hormone-free, GMO-free, whole foods that nourish you.

2. Start limiting your exposure to toxins.

A test done by the EWG found over 287 toxic chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of newborn infants. Of these, the EWG found 180 toxins that are known to cause cancer, 217 that are toxic to your brain and nervous system, and 208 of the toxins found cause birth defects and abnormalities. You can find more tips to reduce toxins here.

3. Heal your gut.

My go-to holistic nutritionist Elissa Goodman recommends that you take 50 to 80-billion-count probiotics, 4 to 8 ounces of aloe vera, and 1,500 mg of L-Glutamine daily for a few months pre-pregnancy.

4. Eat warm foods

I asked a few of my acupuncturist friends what they recommend for fertility and they all said to eat warm foods like (lentil soup, or stir-fried veggies and brown rice). The thinking is that a warm uterus is better for fertility.

5. Nourish your body and balance your hormones with my fertility smoothie and a folic acid supplement.

Make this fertility-boosting smoothie. It’s also great to ensure you’re getting enough folic acid — best to take at least 400 iu, at least three months before conceiving to help prevent neural tube defects like spina bifda. If you hope to conceive sooner than within three months, keep in mind that the earlier you take the folic acid, the better.

6. Go gluten-free.

Studies have found people who have unexplained infertility often have better pregnancy results when gluten is removed from diet.

7. Do these yoga poses:

• Legs up the wall
• Double pigeon
• Butterfly
• Reclining bound angle pose
• Open-legged forward bend
• Hip circles …

These poses open , relax and nourish the reproductive organs .

8. De-stress and decompress.

Stress can wreak havoc on your body by boosting cortisol levels, which can suppress ovulation and decrease sperm count and sex drive. Stress also tightens your body, which can stagnate energy and constrict blood flow. Things to help you manage your stress:

• Practice yoga
• Meditate
• Breathing exercises
• Visualization
• Massage
• Relax in nature
• Sleep
• Seek support
• Exercise
• Acupuncture
• Journal
• Read
• Take a relaxing bath

9. Make space in your life.

Often clients come to me with the hopes of wanting to bring something new into their lives. When our lives are too full, there is no room for anything new to enter. Too much space can make a person feel anxious, so we tend to busy ourselves with things that are no longer resonating or that we outgrew so we don’t have to feel the uncomfortableness that empty space brings. It’s only by allowing for this space that something new can be birthed.

10. Energetically become pregnant.

A great way I’ve found to prepare someone for pregnancy is for them to act as though they already are. Often, I’ve found that women will take better care of themselves during pregnancy for their baby’s sake. I always ask people, “If you were pregnant right now, what would you be doing differently?” … And then have them do it.

11. Get regular acupuncture.

I am a HUGE fan of acupuncture, especially for getting your body ready for pregnancy. It:

• Improves ovarian function to produce better quality eggs
• Regulates hormones to produce a greater number of follicles
• Increases blood flow to the uterus, and increases thickness of the uterine lining
• Relaxes the patient and decreases stress levels
• Improves success rate of IVF

12. Change those negative thoughts into positive ones.

People with the best intentions will project their thoughts or stories onto you. I have seen countless women literally shut down their bodies from thinking that they were too old or it would be hard to get pregnant and have spent many hours helping them undo this toxic thinking. Our minds are powerful, so watch those thought! Turn negative thoughts into positive affirmations, for example: My body is strong and healthy for pregnancy or I get pregnant easily. Put them up them all over your house where you can see, read, and absorb them daily. Remember women in Africa get pregnant all the time later in life because nobody ever told them that they couldn’t .

13. Trust divine timing.

There is nothing more frustrating then wanting something so badly and it not happening when you want it to. For some, getting pregnant happens right away and for others it takes some time. All beings have their own divine timing; just because you are ready to have a baby doesn’t mean that this child is ready to come into this world just yet. When you can surrender and trust God’s timing, you understand that there is a reason why things don’t always happen when you want them to. In time, answers will always be revealed.

14. Have sex.

That’s right! Sex keeps the energy in your second chakra (reproductive area) moving and open.

15. Take the pressure off by carving out a BIG window of trying time.

As I said before, not all women get pregnant on the first try. If you count on that one window and it doesn’t happen the first month, nor again the next month, it tends to start an emotional downward spiral, which constricts your energy. I recommend carving a window for trying anywhere you feel good about, from 4 to 12 months. After that period of time, you can always open a new window of time for a different path of trying. It takes the pressure off and expands your energy.

16. Add “fertility foods” to your diet.

Some good ones are: yams, eggs, asparagus, almonds, salmon, leafy greens, organic grass-fed whole dairy.

17. Patch up your relationship and heal your childhood wounds.

If there are problems in your relationship, having a baby will just add salt to the wounds. Patch up what needs fixingbefore your baby comes, as your relationship with your partner will set the bar for your child’s relationships down the road. We all have issues from childhood that shaped us into the people we are today — some good and some not so good … If we aren’t aware of our own wounds, we might unconsciously try to fix our childhood through our children.

18. Know your cycle.

When you count your cycle, always start on the first day of your period, which is Day 1. If you have a 28-day cycle, the fertile window is normally two weeks before your next suspected period, so that would be around day 14.

19. Visit your dentist.

During pregnancy, gums tend to bleed and teeth can become loose. Also, periodontal disease is linked to preterm and underweight babies … so make sure you’re up to date with your dental exams.

20. Establish a good exercise routine.

Pregnacy isn’t a time to start a new exercise routine; the best time is before months before you conceive.

Here are some reasons why exercise is important to do during pregnancy. Working out:

• Gives you more energy
• Helps you sleep better
• Reduces stress
• Eases constipation
• Lifts the spirits
• Helps you feel good and be happy from all the endorphins being released
• Makes for an easier labor
• Helps your body bounce back faster from birth
• Reduces the risk of gestational diabetes and high blood pressure

21. Visit your doctor and get a full check up.

You should also get a pap smear and breast check. If you chose to vaccinate, make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines.