School Of Medicine

It’s summer, so it’s hot and it’s the perfect excuse for pregnant women to be in the pool!  Swimming is great for pregnant women because you’ll feel light and bouyant.  Try this simple exercise to tone your inner and outer thighs.  Standing in the shallow end step or lightly jump your feet apart then bring your feet back together.  Work up to 3 sets of 15-20 reps.  In between sets walk from one side to the other.

A great postpartum exercise for weight loss is what I call the “football shuffle”.  What you do is start at one side of a room squat down low and quickly bring your feet together then apart.  Shuffle across the room or outside about 20 feet.  Work up to two to three sets 10 repetitions.  Make sure to walk in between sets until your heart rate comes back down.  The ”football shuffle” is a great exercise because it tones your inner and outer thighs, and buttocks, plus it gets your hear rate up so you burn more calories.

Most pregnant women experience some kind of craving while they are pregnant.  If you’re craving something it’s because your body is needing something…just chose wisely!  So if you’re craving something sweet, listen to your body.  Smoothies are really yummy and are a healthy treat for both you and your baby.  Try this recipe:

Blend and serve–yummy!
3 Frozen strawberries
1/2 a frozen banana
1/4-1/2 cup of orange juice (folic acid is great for developing your baby!)
1/4-1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk

If you want to lose weight, pay atteniton to your cravings.  Are you craving sugary foods?  If so, you may need to add more fruit into your diet.  Apples with peanut butter are great snack because the protien and fat will keep you satisfied and the sweetness of the apple will take care of your craving.

Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is an often overlooked but significant metabolic culprit in poor brain function.

It can cause a wide range of mental symptoms, including lack of concentration, short-term memory loss, mood swings, physical and mental exhaustion, mental fatigue, mental fogginess, depression, and the inability to learn or comprehend new information.

Glucose

Because of the sugary diets we eat today, Hypoglycemia is epidemic. Your brain needs glucose to form the energy that fuels its processes. It gets glucose from the food you eat - mainly carbohydrates, which the digestion process breaks down into sugar.

Researchers have found that too little sugar in the form of glucose hinders memory and learning. But you should know that too much sugar does the same thing before you reach for that candy bar.

Hypoglycemia is one of the most undiagnosed conditions in America. Many people who suffer from it are totally unaware that they have this trouble, and even their doctors confuse their symptoms with those of other conditions.

Eating too much sugar and other simple carbohydrates is not a good idea for your overall health, but it is particularly bad for memory.

Sugar Overload

Hypoglycemia or “insulin resistance,” can be caused with sugar overload in which your cells do not recognize insulin and thus sugar cannot enter them. According to the Merck Manual of Medical Information, prolonged hypoglycemia can permanently damage your brain cells.

It is significant to have the right kind of fuel available to promote optimum brain functioning because the brain runs on energy derived mostly from carbohydrates.

A healthy program will help you substitute simple carbohydrates with healthy complex carbohydrates, such fruits, as vegetables, and whole grains, which can bring about remarkable enhancement in your thinking and overall health.

An Example

One of my friends, Mandy, was a patient that went to her doctor with a host of health problems, but what worried her most was that she had been fainting regularly, and, although she had been mentally sharp all her life, was now “losing it.” She had been to many specialists and none of them could explain these symptoms.

She found out she was addicted to sugar and often would have a piece of cake or a candy bar for breakfast. Her blood sugar would then roller coaster all day.

She not only did her cognition improve, but, much to the surprise of her physician, her fainting problem completely vanished, when she switched her breakfast to oatmeal with a small amount of tofu or other protein food.