Pregnancy and Your Baby’s Heart

Pregnancy and Your Baby’s Heart

New research found that pregnant mothers who engage in 30 minutes of exercise three times a week makes for a baby with a stronger heart.

This means babies show a lower fetal heart rate and higher the heart rate variability in utero.

Also, even after delivery, one month old babies from mothers that exercised during pregnancy showed lower heart rates. (April 2011, Linda May, an exercise physiologist and anatomist at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences)

Outdoor Children

5 Secrets for Healthy and Adventurous Children

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1. Start Early with Foods from Nature:   Breastfeeding and Beyond
2. Every Day is an Outdoor Day to Play:   Get Dirty
3. Sunshine is Natures Strength:   Vitamin D is key to optimal muscle growth and development for activities
4. Pure Environment: home, organic, alternatives to mainstream thought and practices?
5. Family Camping and Hiking in the Mountains, Deserts, and Beaches:    Experience Nature. Explore the Terrain.

© Sara Newell: June 2008

Dehydration

Warning Signswater

  • Thirst
  • Flushed Skin
  • Premature fatigue
  • Increased body temperature
  • Faster breathing and pulse rate
  • Increased perception effort
  • Decreased exercise capacity

Later Signs

  • Dizziness
  • Increased weakness
  • Labored breathing with exercise

 

Hydration

waterDRI-Adequate Intake Guidelines

  • 2.7L to 3.7L/day  or  11 cups to 17 cups/day (IOM, 2005)
  • Please note: There is no specific recommended intake because individual water intake can vary on a day to day basis, this is due to variations in physical activity, environmental conditions, and differences in diet. (DGA, 2010)

Hydration Guidelines

  • Drink water within 1 hour before exercising
  • Less than 60 minutes of activity: replace fluids with plain water (unless you are an elite athlete)
  • More than 60 minutes of activity: use sports drinks (6-8% carbohydrate) and water
  • To replace sweat losses: drink fluids during exercising
  • It is important to replace loss electrolytes, especially in conditions with higher temperatures
  • To replace high sodium losses: add salt to sports drink
  • To replace potassium losses: eat high potassium fruits and veggies pre/post activity, most Americans do not intake the recommended 4.7 gram/day (for example: spinach, cantaloupes, almonds, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, and potatoes) (NFS, i5, 2009)

Eating Patterns

I was researching eating patterns in childhood and the connection to adult eating patterns and found some great information.  See below!  (DGAC = Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee which establishes the American Dietary Guidelines based on updated research every 5 years.)

  • Eating patterns established during childhood are carried into adulthood: Report of the DGAC on the Dietary Guidelines of America (2010)
  • Those children who eat fruits and vegetables and milk are more likely to as adults: Report of the DGAC on the Dietary Guidelines of America (2010)
  • Fathers who believe that dinner is an important family gathering might help lower a child’s intake of fast food. (Journal of Nutrition Education Behavior, 2011, McIntosh A. et al., 43:142-149)
  • Children and teenagers sharing three or more family meals per week were more likely to be in the normal weight range, have healthier dietary and eating patterns and less disordered eating compared to children eating one or fewer family meals. (Pediatrics, 2011, Hammons AJ and Fiese BH, 127:15565-1574)