My Future Trim Healthy Mama Pregnancy And More (For a HG Mom)

This morning I woke up with my first menses since about 28-29 months ago. That's being pregnant and nursing our last child. A month ago or so I stopped night time nursing. I needed my sleep back desperately, and I knew once I stopped it would be only a matter of weeks until I started ovulating again. So here I am!

Fertile. Fertile.

What does this mean to an "HG mom"? (Hyperemesis Gravidarum to those who do not know is Extreme pregnancy sickness) It means that it's time to stop slacking in numerous ways and start putting my armor and arsenal on. It all comes down to health, basically. Nutritious foods, good habits, sleep in the bank, etc.

What are some changes that I need to start like, YESTERDAY? Let me map it out for you, but also I'm mapping this our for myself as a reminder.

Diet

Don't do's

• No sugar. I have to be aware of and avoid hidden sugars. 
• No unsprouted wheat, and very little sprouted ones.
• No white rice or white potatoes.
• No caffeine, coffee, and consume very little home made Skinny Chocolate. I just packed away my "Keurig"... sigh*
• No heated oils. Using the good oils as salad dressings etc.
• No processed foods. No junk!

Do do's (ha ha!)

• Increase fermented foods, sauerkraut, pickles, ACV, probiotics, kefir, kombucha tea, etc
• Increase vegetables, especially leafy greens. Last pregnancy I was able to juice vegetables more than I could eat them, and it helped me a lot. 
• Keep hydrated. I know I love me GGMS', but I need to start loving plain old water as well. I've heard that natural spring water makes a bigger difference than filtered water. I gotta check this claim out.
• Eat according to the Trim Healthy Mama plan. You can find more about it HERE
• Supplementation. I am seeing a Naturapathic Dr, getting tested for everything to see where my body is at, and we will be supplementing on what needs addressing. Exciting times, indeed! I've never been so thoroughly checked!
• We will be investing in organic and ethical foods, when possible. $$$!! I know.

Surroundings

• We need to empty our home from like...everything, basically! This is the time to either give away or box-up most of it. Let's put on our "stage the house" mode, and pretend we need to depersonalize the home for selling. There will be no time to do this while (Lord willing I am not!) under the nausea of HG. 
• Simplify homeschool to nearly a complete self-led study. We will be signing the kids up for mathseeds.com and ixl.com, raz-kids.com, brainpop and brainpopjr.com. Hubby will be prepared to take over some of the schooling, especially in the beginning.
• Now or never is the time to focus on "attitude" with the children. They do their chores, but when I am out of action- they need to do these without being asked. Rewards system, ready-set-go! A wall chart will help them keep their progress and goals visual.
• Getting a pair of "walkie-talkies", check! The best purchase EVER. No more struggled whimper yells. "Purple leader calling for red-leader. Over."
• Cooking 20-30 freezer meals for my family. Stocking up the freezer and pantry with portioned healthy snacks and ready P&J, and cheese&deli sandwiches. I need to get my thinking cap on...menu planning, here I come!
• Letting go of commitments. All the "extras" that my family and I can live without.
• For me, a mini fridge next to my bed is a must. 
• Create  "A Family Binder". Gather all the information of everything you or your family -or babysitter, aunt, friend, should have and put it in a binder. Make it accessible, pretty and simple. Telephone numbers, links, chores and menu list, manuals, recipes, instructions etc. Whatever you feel is important for the possible times that you are out of action.
• Stocking up on good quality protein powder and collagen. 

Habits etc

• Start taking daily epsom salt baths.
• Praying as a couple for my womb and for my pregnancy.
• Meditate on scripture and prayer.
• Going to bed on time. If I get into bed by 9 p.m, it gives my thoughts and body time to settle into sleep mode. I can spend my time in bed reading or making love to my husband. Both which affect sleep in a positive way. 
• Habits include diet.
• Taking care of my appearance and more. A healthy well-kept body is a "strength" to any level of nausea. It made a big difference in my last pregnancy. So what does this mean exactly? For me, it is about getting groomed (waxed, haircut, eyebrows plucked, pedicure etc), visiting a pelvic floor physio -getting my core and pelvic floor into where it should be, working on my cardio and muscle strength at home or at the gym, and over all complexion.  
• I will be budgeting for a cleaner weekly, if possible. 
• Same goes for a regular babysitter. Some may think of this as a waste of money, but this is paying for services that I need and will make our lives that little bit manageable/easier. We don't need to go out of the house for a "date" when we hire a babysitter. Doing simply nothing, is bliss. 
• Going over remedies that worked for me in my previous pregnancies and accumulating doTERRA essential oils that will be on my "go to" cupboard. More information on doTERRA HERE
• This one is pricey- but if possible, I will be going to regular high dose vitamin and mineral IV treatments given by my Naturapathic Dr. I can only see this being a positive impact on my future (lord willing) pregnancy. More information HERE

My dear "blogger friend" is pretty much going through what I am as we speak, preparing for a possible future HG pregnancy. She has a wealth of knowledge when it comes down to this all, and it was through her blog that I got most of my knowledge and support through my horrifically sick pregnancies. You can find her blog HERE

So what else can I share? I have my last pregnancy's blog still up there and running. I will most likely continue writing in it, when and if we're blessed with another "peanut". I'm quite excited to find out! You can have a look and read all about how I coped with our previous pregnancy HERE. 

