As I am going through my own pregnancy, I began to really appreciate just how critically important it is for any woman to be the fittest and healthiest they can be BEFORE getting pregnant. I believe that to a great extent the experience a woman has during her pregnancy is attributed to the level of fitness and health before they conceive.

Before I got pregnant, I have been practicing Crossfit strength conditioning workouts for 2 years, on a clean Paleo diet (no sugar, no grains) for 1.5 years, and topping off with optimal nutritional supplements for 4 years. I also regularly seek out alternative treatments such as chiropractic and acupuncture for maintenance, keeping my body in balance. Together, I truly believe these little things I incorporated into my life have had a significant influence on my pregnancy, allowing me to have higher level of energy, increased mental confidence, and a smoother pregnancy overall.

Come join us and learn how you can boost your chances of having an optimal pregnancy!

A while back I came across a company called Ballet Beautiful. The company was started by a former professional ballerina, Mary Helen Bower, and produces workout videos that incorporates the elements of ballet posture, techniques, and form. I studied ballet for quite a few years as a child and teenager, and have always dreamt of getting back to doing some ballet as an adult.

I got really excited when I discovered Ballet Beautiful. It’s not the same as dancing ballet, but I love how Mary Helen brings in the grace into these workouts – they make me feel beautiful just doing them. I got all of their 15 minutes online workout series and have been trying them out.

So far the Intro Cardio and Tendu Cardio workout have been great. As described in my previous post, I am 31 weeks pregnant and have gestational diabetes. Doing 15 minute workout blast right after a meal is perfect for me because I can immediately bring my blood sugar back down. The workouts are beautiful and super low impact. I’m loving them!

You can visit Ballet Beautiful here.

Super yum and completely Paleo – not to mention it’s super low GI (glycemic index) and won’t spike my blood sugar.

Ingredients and prep:

1. 1/3 head of a cauliflower – chopped into small pieces and put into food processor. Process until it’s fine, put into the microwave and nuke it for 5-6 minutes. Let stand and cool.
2. Prepare a bed of spinach (organic, pre-washed) on plate.
3. Mix the following into the cauliflower once it’s cooled:
• 1 cup of cherry tomatos
• Couple tea spoons of finely chopped red onion
• 1 cup of chopped cucumber
• Squeeze of lime juice
4. Topped with slices of 1 avocado

Enjoy!

My finger poking device – up to 7 times a day. Not fun!

About 4 weeks ago I went and did a glucose intolerance test for gestational diabetes. My midwife actually suggested that I didn’t need to, given the fact that I have a very low sugar/starch diet and I am really active. Nevertheless I wanted to find out – what if I did and I didn’t know? What choices would I have to make differently about labor and delivery? Being the “I just need to know” kind of person, I decided to take the test.

Lo and behold – I have gestational diabetes. And my results weren’t just border line, I POSITIVELY HAVE gestational diabetes.

At first it came as a shock, then disbelief – “How can it be? Have I somehow believe that I am really healthier than I actually am?”

After some extensive research on the topic and my doctor reassuring me that I had nothing to do with the cause of this condition, here are some facts I’d like to share:

First of all, gestational diabetes is brought on by the growing pregnancy hormones in a woman’s body as her pregnancy progresses, impairing her insulin sensitivity (ability to process sugar).

Secondly, for women who are already pre-diabetic or have Type 2 diabetes, it is likely that they will also suffer from gestational diabetes (since their insulin sensitivity is already impaired to begin with). However, for those who did not have pre-existing diabetic condition, the following factors make them more susceptible to GD as their pregnancy hormones grow:

• Strong family history of diabetes
• Over 35
• South Asians, Hispanics, African Americans, Natives
• Over-weight or obese

I hit 3 out of 4 of the risk factors, and glad that I confirmed it for myself.

After the denial wore off, I decided to fully embrace the condition. Bring it on! I’m going to get on top of this! Here are a few surprising things I found in the process:

1. It has forced me to pay close attention to what I eat and got me back on my Paleo diet. My husband and I have been following the Paleo diet for the past 2 years, with cheat meals here and there. Of course once I learned that I was pregnant, those cheat meals became more frequent because I felt like I have a license to do so. Since being diagnosed, I went back to strict Paleo eating and it is exactly what I need to keep my blood sugar steady. Which works out well because that’s the way that our house hold has been eating anyway.
2. I now have an appreciation on what diabetes is and what can be done to manage it. I have had a crash course on what diabetes is, how it’s measured, what to pay attention to, and how to manage it. This comes in really handy as my dad has been suffering diabetic for years and I’ve wanted to help but didn’t know how. 
3. Do not rely on a nutritionist to tell you what you should/shouldn’t eat. My experience with nutritionists at the diabetic clinic was what I would called…unhelpful. Not only was their meal planning for me wayyyy off, the only thing they based their advice on was the Canadian Food Guide, which is both out of date and too general. Personally, I have a much better understanding (than they do) on how food affects my energy level, physical, and emotional well being. Within 2 weeks I was able to fine tune exactly what and when I should eat in order to keep my blood sugar level within the optimal level.

