Preventing morning sickness?
Before I jump into my latest possibly-crazy musings on morning sickness, I have an announcement first:
I’m sporting a 9-week pregnant baby bump! My cycle had been wacky for a few months, so it didn’t phase me much when my period was 8 days late in June. Even so, I thought I’d take a test (on Father’s Day) just to verify to myself that my cycle had, indeed, taken on a new unpredictable personality. I did not feel the least bit pregnant and had been experiencing none of my usual pregnancy symptoms, so I was completely shocked when I found myself looking at a positive test a few minutes later. Huh?! Really? We hadn’t been preventing pregnancy for the previous four months, but we hadn’t really been trying or expecting to become pregnant either. We had decided back in January to leave things up to God, so we’re putting our trust in the divine (or at least attempting to trust) that having our 4th baby two months before my spirited toddler turns two is exactly right for our family. ETA mid-February (the perfect month to give birth in AZ, or so I’m told).
As I mentioned before, I was experiencing none of my usual early pregnancy symptoms. And as the days and weeks passed, my husband and I kept saying to each other, “Is this for real?” It didn’t feel real because I didn’t feel pregnant. Then I started getting up to pee in the wee hours of the morning, and some of the denial dissolved. But it wasn’t until midway through our family vacation (and far too much vacation-y junk food) that I finally said, “OK, it’s real,” because I started experiencing some mild nausea. Then, over the next week+, I started noticing a pattern. It’s something I never would have noticed before (in my previous pregnancies) because it was only a couple of months ago that I was exposed to some information that proved crucial.
Some of you may remember my magnesium craze back in April. Because of what I learned, I became convinced that increasing my magnesium levels would greatly relieve the chronic scoliosis back pain I had endured for the previous six years. So I started consuming lots of magnesium-rich foods, using magnesium supplements, and drinking magnesium-rich water. I also purchased a high-power Blendtec blender so I could consume more magnesium-rich seeds and dark-leafy greens in smoothie form. Then I spent late April and early May in a tumultuous and unexpected magnesium-green-smoothie healing crisis. My body was detoxing like crazy. I experienced dizziness, fatigue, nausea, crazy mood swings, and other detox symptoms. 
In an effort to relieve those symptoms, I did a bit of research and wondered whether all the toxins getting dumped into my system were acidifying my body. So I started reading about alkalinizing foods via the books Green for Life and The pH Miracle and quickly applied what I learned, reducing acidifying foods and incorporating more alkaline ones. I also learned that sweating is a highly-effective way to help the body eliminate toxins, so I sought out opportunities to sweat (like running in the afternoon heat) to purge as many of those toxins out of my system as I could. Eventually my healing crisis ended, and I began this new pregnancy with a cleaner, healthier, more alkaline body than I had had probably since childhood.
Which brings me to my latest possibly-crazy theory about morning sickness. First a disclaimer: I have it easy when it comes to pregnancy nausea, in general. I’m one of the lucky ones. So I have no idea whether my experience is even applicable to women experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum, but I want to share what I have discovered just in case it might possibly bring relief to other women.
While on vacation, I began slacking nutritionally–eating a lot more sugar and fast food and no longer consuming alkalinizing smoothies or keeping up with my magnesium intake. Then the nausea started kicking-in… possibly a coincidence. One particular evening, we had beef for dinner followed by a big bowl of fudge-topped ice cream. For the first time (excepting the morning I woke up with food poisoning), I woke up nauseous. So I ate a bowl of cereal. Then I met my sister at my grandma’s house and she made me french toast out of cinnamon swirl bread, topped with a very rich buttery syrup with pork sausage links on the side. A few hours later I experienced some of the worst pregnancy nausea I have ever felt. And there was this little voice in the back of my mind saying, “Alkalinize.” My husband and I left the house when I could no longer bear the smell of beef cooking in the kitchen, and we grabbed some lunch (tacos). Then I insisted we go to the grocery store. My body was screaming, “Vegetables and fruit!”
When we got into the produce section, my body was on autopilot. First: Cucumbers!!! Then I started literally salivating at the celery. Spinach, carrots, and lemons! Oh wow my body wanted lemons. On the flip side, nearly everything else in the grocery store (processed foods) looked absolutely revolting to me. When we got back to my grandma’s house, I squeezed an entire lemon into a glass of water and drank it. Soon afterward, I single-handedly ate an entire cucumber, and within 30 minutes or so, the nausea was gone. I topped it off with two slices of watermelon, and I felt great again. That’s when the cogs and wheels in my head started spinning. All that meat and sugar and pork created a highly acidic environment in my body. Meat is highly acidifying, but pork is one of the most acidifying meats you can consume. Oops. Cucumbers, lemons, and watermelon are alkalinizing. Once they entered my system, my body was back into the proper pH balance again.
