Since you are pregnant, you may be subject to these small disorders that disturb your daily life: nausea, constipation, bloating, intense fatigue, heavy legs. If these ailments are not serious, there are tips to reduce them and make your daily life more enjoyable. Do not hesitate to try several of these remedies.

Nausea usually starts during the first weeks of pregnancy and often goes away at the end of the first trimester, but lasts in 20% of cases until the end of pregnancy. Here are some tips to help you get rid of these unpleasant symptoms:

• Drink a few sips of water as soon as nausea is felt and in particular when you are still fasting because it often occurs in the morning when you wake up. Weakly mineralized and slightly acidic waters seem to be particularly effective. One trick that works for many nausea-prone pregnant women is to drink a full glass of water with lemon juice in the morning on an empty stomach. Carbonated water also seems to work well by promoting digestive assimilation.
• Don’t skip any meals and take care to have a good breakfast. It is best to start eating something while you are still in bed, before you even get up. However, avoid lying down immediately after your meal and, ideally, wait 5 to 10 minutes before getting out of bed.
• Split your diet in several small meals and if you don’t have a great appetite in the morning, stick to light foods such as dairy and fruit to start. You will complete with a cereal product later in the morning and with some almonds for example.
• Avoid breakfasts that are too heavy and too fatty difficult to digest. So avoid pastries and industrial products such as pound cake, donuts or brioches.

Due to the hormonal upheaval in your body, your intestinal transit can be altered. In question: progesterone, a hormone secreted in large quantities throughout the duration of pregnancy and which slows down the work of the intestinal muscles. The decrease in physical activity also induces a decrease in intestinal motility. In addition, iron supplementation, administered to anemic women, also promotes constipation.

The result: one in two pregnant women is prone to constipation, especially during the last trimester of pregnancy. Benign and transient, it can nevertheless be very annoying.

To speed up the work of the intestinal muscles, a good fluid intake throughout the day is necessary, combined with a good intake of fiber. Here are some effective dietary advice to fight against constipation:

• Drink at least 1,5 liters of water per day to moisten the stool and prefer waters rich in magnesium, a natural non-irritant laxative: Hepar®, Contrex®, Courmayer® are the waters richest in magnesium. Ice water in the morning on an empty stomach also seems to be a grandma’s remedy that also works very well.
• Add oat bran to your dairy products but be careful not to exceed 3 tablespoons per day because the fibers it contains could be irritating to the intestine.
• Eat uncooked prunes (5-6) that you have put to rehydrate in water or tea the night before. Eat them in the morning on an empty stomach.
• Choose starchy foods rich in fiber : for the morning, the ideal is to take oatmeal or cereals rich in fibers such as All Bran® or Wasas Fibers®. For bread, choose German black bread, wholemeal bread, bran bread or possibly wholemeal bread. On the subject of pasta, rice and even flour, check out the full versions, or better yet, the whole versions which are the highest in fiber (but also in vitamins and minerals!).
• And of course give pride of place to vegetables and fruits at each of your meals. Favor raw vegetables and fruits to benefit from the laxative effect of their fibers.

Finally, food supplements based on algae or pectin can be prescribed to you by your doctor or advised by your pharmacist: they have the ability to increase the volume of stools by retaining water, which therefore helps to evacuation.

The last resort will be the use of laxatives, sold in pharmacies with or without prescription, but always under medical supervision.

Pregnancy and fatigue often go hand in hand: some pregnant women suffer from persistent fatigue throughout the first three months of pregnancy. While it often fades around the 12th or 14th week of pregnancy, it often comes back at a gallop during the last three months of pregnancy.

This exhaustion corresponds to a real physiological fatigue caused by the hypersecretion of progesterone, the pregnancy hormone. Its only real cure is of course rest. To this hormonal fatigue can be added sleep disorders (nightmares, discomfort due to the baby’s movements, need to urinate, etc.) which sometimes settle permanently at the beginning and at the end of pregnancy.

If you feel particularly tired, beyond the essential rest, diet can help you regain your vitality, in particular through the consumption of seasonal fruits and vegetables, real health foods.

The ideal is to consume them raw to benefit from all their richness in vitamins, minerals, fibers and antioxidants.

Vegetables and / or fruit: it’s your choice, but at each meal!

Vegetable juices are popular (celery, carrot, fennel, zucchini, etc.) but if that is not your cup of tea, stick to the classic by opting for the fruit of your choice at each meal. The best would be to vary your fruits regularly to take advantage of the nutritional virtues of each of them and the antioxidants they contain. Cut into pieces and mixed with dairy and cereal, they will make a perfect breakfast!

Make homemade juices and smoothies

It’s a gourmet and quick way to stock up on vitamins, as long as they are pressed or mixed a short time before being drunk. Think about it and prepare yourself some vitamin cocktails!

Choose the fruits and vegetables richest in Vitamin C

Vegetables: stock up on vitamin C by choosing sorrel, turnips, raw red and green peppers, watercress, broccoli, collard greens, fennel, spinach and lamb’s lettuce are the vegetables that will bring you the most Vitamin C.

Fruits: guava and blackcurrant are the champions of vitamin C. Kiwis, lychees, persimmons, papaya, grapefruit, oranges and strawberries come next. Without forgetting the clementines, lemon, pineapple, peaches, apricots, nectarines, nectarines, apples, pears, mango, banana, red fruits, quinces, figs, melon, plums , grapes… the list goes on!

Finally, chop fresh parsley on your vegetables. : this is a very simple trick to add vitamin C to all your dishes.

During pregnancy, mothers-to-be are sometimes confronted with the famous phenomenon of “heavy legs”. Pain, heaviness, tingling, cramps: these unpleasant sensations are due to blood circulation disorders again caused by the hormonal upheaval of pregnancy, but also of course to the more or less significant increase in weight. In addition, the uterus which compresses the veins and the increase in blood volume of 40 to 50% does not get better.

Regular physical activity, especially daily walking, is one of the keys to activating blood circulation. The varied and balanced diet is another:

Fill up on Vitamins E

Vitamin E strengthens the walls of veins and capillaries (small blood vessels). Remember to consume on a regular basis:

• Nuts, almonds and seeds …
• Cereals
• Vegetable oils
• Green vegetables (asparagus, spinach…).

Consume vitamin B3

Vitamin B3 also protects the vascular system. Consume midday and evening:

• Fish from cold seas, such as cod or salmon, also rich in omega 3.
• Meat

Don’t skimp on Vitamin C, Antioxidants, Zinc and Selenium

To protect your vessels, consume:

• Fruits and vegetables at every meal for their vitamin C and antioxidant content
• Seafood, well cooked, and dried vegetables (split peas, lentils, dried beans, chickpeas) at least once a day for their selenium and zinc contributions

Drink red vine herbal teas as well as green tea

These drinks, known for their beneficial effects on blood circulation, will help tone your venous walls. However, be careful not to exceed the equivalent of 5-6 cups of green tea per day, due to its theine content, which is a molecule identical to caffeine.