Kids Can Do The Trim Healthy Mama Plan Too!

..."I'm reading the book right now and I'm curious to talk more to people who have used it in their families... do your kids eat that way too? I know we need to make some changes to our diet, but it's always so intimidating when I don't have much time to think about such things"...

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At first I was making huge meal plans for 4 weeks at a time. I would then incorporate different meals in for myself, so that I would stay "on plan", yet my kids would get more "fillers" as they are at a growing age and I was in a de-growing age ha ha!

That didn't last long. It was too much work, intimidating and too stressful. I couldn't give that much time in the kitchen, hovering over the stove and oven, making custom made meals for me and the rest of the family. I was having to go back to two separate recipes constantly to keep up with the cooking, losing my page marks and it kind of robbed the joy out of an awesome life style.

It wasn't until I called it quits and regressed into my old habits again that I had to come up with another plan. I wrote up another meal plan, first I made a 2 week meal plan, then I really cut lots out, and came up with a "7 Day Master Meal Plan" that I knew would keep us happy for some time. I know, I never thought that I could come up with 7-14 meals that we would happily eat over and over again, and yet I did! Let's see how long it takes to bore my family to tears. 

In my 7 Day Master Meal Plan I made sure that I didn't have to cook seperate meals, and that it was a no-brainer for me. Depending what meal (S, E, FP, S Helper) I was eating, I could just assemble my plate with ease at each meal sitting.

So basically, I wrapped up everyone's favourite meals and made them Trim Healthy Mama proof, and voila! So just as an encouragement, there is no need to give up the meals that you already love to eat or are at ease preparing for your family.

Here is my 7 Day Master Meal Plan (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

Day 1

• Cereal (THM approved) with unsweetened almond mylk. You can easily make your own granola!
• Deli Sandwiches, veggies and dip. We buy Ezekiel bread from Superstore.
• Chicken stir fry with noodles (troodles or konjac noodles for me!)

Day 2

• Apple-Cinnamon Oats, home made.
• Fried eggs on toast, veggies and dip. I  can easily just have the eggs and veggies and dip.
• Taco Tuesday. Normally, I've made a big batch of Wonder Wraps, and use them as my tortillas.

Day 3

• Cheese and deli wraps.
• PB sandwiches, veggies and dip. 
• Pasta Bolognese with spaghetti squash

Day 4

• Cereal
• Quesadillas (THM approved tortillas or Wonder Wraps)
• Chilli/Cheeseburger Pie/Enchillada. The new cookbook has these recipes. YUM!

Day 5

• Apple-Cinnamon Oats
• Refried Bean Burritos
• Chic pea curry/ eating out

Day 6

• Wraps
• European wieners/meatballs with homemade sweet potato fries and side salad.
• Salmon, greens and quinoa/brown rice

Day 7

• Cereal
• Pancakes -the lot! (Bacon, whip cream, berries, eggs...)
• Bacon and cauliflower bake.

So this is what we'll be eating for the next how ever many weeks until we get completely tired of it. Of course there'll be days we'll be out and about, eating in restaurants or visiting and our menu will differ. Maybe there'll be days that we go "hey, I'm in the mood for _______" and lunch might change, but generally, this is it.

I encourage you to purchase the new Trim healthy Mama Cook Book. If you don't know about the plan yet, get the Trim Healthy Mama Plan as well. You will not regret it. You will change and you'll begin to see changes so fast that you won't wanna quit! Like I said in my previous post HERE, this plan is for all age groups, pregnant or nursing, all genders -this is no diet. This is for life.

The food is great, everything is on plan unless you're allergic to it and you will not be deprived in anyway, shape or form.. well, except for excess body fat- I'll take that! You will bloom! Here are a few before and after pictures of what THM did for me in just a few months. Incredible. I still cannot get over it. 

I assure you that I have no make up on whatsoever in these pictures. If anything this is my NSV, today this is my NSV (Non Scale Victory)!

If you do want to try out the THM plan, please consider ordering books/products through THIS LINK For those who do not know me personally, I am a homeschooling mother of 4, and through my affiliated link, you support my family :) I thank you.

What does your menu look like? What are your Non Scale Victories?

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