"All life starts with a beginning and that beginning is the mother."
says Dr. Mark Belsey, former Chief Medical Officer and Programme Manager of Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning.
says Dr. Mark Belsey, former Chief Medical Officer and Programme Manager of Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning.
 Here is an example of a healthy full term baby born at 40 weeks
at a normal average weight of about 3.8 kg or 7½ lbs.
He went on to say, ‘Not simply the health but the intelligence and abilities of the next generation depend on the mother. Just as surely as nutritional forces have driven an increase in body size and height in this century ( 20th) and an increase in heart disease and colon cancer, so nutritional forces will drive a regression or an increase in intelligence, health and abilities in the next. The mother is the most important person in this equation.’
We know that there is a definite link between diet and disease and so for any future parents, the sort of food they eat is of vital importance. When the mother is well nourished the risk of a low birth weight baby is much reduced. Low birth weight is a condition that is probably the strongest predictor of morbidity, chronic ill health, brain damage and mental impairment. The superiority of the human race does not divorce us from the fact that we still belong to the animal kingdom but we are the only animals to have changed their diet. All other animals, living in the wild, still eat the same type of food that they were designed to eat and have done so since the beginning of time. In sharp contrast, we humans now consume many items of food that our grandparents just wouldn’t recognize. A great deal of our food has been changed or altered from its natural state and it is this fact that is largely responsible for much of the ill health that we suffer today. GOOD NUTRITION IS ESSENTIAL No one would dream of putting poor quality fuel in the tank of a luxurious sports car, or inferior oil in the engine and yet this is exactly what people do to their digestive systems every time they eat sugar laden, processed, pre-cooked food that can be full of unnatural chemicals and additives. All the more reason to be particularly attentive about avoiding this type of food when planning a pregnancy. Even primitive people were aware of this, as American dentist Dr. Weston Price found in his travels around the world in the 1930's. The tribal elders insisted that the adolescent girls be given a specially nutritious diet before they were allowed to marry in order to ensure strong, healthy babies. Studies have consistently shown that congenital malformations are associated with poor nutrition around the time of conception when neural tube defects such as, spina bifida, have their origin. HOW TO AVOID MALFORMATIONS In animal experiments with rats, when the mother’s diet is deficient in some of the essential trace minerals and vitamins, her offspring are very much at risk of being born with something wrong with them. Researchers have found that almost all the malformations observed in humans could be reproduced in new born animals by depriving the mother of these minerals and vitamins during pregnancy. 
Folic acid for example, one of the important B vitamins, is found in abundance in green leaf vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, kale, spinach, cabbage and spring greens as well as in liver and yeast. It is essential for the normal production of red blood cells. Mother animals deprived of folic acid produced virtually all types of abnormality in the heart, arteries and veins of their young. In humans, nervous disorders in young children may be caused in the same way. Inadequate nutrition, and in particular lack of vitamin E during pregnancy, is thought to be one of the causes of Down’s Syndrome since this vitamin plays a vital part in the development of the pituitary gland. It has also been found that deficiencies, especially in folic acid and zinc, greatly prejudice the quality of the father's sperm.
MONTHS BEFORE CONCEPTION MOST IMPORTANT A developing baby in the womb draws its nourishment from the body of the mother right from the very beginning, long before she even realizes she is pregnant, in fact, it draws on nutrients stored in her body over the preceding months and even years. So, ideally, a couple planning to have a family needs to make sure that they are both in excellent health at least 4 months before conception. Good quality cod liver oil capsules containing vitamins A and D would be beneficial to both future parents at this time. However, vitamin supplements are not advised for the mother during her pregnancy nor should she need them if she eats sensibly. SUGGESTIONS FOR A HEALTHY DIET So what comprises a healthy diet? In the first place, try to avoid refined and processed food such as white flour, pasta and white flour products and excess sugar, especially colas and sweetened drinks. Artificial sweeteners are harmful; it is better to have a little sugar than to use these chemical substitutes. Packeted breakfast cereals are often laden with sugar and salt. A healthy breakfast, for example might be comprised of muesli or porridge, fruit, egg (boiled, scrambled or poached, not fried) and wholemeal bread/toast spread with butter, not a low fat substitute. Saturated fats, preferably from grass fed animals, are essential. After 60 years of wrongful advice this has at last been acknowledged. Saturated fats play an important part in the formation of the brain. 
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A light lunch could be a mixed salad with a wide variety of grated raw vegetables, organic if possible, tomato etc. cheese, wholemeal bread and fruit. Unsweetened natural yoghurt can be used instead of salad cream or mayonnaise on the salad. Most salad dressings contain vegetable seed oils that are best avoided (see article on polyunsaturated seed oils). The main meal could be meat or fish, not fried, with an assortment of fresh vegetables lightly cooked, boiled or steamed such as potatoes, carrots and, as mentioned before, green vegetables. Unprocessed brown rice is also excellent to accompany a meal (see article on rice) but not quick cooked processed packet rice. Dairy products such as eggs, butter and whole milk should be eaten every day and fish at least twice a week especially oily fish such as mackerel.
For more information on the food to eat go to "What is good for you" HAZARDS TO AVOID While good nourishment is of prime importance, there are unfortunately other hazards of which prospective new parents need to be aware. Nowadays, bad habits such as smoking, drugs and drinking alcohol are all too common and can be extremely harmful both to the future mother and the father. SMOKING Smoking during pregnancy affects both the mother and her baby's health before, during, and after the baby is born. The nicotine, which is the addictive substance in cigarettes, carbon monoxide and numerous other poisons inhaled from a cigarette are carried through the bloodstream and go directly to the baby. Smoking while pregnant:
The more cigarettes smoked per day, the greater the baby's chances of developing these and other health problems. There is no "safe" level of smoking while pregnant. USE OF ILLICIT DRUGS Any type of illicit drug use alters the function of the baby's brain. The amount of brain damage, as well as how the damage affects a child later in life, depends on how often the mother used the drug and when the unborn baby was exposed to it. For example, since brain development goes through very rapid changes early in the pregnancy, drug use can have a more serious impact during the first few weeks after conception than later on in the pregnancy. Common signs of an infant affected by drugs are premature birth, low birth weight and delays in development. This may result in the baby being unable to breathe properly because the lungs have not fully developed. The severity of the lack of development in the baby will depend on the drug and the severity of the drug use by the pregnant mother. Pregnant women should know that whatever they eat, drink, smoke or snort can pass directly from their blood system into their baby's circulatory system through the placenta or the umbilical cord. ALCOHOL Drinking alcohol by mothers during pregnancy can seriously affect the health and development of their unborn babies. In fact, alcohol can affect an unborn child for life. Some people believe that a little alcohol is quite safe but the best choice is not to drink any alcohol at all during pregnancy or if there is a chance of becoming pregnant. Alcohol will reach the foetus very quickly because it can cross the placenta and its blood alcohol level will be the same as the mother's, causing harm to its normal development. Pregnancy and alcohol don’t mix! ENSURING A HEALTHY, HAPPY BABY
Bringing a new life into the world is a big responsibility. By not indulging in drinking alcohol, drugs and smoking and by eating nutritious food, beginning before conception, a baby will have the best chance of a healthy, happy start in life. After all, isn’t that what every baby deserves? 
References: "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Dr. Weston Price
Arthur Wynn, McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/alcohol-medicines-drugs-pregnant.aspx?nobanner=dassignup http://www.webmd.com/baby/drug-use-and-pregnancy http://www.webmd.com/baby/smoking-during-pregnancy |
