If you’ve considered doing a fruit and veggie fast, or just not eating food altogether as a way to cleanse the body you may have wondered if you can do it while you’re pregnant.
In the world of natural remedies and alternative healing methods, fasting is well-known and practiced often as a way to help the digestive system take a breather, and give it a chance to process and eliminate everything that’s currently in it.
It may at first sound like a good idea, after all anything that cleanses the body should be good for baby right? But in this case your baby is depending on a steady supply of nutrients which are absorbed when food is broken down in your stomach. Remove the food and you remove this supply.
Can I Fast While Pregnant? Answer: Not Recommended
While fasting may be a good idea when you’re not pregnant, as a way to give your digestive system a break from the constant onslaught of food and harmful substances, when you’re pregnant it’s a totally different matter. You’re now eating for two, and when you fast you’re not eating for two.
Your baby is counting on your for all of its nourishment, and when it doesn’t receive any for an extended period of time, even one day, it can disrupt its normal growth cycle, and potentially lead to defects and disorders from malnutrition. You wouldn’t want to have this on your conscience, and it would lead to a lot of regret if complications arise in the future, you’ll always wonder if you caused it by doing a fast.
Using Supplements
You may be thinking that you can just replace the lost nutrients from food with dietary supplements or herbal concoctions. While this may seem logical, the body does not absorb them the same way that it does when they are taken in with whole foods. What you’re really doing is disrupting the natural cycle of how the body normally functions, Anything that disrupts normalcy should be avoided, especially if you have a high-risk pregnancy.
Fasting for Religious Reasons
If you are required to fast because of your religious beliefs, be sure to check with your doctor on ways to maintain proper nourishment for your baby, while still upholding your religious responsibilities. Many women have gone before you on this road, and your doctor should be able to help you find a way to complete your fast without causing any harm to your baby. You shouldn’t have to choose between your beliefs and the health of your unborn child.
Take a Historic Look
If you look at the generations that came before us, women didn’t resort to things like fasting or trying to tinker with their body too much. They just ate the foods they would normally eat, and they even coined the term “eating for two” in order to justify times when they were pigging out. It’s only in this New Age trend that people are starting to disturb the natural state of being pregnant by introducing things like doing a fast during pregnancy.
Wait Until You’re Done Breastfeeding
Once your baby has finished breastfeeding, you can do a post-pregnancy fast to help you return to your pre-pregnancy weight. This is a great way to purify your system and get back to the you that you were before you got pregnant. However, it’s important to wait until you’re done breastfeeding, as you want your body to make the most beneficial breast milk possible during this time.
The Healthiest Pregnancy
It’s good that you want to do things to help make your pregnancy as healthy as you can, but doing a fast is not one of them. You can do other holistic cleanses, like a colon cleanse, and you can also take other actions, like making sure you only drink and bathe in cleansed water so you aren’t exposing yourself to chlorine and fluoride. You can also flush your liver and gallbladder to get rid of any gallstones.
There are plenty of other all-natural remedies that you can do to get yourself ready to have a baby, that don’t put it in jeopardy. Keep educating yourself on the different ways to have the most healthy baby you can. You are on the right track, if not a little overzealous.