Most of what we hear about morning sickness is that it’s normal and even healthy for pregnant women. We’re given lots of tips for treating it’s discomforts–eating small, frequent meals, ginger, medication, etc. But what if morning sickness could be prevented or eliminated? In early pregnancy, a mother’s body is undergoing enormous changes. Her stores of vital minerals and nutrients (such as magnesium) are being sacrificed for her baby’s first crucial weeks of development. As alkalinizing minerals become depleted, perhaps her body is tipped into the acidic range of the pH scale? For women who start pregnancy with already acidic bodies, this could be even more pronounced and uncomfortable. Could morning sickness be stemming from that acidic environment? Possibly? It would be really cool to see some high quality studies asking these questions.
In the meantime, it couldn’t hurt to try, right? Ever since I had this epiphany, whenever I feel the nausea creeping up, I quickly eat or drink something alkalinizing, and so far it has worked to eliminate the nausea without fail. If it has worked for me, maybe it could work for other women too?
Here are my favorite alkaline food/beverage choices:
Cucumbers (extremely alkalinizing), lemons, limes, watermelon, unripe bananas, dark leafy greens, unsweetened coconut water, carrots, celery, almonds, alkaline spring water, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and avocado.
Very acidifying foods to avoid or reduce:
Alcohol (duh), pork, beef, coffee, refined sugars and carbs, aged cheeses, vinegar, artificial sweeteners, and chocolate.
See The pH Miracle for more complete lists of alkalinizing and acidifying foods. And here’s a helpful link with more alkalinizing tips. I also found quite a few websites claiming that alkaline water can eliminate morning sickness–while their sources may or may not be reputable, I found it intriguing nonetheless.
So far this has been the easiest first trimester of my life. I suspect the detoxing and alkalinizing I did prior to becoming pregnant played a big role. I’ve also been running, and I suspect that eliminating toxins through my sweat has also helped bring my body into the proper pH balance. Some pesticides and chemicals are highly acidifying, and it’s my understanding that some of those chemicals can only leave the body through the sweat glands.
Perhaps women who are susceptible to severe morning sickness might benefit from alkalinizing their bodies prior to pregnancy and continuing to maintain that alkaline environment? It may be hard to alkalinize after the pregnancy has already begun since it’s difficult to keep foods and liquids down while experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum–which makes consuming alkaline foods/beverages next to impossible.
Do you think there’s some truth to this? I’d love to hear from you if you find success reducing your pregnancy nausea with alkaline foods. Also, speaking of hyperemesis gravidarum, check out Rixa’s latest post calling for participants in a hyperemesis gravidarum study.
P.S. I’d also love to hear what you think of my new website.
No related posts.
Love the new website and congratulations on baby #4 on the way. You look great!
Congradulations I like the advice you have on pregnancy most mothers would not know this information thankyou!!!
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Such exciting news! Very, very excited for you and your family!! :)
Secondly, thanks for the morning sickness thoughts – very interesting! I will be linking to your article. Oddly enough, I’m going to be publishing an article of my own soon on the findings I’ve made regarding a doctor who is using a very-low-carb diet to prevent both miscarriage and morning sickness, and many of his use/don’t-use foods are the same as those you listed. He also recommends a pre-conception preparation diet to prepare the body. You’ll have to let me know what you think!
CONGRATS again!! :)
#1–Congrats! So exciting.
#2–Fascinating. I know diet plays a role in nausea. I’ve had it pretty bad with all of mine. I thought it was worse with girls (my first was really bad), but I had been cutting out sugars and things when I had my second daughter, and my nausea with her wasn’t any worse than it had been with my son. My last pregnancy (boy) was more like my first, and I wasn’t doing as well with my diet, so the gender thing was out the window. Is there anyway to test your ph, to know whether that is the problem?
#3-Love the website upgrades! Can you ask your brother/webmaster how to get the social media buttons on the bottom of each post. I’d love to add them to my blog? Thanks!
Congratulations on your pregnancy! That’s so exciting! Congrats also on the launch of your new site. I like it.
Really interesting about the pH and morning sickness! You totally could be right. I think an acidic system also plays a huge factor in pregnancy heartburn. I ate almonds to cure heartburn during my 2nd pregnancy and it worked pretty well.
