Why You Should Consider Starting Your Intuitive Eating Journey If You Plan To Get Pregnant In The Future + How It Can Help
Pregnancy is different for everyone, but if you’re like me, and you tend to worry about all the what-if’s, the unknowns and all the uncertainty of what to expect from day one of pregnancy all the way through delivery + postpartum - then you’ve come to the right place.
Things that can arise in your pregnancy:
anxiety about gaining too much weight
anxiety about eating healthy/perfect
anxiety about your growing baby + appointments
anxiety about the glucose test + gestational diabetes
anxiety about health complications the closer you get to your due date
anxiety about your blood pressure + your risk of developing hypertension and/or pre-eclampsia
anxiety about your pelvic floor + delivery
anxiety about labor
anxiety about postpartum
Some days you feel confident about everything and the next day you’re stuck under a gray cloud fearing all the things.
I’ve been there and I’m currently pregnant with my second, so I know how challenging it can feel sometimes. Men have it easy, huh? ;)
A short summary of my story
Back in 2015, I was freshly out of college working as a WIC nutritionist. I helped a lot of pregnant women with nutrition tips, guidance and support. All while, I felt very insecure, I didn’t like my body, I was eating a very low carb diet and I just felt very fed up with my relationship with food.
The catalyst that encouraged me to research intuitive eating, was when I decided to go to the ER for stomach discomfort - turns out I was pretty darn constipated. And I should have known better, I was a nutritionist for goodness sake. But I was eating very little fiber because #carbs. I felt the only reason to eat was to change my body, regardless of the health benefits. But after that experience, I decided, enough was enough.
That night, I went home + googled “how to not diet” and a girls blog post on intuitive eating popped up on my screen. I was utterly amazed and so so so freaking hopeful. I bought the book, opened up every email she sent and started my very own intuitive eating journey.
Another reason why I wanted to not diet anymore was the idea of becoming pregnant one day and since I spent day after day educating women on how to eat while they were pregnant, I was terrified to get pregnant because I didn’t want to gain weight. I was scared of how my body was going to respond to pregnancy. I was even more scared of how my relationship with food would be while pregnant because my current relationship with it wasn’t good…
I avoided foods I loved, I thought carbs were the enemy and I binged on sweets and nut butters. I felt very chaotic around food and I thought after every meal I ate that was “bad” would make me gain weight. I loved eating healthy food, but I felt ashamed when I ate not-so-healthy food, especially working at job surrounded by other nutritionists. I drank too much alcohol and spent my hangovers eating food that made me feel like crap and the cycle would just continue. I knew this wasn’t how I wanted to live my life, but I just didn’t know how to change it.
But over time, everything started to feel a lot easier. I didn’t hate food. I didn’t over eat anymore. I stopped depriving myself from my favorite foods. I started to look at exercise differently. I began to feel more comfortable in my clothes. Food stopped controlling every aspect of my life and then I started finding interest in other hobbies. I suddenly had more time for things that didn’t always revolve around dieting, counting carbs and spending hours in the gym.
And this, in turn, really helped me when I first got pregnant and still helps me as I navigate my second pregnancy.
If this sounds like you and you’d really like to have a more intuitive relationship with food and exercise and eventually a more intuitive pregnancy, here are some tips :)
How Intuitive Eating Can Help During Your Pregnancy + Why I recommend Starting Your Journey Before You Become Pregnant
#1. You will trust yourself around food + You’ll be more In tune With Yourself
Trusting yourself around food is challenging, but through the intuitive eating principles, it is so possible. You’ll know what you want to eat or at least have an idea instead of pulling from a list of rules you should or shouldn’t eat and then have rebellious and/or binge eating take over. It can feel very discouraging and certainly, not helpful, when looking at the traditional nutrition norms during pregnancy. Most professionals talk about caloric intake and that’s about it. And I think when you’re told to just increase calories as you enter each trimester, it can feel challenging to NOT trust yourself around food because you can’t tell if you’re eating “enough”. Not once during either of pregnancies did I track calories, but instead, I focused on how I felt and I truly allowed that to be my guide. Our nutritional needs do certainly change + increase throughout pregnancy, but that’s a topic for a different day! If you’ve been diagnosed or if you’re doctor is concerned about gestational hypertension and/or pre-eclampsia… READ THIS NOW!
#2. You won’t use food as a coping mechanism.
Food + nutrition is so important especially while you’re pregnant, but it can also feel stressful! Eat this, not that. And often times, women find themselves in a mindset of “letting go” because they’re “gaining weight anyway”. Letting go in a good way can be helpful (relaxing, honoring your body, nourishing your body), but adopting the “eff-it mindset” and using food to cope with your emotions can really make pregnancy feel much harder and your due date will feel like it can’t come soon enough. And then your postpartum experience may not feel nearly as special. I think it’s firstly important to recognize if you’re the type of person to turn to food in times of stress, overwhelm, boredom, anxiety, depression etc. Acknowledge it. You’re not the only one. And slowly, start moving toward ways that actually feel better when you’re feeling those certain emotions. I also think getting support from either a therapist or intuitive eating mentor/coach, can really help. I’m here to help if you need it, but I am not a therapist. Everyone is so different and sometimes there’s a lot to unfold and just getting an idea or talking to someone else that get’s it, can really help. I’m also in the process of creating an online course around all of this, so stay tuned!
#3. You won’t need to track calories.
