Another study showing the benefit of choline for pregnancy

When I first got pregnant, I wanted to know what I supposed to eat to grow the healthiest baby possible. Luckily, right before I conceived, I spoke at the 2009 American Egg Board's Annual Meeting in Chicago and got the chance to learn the benefits of choline for a healthy and smart baby.

Choline is not an essential nutrient technically because your body can make it on it's own. However, you need much more than your body can make both for your own brain health and your baby's.

Recently, Science Daily news published a summary of a recent scientific investigation showing more evidence for the importance of choline in pregnancy.

In summary: a new research study published in the January 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal by a team of University of North Carolina researchers shows that choline plays a critical role in helping fetal brains develop regions associated with memory.

"Our study in mice indicates that the diet of a pregnant mother, especially choline in that diet, can change the epigenetic switches that control brain development in the fetus," said Steven Zeisel, the senior scientist involved in the work and a senior member of the FASEB Journal's editorial board. "Understanding more about how diet modifies our genes could be very important for assuring optimal development."

To read the rest of the story click here.

Although the title of this story is, "Finally, an excuse for pregnant women to eat bacon and eggs", which I think is just silly because why the heck CAN'T a pregnant women eat bacon and eggs in the first place? Because of the fat? Oh yes, that's right... fat is bad and it's going to kill us. Give me a break.

In any matter, egg yolks are one of the richest sources of choline a mother can get in her diet. Each yolk contains ~125 mg of choline, where the recommended dose of choline for women (humans) is at least 450 mg per day. This is why I recommended pregnant women eat two eggs a day in a blog post I wrote July 2009.

Other than the benefits for your child's memory and brain development, choline is also necessary to help prevent any neural tube defects in a growing fetus - yes, even with adequate folic acid in the diet.

So, sure, you can eat bacon (nitrite free would be best), but don't forget about those eggs and their yolks! It'll help you produce a little baby Einstein... and who wouldn't love a child that could pay their own way through college due to amazing brain power? Heck, I would!

For more information on choline, check out these reports:

Choline, the new essential nutrient

Eggs: a good choice for moms to be

Sources of choline

Vitamin B12 Crying Babies & Pregnancy

Crybabies may lack vitamin B12 mothers advised

The meat manufacturing, production, processing and industry is now clutching at straws following the UK Government's announcement that we should eat no more than the equivalent of a small lamb chop and restrict our meat consumption to the bare minimum to avoid increased risks of cancer.

Once again ignoring the facts that there are safer plant based sources of all of the handful of nutrients that are found in meat, and that meat is not only missing most anti-oxidants, fibre and many other essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals but is also implicated in thwarting our ability to attain a healthy synergistic balance of these nutrients.

Once again it's the essential vitamin B12 that meat industry lobbyists have got their blood stained mitts on.

Acording to FIGO The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics almost 3,000 pregnant women took part in the study, in which researchers in the Netherlands measured the levels of vitamin B12 in the bloodstream of the mothers-to-be.

The Dutch researchers found the women with the least amount of the vitamin B12 nutrient in their blood had babies who were eight times more prone to crying.

Leading UK Nutritionist, London Yvonne Bishop-Weston explains the implications of the new findings.

The new study (reference) has shown a link between the level of vitamin B12 in the mother and excessive infant crying (more than 3 hours a day for more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks). The reasons for this are not fully understood but it could be due to the fact that a lack of vitamin B12 and folic acid hinder the foetal development of the nervous system before birth and also that in the first 6 months after birth lack of these vitamins can affect the development of the protective myelin which surrounds the nerve cells and helps them communicate.

Excessive infant crying is also called infant colic and may also be due to B12 deficiency. Excessive infant crying was found to be stronger when the mother experienced high levels of psychological problems so could affect the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm of the body controls the sleep/wake cycle, the development of which starts in the womb.It also takes about 3 months after birth to settle into a rhythm. As lack of B12 has been seen in people with sleep disorders it is suggested that lack of B12 may the infant circadian rhythm interfere with serotonin melatonin and trigger gut cramps and crying.