I craved lemons and limes all through my pregnancy. So if they were actually helping something besides my citrus tooth, that’s awesome!
Congrats!! Congrats! You’ll have to let me know how “four” goes…it’s a bit terrifying to me :-)
OMG. So I congratulated you on FB, but congrats again. I’m a wee bit jealous. I guess that means I’m not done having kids. I think now might not be the BEST time to go for number four though ;). Also-holy crow… I totally survived the first trimester with the twins by having ICE COLD water with lemon juice and eating massive amounts of cucumber… My body just told me that’s what I had to do. So I did it. Totally still felt nauseous, but hey, at least those helped quell the nausea from time to time! I had forgotten about the cucumber until I just read your post! Wild. Looking forward to hearing all about your pregnancy and living vicariously through you :).
Congratulations! I’m so happy for you guys!
Congratulations! I am so thrilled for you and cannot wait to hear all about your pregnancy, birth, etc.
Thank you for this post. Eating healthy has never been my strong point (I have some pretty intense texture and smell issues that prevent me from eating most veggies and some fruits unless they are cut up into very tiny pieces and disguised, and even then there are some I just can’t bring myself to eat) but I know I need to be better and am working on it. Thank you for the ideas and the motivation!
Really interesting. I haven’t had a baby in 30 years (you!), but I well remember how diet affected all 6 pregnancies, except possibly the 3rd which was almost nausea free.
Could be that following your ideas will help my knee feel better.
Can’t wait to start making alkaline smoothies. I’m on a wait-list for a certain blender I found online. In the meantime I’ll keep up with my “dark greens at every meal including breakfast” routine. I’m cutting down on beef, even if organic.
Lani – that is amazing….I am going to try it out! Congrats by the way!
yay!!! congratulations! i am so happy for you! and i love the new website. i hope we can get together soon…i wish we lived closer!
Kendra- You can get pH tape or test strips to test your pH. I’ve heard that your saliva pH and urine pH aren’t the best representation though because they vary from hour to hour. But that may give a nauseous pregnant woman an idea of whether she’s currently acidic? A blood test is more accurate, but obviously less practical on a daily basis!
Hurray!!!
I have had two pregnancies, and both have been really mild with nausea – mostly it’s been related to motion for me. I get it riding in the car or bus (but not always). As for my diet, I have eaten vegan since middle school. I still occasionally eat meat/dairy, and now I eat eggs. I noticed that I never eat the acidic foods on a cosistent basis (well, except for vinegar sometimes), and many of the alkanizing foods are consistent in my diet. As for cravings, with my first pregnancy I craved fruits and vegetables.
nice post. thanks.
Hi Lani,
I received your information from my patient Anne-Lis Fulton. I am a chiropractor here in Scottsdale and do health and nutrition seminars in DC Ranch. I loved what you had to say, and yes, you are correct, having an alkaline body reduces or prevents nausea during pregnancy (whether there’s a study on it or not) and it certainly is the correct pH for the body. Many diseases, including all cancers, cannot thrive or even begin in an alkaline body. That being said, it is imperative to have a very acidic stomach. We need a low pH of our gut to properly digest and assimilate our food. I am currently doing a heavy metal cleanse myself to prepare for baby number two. Despite never being vaccinated and my son never being vaccinated, we are both very toxic in mercury, arsenic, barium, and others. Congratulations on your fourth pregnancy by the way! My husband is a cardiologist and we are both 100% natural/organic/raw etc. We educate on the caveman diet and encourage mostly raw veggies, lots of good fats like fresh organic coconut, nuts, seeds, limited fruit, and some raw grass-fed only meats. I have a three year old son who I just weaned and gave birth to at home with our midwife, Mary Henderson. We just did our seminar yesterday titled, THE CAUSE IS THE CURE, and discussed caveman nutrition, basically how food is your medicine, and what we call, the toxic bedroom. Discussing how toxic your mattress and other items in the bedroom are and how to correct them. My husband and I would also like to start a pregancy class where expecting or planning couples come once a month to learn about everything from homebirthing, long-term nursing, co-sleeping, attachment parenting, proper nutrtion (no grains, dairy, sugar, soy,corn,or potatoes), first foods for baby, etc. We also do a very well known seminar on the dangers of all vaccinations called, VACCINATION, DESTROYING A GENERATION. Our next vaccine seminar is Monday, August 16, from 2-5, in the DC Ranch Homestead Community Center. If you give me your email address, I will add you to our evite list. We would love to meet you sometime. My cell number is 602-295-2432 Yours in Health, Heather Wolfson
Dear Heather,
I am interested in your nutrition seminars – could I get your information (website, etc?). Thanks!
