Alkaline Food and Pregnancy

My friend and reflexologist, Adriana, recently gave me a book by Dr. Gowri Motha called 'Gentle Birth Method' (http://www.gentlebirthmethod.com/). It was an interesting read for me, especially since one of Dr. Motha's three 'pillars' that she emphasizes for a better, easier pregnancy and birth is your diet, which on many accounts comes very close to the detox diet.

Very briefly, what Dr. Motha argues is that the Western diet and lifestyle leaves pregnant women's internal organs bloated/swollen and with more water retention than what would be natural and that this leads to more and more difficult births. During her 15 years as an obstetrician in the NHS, she found that too many births had complications due to tissues being congested and swollen and her only option was to apply forceps to drag the babies out. This trend has been very similar in Asia where births used to be quite smooth due to their bodies being clear of toxins due to a healthy diet and supple from working in rice-fields.  As the society has adjusted to a more Western diet/lifestyle they are sadly experiencing a sharp rise in the number of difficult births leading to caesareans and medically assisted births.

I do not suggest that one should follow the detox 100% while pregnant. For instance, while the only fruit you can have during detox is banana, this is in fact one fruit that Dr. Motha argues one should not have! But Dr. Motha promotes a gluten-free and sugar-free diet and this is where the detox recipes will be very helpful.

If you are pregnant, I recommend reading Dr. Motha's book. From my reading however, my take-away is that a diet consisting of a breakfast of for instance fruit salad with a bit of bio-live yogurt and some cold-milled flax seeds combined with lunches and dinners from the detox recipes should leave you feeling lighter, more energized, less constipated and in the end hopefully help you have an easier birth.

Good luck!