The developing baby relies on the mother to provide B12 and if it is deficient in her diet and her stores are too low the baby is likely to be deficient too. B12 is made by bacteria in the gut and meat, fish and eggs the usual source recommended by NHS dietitians.

Plantarians and Vegans maintain there are healthier, safer, more sustainable sources of vitamin B12  that come without the extra calories and detrimental effects of saturated animal fat and natural hormones but with essential fats and a range of useful vitamins, minerals,  anti oxidants and fibre.

Yvonne seems to agree;

I would be cautious in recommending women eat more animal foods as meat and dairy comes along with saturated fats which can hinder the body's use of essential fats which are needed for the baby's brain and nervous system development. Due to the potential levels of toxicity in fish no more than 2 portions a week should be eaten in pregnancy and egg consumption tends to be lower in pregnancy as they can only be eaten fully cooked. If anything this study is a strong argument for basic nutrient testing at the start of women's pregnancies and addressing any deficiencies as well as of course more promotion of either better, more nutritious diets or the need for effective, easily absorbable prenatal supplements.

Vitamin B12 is made by mimicing the human digestive system's ability to produce B12 from yeasts and bacteria in the gut and is then added to a number of foods from breafast cereals and plant milks to fruit juice.

Unfortunately, most natural plant sources of vitamin B12 have been proven to contain biologically inactive vitamin B12 analogues (non absorbable pseudo-vitamin B12) , inadequate for human supplementation.

Algae seems to be the most reliable plant based source of true Vitamin B12 so far. Following a research study in France in 1978 (Greiko et al) scientists in Finland (Rauma et al ) and  Japan (Watanabe et al)  have found true vitamin B12 in Nori and Chlorella (but only non-absorbable pseudo-vitamin B12 in Spirulina) whilst Italian researchers say a strain of Klamath blue green algae appears to be, in a preliminary study, an adequate and reliable source of vitamin B12 in humans (L Baroni et al , published in The International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research 2009)

Pregnancy Insomnia

This past Wednesday my husband and I attended our first baby-care class. It went from 630pm to 9pm and was stocked full of very helpful information. Everything ranging from care of the umbilical cord to the sleeping habits of your baby.

Speaking of sleeping habits, we learned that babies tend to be nocturnal creatures. The instructor asked us when our babies were most active and most of us said at night before bed.

Well, apparently, this behavior doesn't stop once these little humans are born. Apparently babies tend to be more active throughout the night, which isn't great news for all of us who enjoy our night-time slumber.

I kind of already kind of knew I was going to be kissing my solid night sleeps goodbye, but now, I'm totally convinced.

I don't know if it's from this new news or not, but the past 2 nights, I've been waking up at 330-4am and have not been able to sleep at all. Too many thoughts go racing through my head and so I end up doing something like cleaning the house, working on the computer or reading just because I can't sleep. And, all during this time, my baby is dancing in my belly. Seriously, last night I looked down at my tummy and it was moving all over the place. It was wild (but slightly annoying because I would have rather been sleeping... oh well).

If any mothers out there have any tips on how to improve the sleeping habits of my future baby, I'm all ears. Of, if you want to just let me know there is no solution and I'm just going to have to live with it for awhile, I'll take that too.

Well, it's now 8am and I've been up for 4 hours. Now it's time for me to go teach boot camp and hope I fall asleep sometime this afternoon.

10 more weeks to go! Exciting!!!

Benefits of Exercise During Late Pregnancy

30 weeks and still going strong!!

It's hard to believe that I only have about 10 weeks left of this pregnancy to go! Each day my belly seems to get bigger and bigger, but (thankfully) my total body weight hasn't moved a pinch! So far, my total gain is about ~14 lbs and it's been over the last 8 weeks that it's stayed totally stable.

I know that may seem weird to some people, but as long as my baby is growing, the body fat I accumulated in the first trimester will not be missed at all!

You can see from the two pictures here that I look relatively normal for a fit pregnant woman, and I feel really fantastic! Yes, I have my off days, but for the most part, I've been able to train really hard at least once a day if not twice or three times (depends on how many times a day I am required to teach boot camps).