So overall, not only has gestational diabetes “forced” me to get back to the Paleo diet we have committed to, I now pay much more attention to the food  I’m putting in my body, and I have a much better appreciation on diabetes which has affected so many of my family members.

Now I just hope that my baby girl will come out being healthy and strong.

我 已有好一段的時間閱讀Vreni Gurd的e-magazine. Vreni Gurd生活在溫哥華，多年來在營養學方面很有研究。她是在多倫多大學1992年體育與健康教育系最優秀的畢業生。她經常在她的網站 (http://blog.wellnesstips.ca/)發布的有關營養的文章。希望通過閱讀她每週健康提示提供讀者知識，令他們作出更明智的日常 選擇，提高健康。

以下是她最近文章的其中之一。我認為這文非常豐富，因此想翻譯成中文，讓更多的人可以欣賞。如果我有翻譯錯誤，請原諒。

我想你會慢慢細讀，想想你個人日常的飲食習慣和對食物選擇。

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農業工業的 – 廉價食品的真實成本是什麼？

每一天，我們大多數人不知不覺都在吃大量的玉米(corn)和大豆(soy)。但我們究竟知不知道這樣做對我們的健康，和這個地球的健康有什麼影響？

最近我閱讀到一本很好的書，The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (雜 食動物的困境 – 自然歷史四餐)：作者Michael Pollan從一個很獨特的的角度看食物…從食物開始。Michael研究玉米如何可以這麼成功地傳播其種子，能夠成為地球表面上最成功的植物。考慮到玉 米必須克服到相當大的障礙了可以繁殖，它的成功是驚人的。他指出，每粒玉米（種子）都在一個厚的稻殼中，即使整個玉米掉在地上，種子仍然要通過厚厚的稻殼 才可以在土壤中發芽。而且即使他們完成這項任務，考慮到所有的種子揉在一起，將有一個巨大的擠迫的問題，這應該進一步減少他們成功繁殖的機會。玉米對其他 植物繁殖領先的原因是因為人類現在大量種植玉米…玉米已滲透到幾乎市場上所有加工和包裝的食品。

現在我們的食物裡面的玉米 和我們在秋季吃的天然可口的玉粟米不一樣。現在我們食的玉米大部分是一個工業改轉基因的玉米，他們便宜的卡路里和油有許多用途…可用於生產烹飪油，沙拉醬 （加氫成transfat人造黃油和起酥油），其甜度（高果糖漿 (high fructose corn syrup)，葡萄糖，麥芽糊精，麥芽糖），其麵粉和澱粉，可以進一步加工成穩定劑，乳化劑（Mono，Di和Tri甘油酯(glycerides，磷 脂，黃原膠)增稠劑，凝膠及粘度控制劑的食物，以及粘合劑，塗料，和工業塑料，更何況燃料乙醇。不僅如此，迄今為止種植的玉米大部分都被輸送到動物如牛和 雞作為飼料使用，快速催肥他們，使他們能夠更快在市場上出售。

你可能會問…為什麼農場的動物(我們吃的家畜)被迫像沙 丁魚的關閉在工廠化農場的穀倉上成長，而不是讓他們自由放牧？因為放牧動物的需要大量空間，而且要放牧動物吸收存儲在青草內太陽的能源需要很多的時間。反 過來說，以石油為基礎的玉米可以非常迅速地把能源遞入放牧動物內，讓他們成長得快。因此，在農業工業的角度，以石油為基礎/以玉米為主的農業，使得經濟上 有更多的利潤。市場上加工和包裝的食品公司，好像 Cargill 和 General Mills喜愛玉米，因為玉米是一種廉價的填充料，防腐劑，甜味劑，可以很容易地偽裝以取代較昂貴或更容易腐壞的成分，增加他們的利潤底線。因此，用玉米 生產的食品，例如，玉米製成的果汁飲料，用玉米副產品生產的草莓奶昔可以沒真正的草莓，同樣，快餐雞塊實際上很難確定有多少是用真正的雞肉去製造。

