How to Have an Eco-Friendly Pregnancy?

There's probably no more important time to really think about things that affect you, because everything you're doing at this point in your life will affect your child as well. Every chemical that you put on your body or in your body will end up going to your baby. So look at all of the ingredients in your products. 

So that's the first tip. Secondly, go around your house and look at the chemicals that you're cleaning your house with. There are a lot of chemicals around there that you might be inhaling or that might get on your skin. So you also want to green those products, and we have other videos on that as well that you can check out. Third, go get your vitamin D checked. It's not one of the tests that they traditionally run when you're pregnant. There are a lot of tests that are run, but vitamin D is not one of them, and there has been a lot of fairly new research, three to five years old, about how important vitamin D is to your baby and to your own body. So get a vitamin D test. Also think about any of the things that you might have personally exposed yourself to that you might want to clean out of your system.

I ate a lot of tuna in my life, and so I was very concerned about mercury issues. So before I got pregnant, I literally gave us all fish for three years before I got pregnant, and I did a series of cleanses. And then I went to my doctor, and I had my blood work checked, and there was no mercury of any kind. So I was really happy with that. And get your blood work done before. Maybe not everyone plans their pregnancy to the point that I did, but I had all sorts of blood tests done before I got pregnant, to see where all my levels of calcium and protein and iron and all of that stuff in my body, what the levels were like, because I eat mostly vegetarian, and I wanted to make sure that my diet was enough to sustain both myself and my baby. And what I was very happy to find was that as someone who doesn't eat a lot of meat, my iron and folic acid levels were actually through the roof, which is fantastic for your pregnancy, so very important. 

And know that it is possible to eat most of the vitamins you need. Don't just rely on supplements, because supplements aren't absorbed the same way as real food. So if you can, clean up your diet before you get pregnant and all throughout your pregnancy. There's really nothing more important you can do than keeping your body in top condition. So control your stress, eat well, and continue to exercise. And if you have more questions about the best things to do when you're pregnant, please, please talk to your medical professional. I'm not a doctor, so talk to a nutritionist or a medical doctor or a midwife about all the things you can do to make sure that your pregnancy is optimum.

About video: Learn five ways to have an eco-friendly pregnancy in this Howcast video featuring Alegre of Green and Greener.