OK… The First Question: Am I going to get Fat?
My husband weighs 25 pounds more than me. The weight that you are supposed to gain during pregnancy for a normal weight person is 25 to 35 pounds…so i told him he better gain some weight because I didn’t want to weigh more than him. So now here we have a competition. He keeps teasing me that i will weigh more than him and I’m trying to get him to gain weight. Luckily it is all in good fun.
Solution: At my first Birthing class I received some helpful information about just gaining pregnancy weight and not a bunch of extra non necessary weight. She gave a bunch of great information. In this particular case she did answer the question of how to not gain excess weight that does not include the baby weight and the weight that is naturally to be included in that 25 to 35 pounds.
As the baby is developing at about 32 Weeks it starts needing greater amounts of chromium and so of course pulls this from the mothers body. If the mother does not have sufficient amounts she will become deficient. This is interesting because of the functions of Chromium.
These Functions include: Fatty acid and Cholesterol synthesis (important for Brain function and other processes) as well as the breakdown of insulin. Chromium is also used as a weight-loss supplement for many people…although after researching it a bit more I found that it is rather controversial as to whether it should be used as one. Some say it is very helpful and others say that there is not enough evidence yet for people to start taking chromium supplements. However as I kept looking I found that getting your Chromium from food sources poses no risk.
Food Sources of Chromium include:
- Beef
- Liver
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Oysters
- Wheat germ
- Green peppers
- Apples
- Bananas
- Spinach
But if you want to try this out make sure you are getting enough of the mineral manganese in your diet as well because it partners with chromium in your body.
Food sources of Manganese include:
- Mustard Greens
- Kale
- chard
- raspberries
- pineapple
- strawberries
- romaine lettuce
- collard greens
- spinach
- garlic
- summer squash
- grapes
- turnip greens
- eggplant
- brown rice
- maple syrup
- cinnamon
- black pepper
Another interesting tidbit that was added was that by getting sufficient chromium during pregnancy can decrease the risk of getting gestational diabetes. When people are deficient in Chromium it usually manifests itself as impaired glucose tolerance… or type II Diabetes.
In the article “Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies Which May Predispose to Glucose Intolerance of Pregnancy” by Lois Jovanovic-Peterson and Charles M. Peterson (Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 1996) It discusses a a study that was done to measure levels of Chromium in Pregnant women with gestational diabetes and pregnant women without it. The results showed a decrease of chromium levels throughout the pregnancy of those women with gestational diabetes.
So it may help with preventing me from blowing up like a balloon as well as decrease risk of me getting gestational diabetes! Although I have not yet reached that stage of pregnancy I can kep this in mind as i am making food choices.