Yesterday and today were just single workout sessions, but they were pretty intense. Both were boot camp classes that involved 20:10 Tabata rounds for 20 mins followed by 50:10 intervals for another 22 minutes. Proceeding and following those rounds were active dynamic warmup followed by an active cool down and stretching.

Here is an example of what I did for one of the days of Tabata rounds:
Round 1 - eight 20 second repeats with 10 second rests of TRX jackknife pushups (4 mins)
Round 2 - as above, Med Ball Slam Downs with a 12 lb Dynamax Ball (4 mins)
Round 3 - ", Four point rows with 12 lbs DBs (4 mins)
Round 4 - ", Reverse Lunges (same leg 4x) with DB bicep curls (4 mins)
One minute rest between each round for about 20 mins.

Then, for the 50:10s:
1) Burpees
2) Speed Skaters
3) Slow Mtn Climbers
4) Body Weight Front Squats
5) High Knee Runs (for me, these were modified to High Knee to Elbow Touches because the pressure on my bladder from baby and the pressure on my lower belly was a bit intense)
This was repeated 4 times for about 22 mins.

Previously, before pregnancy, I still trained hard, but this type of interval training is amazing and so gratifying. I'm looking forward to continuing this after I deliver (probably following a bit of a break, if you know what I mean) and am excited to watch the fat melt off my body. Hey, if it can curtail fat gain during pregnancy when my fat storage hormones are surging and my sweet tooth is somewhat aggressive, I can just imagine what it'll do when I reach a normal baseline.

To all you pregnant ladies out there: we're learning each and every day how and why training during your pregnancy is so good for you AND your baby (NOTE: this information comes from one of the most prominent pregnancy and exercise researchers, Dr James Clapp III, who has studied many pregnant competitive Olympic athletes):

• you accumulate less body fat
• you have a positive sense of well-being and vigor when you might tend to be pessimistic, depressed or lethargic
• you have a reduced incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (colds, sinusitis, etc)
• you'll tend to have an easier, shorter and less complicated labour
• you can actually IMPROVE your fitness level and physical performance (I can attest to that!)
  
• your baby has developed an improved tolerance to stress and as such, can handle the stress of labour much better than a baby of a sedentary woman (i.e., fewer drops in heart rate with each contraction)
  
• your baby has less body fat, but is still able to maintain it's body temperature
• your baby will most likely be more mature at birth, meaning, they respond readily to environmental cues and will self-quiet themselves if disturbed when napping
• your baby will also be a better sleeper (less likely to wake easily)
• your baby will probably perform better on standardized intelligence tests as they advance in age
• your baby will grow to be a less-fat adult (which is great news in our society of excess overweightness)

Remember: there's a balance between enough exercise for you and baby and too much. If you start feeling unwell during exercise, back off. For me, I've found a few exercises that make me sick: Swiss ball jackknife crunches make me a bit nauseous, so I've stopped doing them; too many jumping jacks or jump rope seem to put a lot of stress on my belly, so I've curtailed how much I do (same with high knee runs); prone positions are getting a lot harder to do (like prone T-raises), so I'm starting to take them out of my program.

Bottom Line: Exercise if you can, exercise if you're healthy. Not every woman is in this situation, but if you're well and have no complications, there should be no reason for you to give up something you love doing.

Stay strong!

Vigorous Exercise and Pregnancy: Scientific evidence it's safe

Dr James Clapp III, emeritus professor of reproductive biology at Case Western University in Ohio has been researching the effects of exercise in pregnancy for 20+ years. And, in the following article written for USA Today in 2007, you can read about women he has studied who stay extremely active during their pregnancies and still have wonderful, healthy babies and minimal complications.

For example, one woman ran a half-marathan at 7 months pregnancy and then ran another half marathon 6 weeks after delivery. (Six weeks! That's great!!) By staying this active, women reduce the amount of weight they gain (excess body fat weight that is, not weight of the baby), which means they have less to take off after baby is born and are less likely to retain this weight indefinitely afterwards.

When doctors push women to not exercise because they're pregnant, they really are pushing for more harm than good. Women who stay active during their pregnancies are more likely to encourage their children to be active with them, which leads to fewer obese and unhealthy children. They also are at a much lower risk for diabetes both during and after pregnancy.

