PRE, Prenatal.. How to prepare your body for pregnancy.

What is PRE Prenatal?
Pre prenatal is really the period of time BEFORE you get pregnant.   When planning to get pregnant, the period before the pregnancy is just as crucial as the time during your pregnancy.
Hormones and especially nutrients are vital to the health of you and your growing baby.    Unfortunately, our American diets are lacking in nutrition and often our hectic lifestyles along with stress decreases the ability to  get pregnant AND carry that pregnancy to term.
What can you do?  Some of the easiest things to accomplish and the no-brainers should be started at least 6 months in advance to the "planning" of getting pregnant.  No smoking, decreasing and often stopping caffeine consumption, exercising 3-4 days a week, eating a better nutritious diet, and most importantly, filling in the gaps that our diet may be missing
Lets break some of this down to better understand what all of this might mean.

Obviously smoking is best when never practiced.  Often times, people find out that they are pregnant and then stop smoking, we hope anyway.  If they find out in time, in the first few weeks of life (babies life), they are still behind the "8" ball.  Smoking is not good for you, for the obvious reasons, but what about the micro nutrient levels that you may need due to smoking for long periods of time?
Caffeine consumption can be a huge barrier to overcome.  Consuming coffee, teas, and energy drinks of all sorts can be a huge detriment to your over all health.  Again, we all know that we should stop consuming these things while pregnant, but what about the month prior to pregnancy.  Caffeine robs the body of several nutrients such as magnesium and calcium to know a few.  Magnesium alone has 300 enzymatic processes that are utilized on a daily basis in our bodies.
Exercising 3-4 days  a week can creates a huge advantage for muscle health, cardio health, and stress relief. Getting exercise before pregnancy can help lower levels of cortisol, increase hormones for health, and create a better environment for the baby and YOU as your body changes with pregnancy.
Eating a better, more nutritious diet.  This doesn't mean that all you can eat for the 6 months up to pregnancy is salads, salads, and more salads.  You can't think of a diet as short term, it has to be a lifestyle change (more on that later).  Diet changes can be as simple as eating a few more servings of fruits and vegetables in your lunches or dinners.  Adding green things into your meals creates health in your diet.  I often sneak some kale and spinach into my morning smoothies with Designs for Health "Paleo Greens" .  Some almond milk,  a little frozen fruit, a tablespoon of Paleo Greens with "Pure Paleo Vanilla Protein"and I've given myself a great start to a hectic day.  Not only a healthy snack, but no artificial sweeteners or extra sugar.   I have also created a great tasting smoothie for cents instead of dollars.
Now the biggie.  Filling in the gaps that might be missing from your diet or your lifestyle.  How do you fill in the gaps?  What ARE the gaps?  Gaps are micro and macro nutrients that have been depleted for one reason or another.  Lifestyle choices such as birth control and other party favors like smoking or drinking can deteriote your mineral and nutrient reserves.  High stress jobs, getting out of college and finding a job, kids, bills, and LIFE!  These these can be stressors or things that deplete your body.  You may have subtle symptoms you have ignored over the years, but those symptoms mean something.  When it come time to get pregnant and carry the baby to term, they become a bigger problem then you will be able realize.  When nutrients are missing,  this leaves you with little for yourself and even less if you were to get pregnant.

Since nutritional deficiencies can be passed

from a mother to her baby, accurate and targeted diagnostic

testing is important before, during pre, prenatal, and post-partum. Targeted

supplementation may also reduce pregnancy complications:

coenzyme Q10 and selenium reduce risk of pre-eclampsia, vitamin

D can decrease bacterial infections, vitamin A and B2 can alleviate

pregnancy anemia, trace elements can reduce pregnancy induced

hypertension, and folic acid, biotin and B vitamins may help in the

reduction of birth defects.  *spectracell.com*

Getting your body to an optimum level prior to pregnancy is very important when planning your pregnancy.  Whether is this the first pregnancy or number 2 or 3 etc, it makes the environment as well as the post partum period easier when your body is at optum health.