Aka, you truly let go of the idea of controlling what you consume. And that is the goal. You shouldn’t have to track every morsel of food you eat. Especially while pregnant. Every day is different! Some days we want more food and some days we want less. You’re in the driver’s seat. That’s why I think it’s very valuable to begin your IE journey before you get pregnant - so it’s not so foreign to NOT keep track. It’ll feel like your norm. If you want to learn more about how I help women navigate the IE process, read this.
#4. You won’t gain nearly as much weight.
I have a theory on this. A lot of women that control their food intake obsessively (without even realizing it) - even fit women that help other women professionally - tend to gain a lot of weight, especially in their first pregnancy.
And my theory is this: they control their food intake and once they become pregnant, control goes out the window. And instead, you pay more attention to how you feel and make food decisions based on that. Thanks to the 1st trimester symptoms. Their bodies aren’t used to carbohydrates (or at least not that quantity that they’re probably consuming since becoming pregnant). So their bodies are like “ooo finally real food” and so their body hangs onto for survival + added water weight because they typically don’t eat those types of foods and carbohydrate molecules carry water.
Does that make sense? So if you can start feeding your body food that you actually want, you may notice that your weight gain during pregnancy is not as high.
I’m currently 18 weeks pregnant, and I haven’t gained any weight yet. My first preg was a little different b/c those hormones were very new for my body. And I breastfed my baby up until I was about 13 weeks pregnant, so I don’t have any tender or swollen breasts like I did with my first.
I couldn’t tell you how many women have shared their thoughts about me when I’m pregnant, they’re always amazed. And I don’t tell you this to brag. I tell you this because its 1,000% because of intuitive eating. I thought I was going to gain a lot of weight because of how I looked as an early teen and then into my college years and up until I discovered intuitive eating.
It’s not about control. It’s about letting go and really learning to trust your body and feed it what it wants. Now, nutrition can play a big part in preventing certain things like HBP/preeclampsia, but it can be a much more gentle approach. Your body will tell you what it needs - you just have to listen closely.
#5. You will want to exercise.
A lot of woman use their pregnancy as an excuse, rather than a reason. I do believe it stems from the idea that “they’re only getting bigger” so “why bother”. Their main reason they worked out before was to lose weight so working out is counterproductive to them. It’s easy to use your pregnancy as an excuse, I get it, but to me it can end up making me feel worse and I like to focus on doing the things that will make me feel better even if I don’t “feel like it”.
But… in pregnancy, prioritizing sleep is necessary and if you feel in some moments that rest is what you truly need - honor that.
Through your journey, you’ll realize that your goal with IE is not weight loss. It’s to improve your relationship with your body, food and exercise. And a great way to do so is by not focusing on an end result with exercise and instead, use it as a way to feel happier and more energetic. If you had a really great day, awesome!! Go exercise and burn some of that exciting energy off so you can sleep even better! Had a rough day? I’m sorry.. but exercise will only help, even if it’s for 20 minutes.
#6. You will trust your changing body without shame and a rebellion attitude/Mindset.
Our bodies are growing even if it may not seem like it at first. One of the main principles is “Respect Your Body” and you’ll learn all kinds of ways to start even if you’re not completely there when you become pregnant. Again, this goes back to trust and meeting yourself with compassion and grace.
#7. You will know when you’re hungry and when you’ve had enough food.
A lot women get confused and become unsure if they’re eating enough, especially while pregnant. Through learning and practicing the intuitive eating concepts, you’ll be able to discover your own body’s natural hunger + fullness cues. As you move further along in your pregnancy, your fullness feeling starts to come way sooner because now you have a baby pressing on your stomach. I believe a lot of women suffer from nausea throughout their entire pregnancy is because they’re not in tune with their fullness cues nor than satisfaction cues.
#8. You will be excited to try different recipes without fear.
If you’re craving things, you can actually make them and eat them without the guilt and fear of gaining more weight than you want. And this is because you will start to allow yourself to have food that you enjoy rather than depriving yourself from it.
#9. You will honor nutrition from a food neutral perspective and make decisions around food that feel true to you.
I like to tell myself that all food has nutritional value, regardless of what it is. All food gets eaten, digested and absorbed in our blood stream to nourish our organs so we can sustain life. It really is that simple. Idk why rice gets compared to cauliflower - I mean I understand why people swap them (less calories)… But when you’re an intuitive eater, we aren’t even thinking about calories. With intuitive eating, you really learn to honor satisfaction the most. And if swapping out rice for cauliflower doesn’t “hit the spot”, maybe it’s not the swap that honors your needs. Rice is high in folate, iron and other necessary micronutrients our bodies need especially during pregnancy! I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Beachbody/BODi and the one nutrition program they have called the 2B mindset. This particular nutrition program encourages cauliflower over rice because “volume-eating” (more on this soon!). Volume-eating is not easy during pregnancy… especially as you enter your second + third trimester and if you’re used to eating that type of way, a lot of things can come up for you if you are pregnant (guilt for not eating tons of veggies or for eating rice). Does that make sense?
If you’re new to intuitive eating and you’re unsure about how to navigate it all on your own - just start small. I promise it’ll be the best thing you’ll ever do! Truly feeling at peace around food is the most freeing feeling. I thought I was destined to be carb-free or to always be on a diet to change my appearance… NOPE! Thanks to intuitive eating, eating is easy and exercise is enjoyable and it can be for you, too.
XOXO, Kelsey