I'm sharing this information with you all because recently I was doubting my intense activity regimin due to some negative comments by some on-lookers. With this information though, I'm going to continue being active and feeling great - I hope you all do the same (the pregnant ladies, that is).

Check out this great article here: No Pregnant Pause

Obesity, Overweight, Fat pregnancy Risks Low IQ Baby

Despite the headlines health and nutrition consultant and fertility expert from Foods for Life, Yvonne Bishop-Weston in Harley Street London said today "It's fine for mothers to eat for two if they eat whole food rather than half food. If mother's focus on a diet rich in low GL plant foods such as vegetables, beans, fuit, berries, nuts and seeds, it's much harder to overeat and much easier to get a full complement of the fibre, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, omega 3 essential fatty acids and anti oxidants to ensure the optimum health of mother and baby. There's no maternal nutritional need in a coffee and a doughnut, your body will likely crave another in half an hour, not because "baby wants one" but because your body's requirements for nutrients are still unfulfilled"

From Daily Telegraph

Research, published in international journal Obesity Reviews, examined findings from across across the world on the impact of maternal weight on child development.

One study found that every increased unit in the pregnant woman's Body Mass Index (BMI) - calculated as her weight in kilograms divided by the square of her height in metres - was associated with a "significantly" reduced IQ in the child.

Overall, the average IQ of children of obese mothers was five points lower than those born to mothers of healthy weight, according to the study, one of 12 examined by researchers in psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience from McMaster University, in Ontario Canada.

Research from Sweden found children born of overweight mothers were more likely to suffer from attention deficit problems, while findings from Japan found every extra BMI point added in early pregnancy increased the offspring's chance of developing schizophrenia in adulthood by 24 per cent.

A study of Australian teenagers suggested their chance of having an eating disorder increased by 11 per cent for every extra BMI point gained by their mothers during the pregnancy.

Research has found that one in six women in this country are obese by the time they are three months into pregnancy - a proportion which has more than doubled in two decades, amid an obesity epidemic.

A study, led by Teeside University, found massive variations in levels of obesity among expectant mothers cross the country. In London, 13 per cent of mothers-to-be were obese, while in the West Midlands, the figure was 22 per cent. The study suggested more than 100,000 babies a year were at risk of dying or suffering serious problems because of the risks from obesity, which puts a woman's body under extra strain, when it is working to nurture new life.

Obesity in pregnancy increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, blood clots, miscarriages and still-births, while layers of fat can mean serious defects can be missed in scans.

Earlier this year, a study found that rates of foetal and infant death are twice as high among those born to obese mothers.The study found that 16 in 1,000 babies suffered fetal or infant death if their mothers had a BMI greater than 30 in early pregnancy, compared with 9 deaths per 1,000 babies among those with a healthy BMI.

Big babies - those weighing more than 10 lbs - are around twice as likely as other babies to end up obese as adults.

Separate studies have found increased dangers of developmental problems like spina bifida and neural tube defects in infants of obese mothers.

Jane Munro, from the Royal College of Midwives, said more research was needed to establish whether the apparent risks highlighted in the latest study were a direct result of maternal obesity.She said: "There are some clear risks from obesity that we already know about- hypertension, pre-eclampsia, larger babies, an increased risk of having a baby born by Caesarean section, and that the child is more likely to become obese. "

Nutritionist London Yvonne Bishop-Weston said "Most of the headlines are focused on too many calories, the dangers of eating for two. Whats more important is eating whole food rather than half food. It's far easier to overeat on food that has vital nutrients refined, processed and bred out of it for the sake of a longer shelf life. So much of the food that is ubiquitously available has little or no positive nutritional benefit to offer us. Mothers and babies in particular need omega 3 essential fats not highly processed vegetable and saturated animal fats. Eating processed fats, saturated animal fats and too much omega 6 found in meat and products with sunflower oil will make it much harder for the mother to process essential omega 3 fats into the DHA fats needed to build baby's brain, heart, eyes and other vital organs."