因此，根據 Pollan指出，如果你研究麥當勞快餐食物裡面的成分以確定食品中有多少是從玉米(而不是的真正食物)製造的，你會發現…炸薯條從23％左右，到芝士 漢堡在56％（包括肉餅內的玉米…因為他來自一頭玉米餵養的牛），沙拉醬在65％，奶昔在78％，氣水飲料在100％。如果你看一看現實，我們吃大量的玉 米。此外，我們大量使用化石燃料去生產快餐，我們也用它的化學肥料種植玉米，以及所有從農場到糧食加工廠的貨車和機器。

即使這種耕作方式(使用大量的玉米和化石燃料)可讓我們購買到廉價的食物，裡面

隱 藏了一個嚴重和巨大的成本。首先，在最基本的層面上，我們已轉從使用太陽創建食物能到使用石油（化學肥料）創建食物能源，這種耕作方式是不可持續的。其 次，化學肥料不能夠提供足夠的營養到植物裡，結果這些植物沒有足夠的營養讓動物吸收。使用一個大農場種植同一類的植物降低了植物的多樣性，危害到食物鏈和 農業經濟(因為如果那季某一類的農物失敗，農民負擔很多的風險)。

最後，所有加工食品需要用卡車運到超市和快餐店，進一步利用石油能源。

使 用玉米還造成什麼其他問題？讓我們用牛來造一個例子。牛的消化系統的設計應該是吃草的。當我們使用玉米來飼料他們，會對他們的消化系統有不良反應，令他們 得到重病。牛天然用來發酵草的胃器官不能恰當的消化玉米，當玉米在器官內的時候會導致氣體產生和被困在體內，腹脹的胃器官迫使氣體到牛的肺部。動物必須插 管去釋放體內的氣以防止窒息。此外，玉米可令到由一個通常是中性pH的胃器官成為酸性，長久下去胃酸可以令胃器官穿破，讓細菌由胃進入血液，引起肝臟問 題，最終令到牛死亡。大腸桿菌的含量在用玉米餵養的牛是非常高。因此，用玉米餵養的牛必須注射藥物以來殺菌。而這一切是可以避免的…如果牛被允許吃他們自 然的糧食…草。科學家們甚至發現，如果牛被屠宰前的兩個星期被餵吃乾草，他們的大腸桿菌指數會顯著下降。但因為需要額外成本，大部分的工業農民都不會這樣 做。

農業工業也創造了巨大的污染問題。把化學肥料噴灑作物，以及糞便廢物從工廠化農場滲入溪流和河流，令海洋生物生病或死亡。據美國環境保護署調查報告，工業農業是在美國河流污染的罪魁禍首。

在食物鏈最頂端的是我們…人類。我們不知不覺地由包裝食品，工廠養殖的肉類，奶製品，家禽和雞蛋從生病和有菌的動物吃了大量工業改轉基因的玉米和大豆（記住 – 當你看到在超市“玉米/谷穀餵養“的牛肉，這是不是一件好事！

如 果我們吃的食物本質上是不健康的，我們的社會越來越不健康是理所當然。據預測，我們這一代的孩子會被他們的父母活得短。越來越多的人超重和患有2型糖尿病 和心臟疾病化，而病人的年齡越來越年輕。這是由於我們每天的飲食都吃得太多澱粉，糖和歐米茄6脂肪酸(omega 6 fatty acid)（從玉米和大豆來)，同時間我們的包裝和養殖工廠食品缺乏營養。所以，問自己，由工業農業系統生產的食物確實便宜，但當你考慮到您支付在環境和 健康上的代價，是不是值得？

文章翻譯: Peggy Leung

作者：Vreni Gurd

http://blog.wellnesstips.ca/blog/?p=202

Yesterday I found an awesome article with advises for Dads with Daughters. Have a look here.

Luckily I have trained myself to be a swimmer in my university days, and although I haven’t swam in years, it’s something that you never forget how to do (like riding a bike).

I’m very fortunate to live really close to a community center pool – the one we built for the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 no less! My fitness commitment is that I will be swimming 1km, 3 times a week.

As I talked about in my last post about the importance of addressing all 4 areas of fitness during pregnancy: cardio respiratory, stamina, strength, and flexibility, I believe my swimming regime covers the first two. I’ve also added in prenatal yoga (and possibly going to try out Vinyasa yoga too from a strength maintenance perspective, in the coming days).

If you’re pregnant, I invite you to make a fitness commitment here with me: what are you committing to in the fitness area over the course of your pregnancy? Let’s keep each other accountable!