19 Ways To Stay Healthy During Pregnancy 2024

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Healthy Pregnancy Tips

The moment you find out you’re pregnant is the moment you need to start making healthier choices for yourself and for your baby. These healthy pregnancy tips will help you do just that.

Before trying any of these tips you should go see your doctor and make an appointment for prenatal care. While I do give my opinion on all these subjects I am not your health care provider and you should not take any of this as health advice.

In this post we will go over these things:

Eating Healthy During Pregnancy
Staying Fit
Mental Health

This post may contain affiliate links. For my full disclosure see privacy policy.

How To Eat Healthier During Pregnancy

Top 4 Healthy Products Mentioned	Quick Review
1. The Healthy Pregnancy Cook Book (no longer available)	1. 50+ healthy meals for every trimester written by labor and delivery nurse with the help of an amazing food blogger.
2. Exercise Ball	2. For moms looking to stay in shape or help lower baby into birth canal
3. Belly Bands	3. Need support for your back now with a growing belly? The belly band is made just for that!
4. Birth It Up: The Natural Series	4. A birth class to keep you learning while expecting. Help your mind relax before you go into labor by learning from a labor & delivery nurse

1. Buy Healthy Snacks

This is probably the hardest part of being healthy. Having snacks that can ease your cravings and are good for you.

Here are some Healthy Pregnancy Snack alternatives that you can try.

Instead of chocolate TRY almond butter
Instead of White Bread / White Rice go for Rice cakes, Whole Wheat, and Brown Rice
Craving salty and oily foods? Try cooked fish, (no sushi) baked potatoes, baked veggies.
Start stocking your fridge with fruits – and if you never cut your fruit up and it goes bad. Buy fruit that is already cut.

2. Always Have Breakfast

Even if you are running late for work, (grab something from the fridge). This is another reason buying healthy snacks works out for you.

Have fruits and veggies ready, buy the large tub of oats to make oatmeal.

Wake up a few minutes earlier to make yourself some eggs and veggies.

3. Stay Hydrated

Keep a water bottle with you at all times, honestly at all times! When you feel a craving coming on, like mango Slurpee with corn on the cob on the side.

Chug your water bottle, and wait a few minutes before deciding if you are still having cravings.

My favorite water bottle was this one, it was cute and LARGE! This meant fewer trips to fill it up.

4. Add Fiber To Your Diet

This is going to help you a lot. Pregnancy is known to make your bowel movements back up.

To avoid having constipation, add fiber to your diet.

Foods with a lot of fiber:

Oatmeal
Broccoli
Pears
Bran
Chia Seeds

Fiber will also help you if have diarrhea during pregnancy. It just helps regulate your bowels.

5. Grab The Pregnancy CookBook

You can grab this cookbook.

6. Get Your Partner To Eat Healthy With You

It’s hard to be the only one pregnant with cravings and temptations all around, minimize temptation by having your partner join you on this pregnancy health journey.

It will keep you motivated longer having your partner stay on track with you.

By doing this it also increases the connection you have with your partner by going through this together.

7. Eat More Iron Rich Foods

Just like adding more fiber to your diet. Adding more iron rich foods can help you and your baby grow healthy.

Iron helps create more blood in your body which is needed for both you and baby. Iron also helps move oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body and to baby’s.

Here are some foods you can add to your diet to increase iron:

Chicken
Apricots
Broccoli
Kale
Green Peas
Spinach
Strawberries

Did you seriously not sign up and grab the free 7 DAYS worth of healthy meals? What are you waiting for… Sign Up Right Here and make your first meal today.

8. Create A Healthy Pregnancy Diet

Adding the items listed above to your diet can help especially if you add the fiber and iron items.

You can also create a simple meal plan each week and try to stick to it as much as you can.

You can also check out our related post: How & Why You Should Meal Prep During Pregnancy

Keeping Your Body Physically Healthy During Pregnancy

8. Create a Safe Workout Routine

So many things are off-limits when you are pregnant, like sky diving for example or intense hockey.

Ask your OB which exercises are right for you!

A great example of a Pregnancy Safe Workout Routine could look like this:

Stretching
Lift 2 – 5 pound weights
Squats
Exercise ball squats
Light Jog
Yoga
Walking

Keep it simple if you find you cannot do as much as before. Always check with your OB or primary care physician to see what kind of exercises you can do.

If you start to feel any of theses symptoms take a moment and stop

Light Headed
nausea
Dizzy
Dehydrated
Short of breathe

9. Go On Daily Walks

If you don’t start a workout routine DO THIS ONE THING. Walking is so beneficial during pregnancy.

Do these things before going on your walk

Wear comfortable shoes
Put on sun block
Carry your water bottle

10. Wear A Belly Band

Once you get into the second or third trimester try wearing a belly band to hold your belly and keep your posture.

Using a belly band helps you even out your extra weight that your belly is carrying. And keeps your back from hunching over so much from the added weight.