Weight Loss at 34 Weeks Pregnancy

The picture above is my corporate boot camp group last week doing our cheer at the end of class. You can see me there on the left side cheering along. I just thought I'd include this to show that the belly is still working hard :) 

The title of my post describes what's been going on with me this last week. Starting last Wednesday (mid week 34), my body weight started to drop. I usually weigh myself every other day (and sometimes every day), and up until that point, I'd been holding steady at the same weight since November (yes, you can see the belly is pretty big, so obviously, the baby is growing).

But, last week, my weight dropped about 3 lbs and held like that for a few days. At first I thought it was great because I was losing body fat. But then, my brain didn't feel it was right. Plus, I'd been kicking my own butt teaching boot camps sometimes 3 times a day, and I was feeling pretty sore and tired. So, with that known, I cut back my intensity a bit. I still make my boot campers work hard, but I'm doing more coaching and less actual demonstrating. This combined with eating a bit more food on high activity days has brought my weight back to where it was previously. It still isn't getting any higher, but at least it's no longer dropping.

Perhaps some women would be ecstatic to lose weight while pregnant, but for me, since I've barely put on any weight (as I've said, I've only put on about 15lbs), I just didn't feel right about losing now that I only have about 5 weeks to go. Knowing that I've been able to maintain pretty much all of my activity throughout this pregnancy has left me with the confidence that I'll be back in the game in no time after I deliver. And that, combined with breastfeeding and a good diet, will help me mold my body back to where I want it to be.

I've heard that with breastfeeding that your body likes to hold onto a bit of body fat no matter what you do. And, for some women, breastfeeding can be so catabolic that they actually lose muscle. No matter what happens in my case, I'm not going to not breastfeed just because there's a slight chance that I'll hold onto a few pounds after I have the baby. Breast milk is best and I refuse to feed my child formula just to look a certain way. The baby will ween soon enough and I'll get my body back at that time, even if it takes a bit longer.

Like I've said, I have about 5 more weeks to go. However, I have a strong feeling that this baby is going to come earlier than my due date because I've been experiencing a lot of contraction-like activity and the wicked low back pain that happens when my uterus does its thing (and it's NO FUN at all!). I'll keep you all posted though. For now, I'm off to teach my second boot camp of the day and because I took a lot of rest yesterday, I'm actually going to do both classes myself too (and they're hard!).

Cheers to a great pregnancy!!

Pregnancy & The Winter Olympics

One of my good friends forwarded me this story about a pregnant female curler competiting in the 2010 Olympics.

"Kristie Moore, the alternate on the Canadian curling team, is the first Olympian in 90 years to compete while pregnant and only the third pregnant athlete in Olympic history.


Moore, 30, is expecting her first child in May.


Moore, quoted in the Edmonton Journal, says the pregnancy did not interfere with training or competing."

To read the rest of the story, click here.
 
And, here's another story.
 
It's this just awesome?! I sure think so!
 
For me, I'm now 25 days away from my due date and am STILL teaching all my boot camp classes 3 days a week (a total of 7 classes) and STILL lifting heavy in the gym 2 other days a week. Yesterday for example, my other pregnant girlfriend and I did an upper horizontal and vertical push/pull workout consisting of bench press (we benched 115 each), cable squat & rows (90+lbs), chin ups (with assistance...), shoulder presses (25lbs each hand), etc. It was a good workout.
 
My weight is still static at a 15 lbs gain, but, as I've said before, my belly and baby are definitely getting bigger. I'm expecting that this month I'll probably add a few pounds to the scale as baby gets larger, and I'm totally good with that. Even if it means a bit more body fat for me, I know I'll be able to take it off afterwards. 
 
Overall, being pregnant shouldn't remove you from doing activities you love (*unless you have a true medical issue). Whether it be curling, like Kristie, or high intensity workouts like me in boot camp, I'm a firm believer that being very fit through your pregnancy helps you manage the typical aches, pains and bloating that are expected during this time (for me... thankfully no bloating at all, but I do have my shares of aches and pains every once in a while). 
 
Here's to being a fit pregnant athlete! Go Kristie!!