Diana
I agree that morning sickness really is based on what you consume. I’m 13 weeks pregnant with my first child. I went to the OBGYN and all she told me was, “that’s normal.” I started throwing up everyday and it just got worse each day. My husband and I did not like the idea that it was “normal” so we were introduced to Dr. Wolfson and she gave us suggestions. About a day or two later, I didn’t have any of my symptoms anymore. It was wonderful to be able to actually hold food down and have more of an appetite again. I hope your pregnancy goes well.
I hate lower back pain, drives me nuts. Did it leave after your pregnancy?
Congrats on #4! I guess I’m a little late in learning the news. I experience hyperemesis when pregnant- throwing up 5x a day needing IVs, so I’m interested in this topic. I don’t think I could eat half of your alkaline food list while I was nauseated though. Soft textures like mashed potatoes is what has been soothing to me at that stage. Crunchy things like carrots, cucumbers, and celery made me throw up. It would be interesting to experiment w/. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the next pregnancy.
Hi! Deanna referred me to your post because I’m having some morning sickness problems. Congrats on the pregnancy! I found out I was pregnant on Fathers’ Day as well! My due date is Feb. 27th. Anyway- I think your philosophy is interesting. Some of the alkaline foods I can’t eat for other reasons (unripe bananas leave sores in my mouth and cucumbers have never been my strong suit), but I will give some of the others a try. I had been craving carrots, but the other night they left me more sick than I was before. However, I’ve been noticing that aged cheeses, chocolate, and especially meat are totally revolting to me right now. Plus I’ve been eating processed sugars but I usually have zero energy afterwards.
But like I said, I’ll look at the list and give it a try! My nurse also suggested taking a B-vitamin supplement 3 times a day for nausea. I think I’ll wait to try that just yet. Basically my diet now consists of white bread, yogurt, fruit, and fishy crackers. I’d like to be able to find some more variety that not only won’t make me sick, but make me feel better also! Thanks for the idea and information!
Just found your blog on Yahoo and have gone through some of of your other posts – do you freelance or guest write for other blogs? I just added you to my news reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
I am pregnant with my 3rd child and have become a vegetarian during this pregnancy. Meat has made me SO sick. So, I found this very interesting. I am glad I found your blog (I can’t remember how). I am a Mormon preparing for my first natural birth and have enjoyed such good information. Thanks and congratulations!!
Well written material.
this post is very usefull thx!
I think there is a lot of truth to this. I had hyperemesis gravid arum and had to be hospitalized twice. It was terrible! I am also known to have a VERY acidic body so it’s neat thinking about the correlation. We are trying for our 2nd now without much luck. This really encouraged me to try and eat more alkaline foods! I’m going to go and eat the cucumber I have in my fridge right now! Thank u.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
So glad I found your blog through Rixa’s blog! I’m another LDS birth junkie. =) I think you’re on to something with the acidic/alkaline thing. I just found out I’m pregnant on Aug. 7th and haven’t felt any symptoms yet. (I usually do.) I’ve been very consistent this time with green drinks and pulse (pumpkin seeds, sprouted wheat, and nuts). But the other day I had an unusual desire for cucumbers. It was like my body was saying, “Yes! you need that!”
[...] Preventing morning sickness? [...]
Thank you for writing this, I really enjoyed this post. I think you are correct in asssuming that nutritional deficiencies and Ph has everything to do with nausea in pregnancy. I had hyperemesis graviderum three times, each time worse than the time before. Since my pregnancies I have had many health challenges. I have recently discovered I have major hormonal imbalances and vitamin deficiencies. I wish I would have known what I know now before I was pregnant so I could have gotten my body prepared for a healthy pregnancy. I also craved watermelon during my pregnancies and apples, although the apples really hurt coming back up.
Wow, I think that this may be very true! I had morning sickness and was trying all the ginger and b vitamins. I went to a holistic doc who said the reason I was feeling sick was because of all acid in my body. Not only was I to eat the right foods, but he also put me on cat nip supplements. They really helped so that my stomach stopped churning. So I believe this. Next time, I’m going to prepare better. My last two pregnancies were not as sick, so I wonder if my acid levels were lower… very interesting.
Thank you! I am 7 weeks with my 2nd and experiencing worse morning sickness than the first, while telling my hubby all I want to eat is sweets (interesting how you experienced the sweet, junk food type stuff actually making it worse). I am looking forward to a drink of lemon water now. Thanks for helping me get a better perspective! :)