11. Practice Doing Kegels

Helping your pelvic floor muscle will come in handy after you give birth. Doing this also helps your muscles relax and tighten.

It is also important for you to do kegels after birth to help tighten and strengthen your vagina.

12. Stop Drinking / Smoking / Drugs

The moment you find out you are pregnant you should really try and quit any bad habits that you have.

If you feel you cannot quit – I suggest you call this number and try to get as much help as you can. 1-800-662-4357

13. Stop Using Chemicals To Clean

If you can’t find alternative cleaning solutions, these are our favorites you can always ask your partner to clean things like the bathroom, the kitchen and any areas where harsh chemicals would be used.

You can find out a lot more about the effects of cleaning chemicals on the American Pregnancy Association website.

14. Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet

This is something you should do before baby arrives anyway so let’s get a head start.

Any expired medication – throw it out.

Verify if the medication you are currently taking is safe for your growing baby. You can do this by making a list of your medications and asking your health care provider.

Related: 43+ Things To Do While Nesting (prepare your home for baby)

15. Use An Exercise Ball

You’ve seen them in movies, and yes they do work great when you’re expecting. The reason is the way you sit on the exercise ball.

It allows your hips to start to open up and gives your muscles the power they need to labor.

How To Keep Your Mind Healthy When Expecting

16. Shift your Mindset

This is so much easier said than done.Your mind can be the culprit for so many wrongs in your world.

It is always great to start the morning by chanting a few affirmations that will put you in a better mood, and make your day just a little bit more awesome.

Some of my favorite affirmations when I was pregnant were:

This body is making life, its changes are temporary
My body has new marks, meaning I get to remember this time forever
My mind is strong, my birth with be strong, I will conquer both
I am strong, pregnant and beautiful

Try them out, as silly as it seems. Repetition helps change your mind. This works with labor and postpartum affirmations as well.

If you are especially scared of giving birth, or something going wrong during birth it can add stress to your day to day thinking about everything that can go wrong.

Instead try to think of all the things that you know will go right.

17. Learn About Antepartum Depression

Basically it is a form of depression that pregnant mothers experience. It can happen for no reason. It is just like regular depression meaning that their is an imbalance of hormones in your brain.

Things to look out for when thinking you have antepartum depression are:

Suicidal thoughts
Anger for no reason
Anxiety about small things
Fear of getting on with your day
Anger towards your partner

If you feel you might have antepartum depression – call your medical provider right away to discuss treatments that are safe during pregnancy.

18. Journal Your Pregnancy

Starting a pregnancy journal is a great way to be mentally strong during pregnancy.

It helps keep your thoughts in order as well as keep you organized. You can also look back and see how your pregnancy compares to other pregnancies (if you decided to have more).

My favorite pregnancy journal is this one – made for more than just your pregnancy!

19. Educate Yourself About Pregnancy

The best thing you can do is learn about what your body and baby are going through.

Download a few pregnancy apps, subscribe to a few mom bloggers, talk to your actual doctor and keep learning.

You can also opt to take a prenatal course to help you learn and educate yourself all about the process of labor and postpartum.

Here are a few of my favorite from two nurses who specialize in labor and delivery.

The Online Prenatal Course by Hilary Erkison
Birth It Up: The Natural Series by Liesel Teen

What Should Pregnant Women Eat For A Healthy Baby?

Use the list above to see which foods you can use to increase, calcium, iron and fiber. You should also take your prenatal vitamin and increase veggies, water and lean meats in your diet. You should also add fish and omega 3-fatty acids to your diet.

Avoid lunch deli meat, soft cheese, uncooked meats and uncooked fish. Doing all this is a good way on how to stay healthy during pregnancy.

What Are The Signs Of A Healthy Pregnancy?

Following these tips you can start to feel healthy pregnancy symptoms . But having a healthy pregnancy can look like this:

Having morning sickness (it means your body is producing hormones)
Not having morning sickness (see this post on ‘No symptoms during first trimester‘)
Feeling tired
Wanting to nest
Having cravings
Not having cravings
Hearing baby’s heart beat during checkups
Gaining weight

Healthy Pregnancy Tips First Trimester & Beyond

Avoid cleaning with harsh chemicals
Don’t change your cats litter (let your partner do it)
Avoid carrying heavy items,
Don’t push with your feet
Stop using drugs and alcohol the moment you find out
Get tested or screened for abnormal growths in your uterus
Make sure you tell your health care provider the truth (about drinking in early pregnancy etc..)
Educate yourself on motherhood
Learn about breastfeeding

There you have it a lot of little ways you can start being healthier right now in your pregnancy. From what to eat, keeping your body healthy, and most importantly your mind!

Now that you made it to the end – did you subscribe to get your FREE 7 Days Of Healthy (and tasty) Pregnancy Meals? Just click here before you go to get them delivered straight to your email.

19 Ways To Stay Healthy During Pregnancy