The LifeCo Blog

All the pregnancy books were warning about pregnancy edema - swelling of the legs. I have luckily been able to avoid it - up until now. But the past couple weeks I’ve come home at the end of the day and kicked off my shoes only to be greeted to a pair of ankles that I swear belong to somebody else!

babycenter.com says that edema happens during pregnancy because of a few factors. One is that there are more fluids going around my body. Another reason is that my big belly is putting pressure on my vena cava - the large vein going up the right side of my body that carries blood from the legs and lower torso back to the heart - causing blood to pool in my legs.

While all this may seem glamorous, since the swelling has started I noticed that my energy has dropped and I’ve become crankier.  So I asked naturopath Paul Harper to give me some tips on how to deal with this:

• Reduce bad salt intake: I have to admit, that I’ve been giving in to cravings of processed, salty foods, which has coincided with my edema
• Replace with good salt: organic salt from seaweeds and celery are a great way to feed salt cravings. It’s also easier for your body to process.
• Dring lots of water: to flush out salt and keep things moving
• Exercise: I walk about 2km every day to and from work, which is good. I also have yoga pants and videos, but Paul recommended I actually put them to use to get my circulation going which will help clear out the swelling.
• Increase saturated fats: This doesn’t mean go wild on the butter cookies and ice cream. But Paul said that if you’re eating a really healthy diet, but still puffing up, it could be from not enough sat fats. Too many essential fatty acids, especially in a bad form like over-processed vegetable oils, can weaken cell walls which makes it harder for them to get rid of wastes and take in nutrients. Saturated fats - especially from good vegetable sources like coconut oil and avocados - can strengthen cell walls and keep them working properly.

Looks like I better avoid the chips and get moving from now on!

- Lisa Johnson

Filed under: water, nutrition, diet, exercise, pregnancy, edema on January 31st, 2008