Health & Baby - Your Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy

Now that you’ve reached this point in the blog I hope you’ve found it both educational and fun to read; I know I really enjoyed the process of writing it. Honestly, though, this blog isn’t about me, it’s all about you.

Health & Baby – Your Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy Photo Gallery

What follows is The Wilder Way, an eight-week health plan and 25 of my favorite family recipes. You might not even get to those, you might close the blog right now and never take a step toward improving your health; you may be thinking it’s too hard, or it will not work for you, or that you’re not worth the time and effort. I disagree. I don’t think there’s anything else more important than your health, and by health I mean everything your body, spirit and mind.

Yes, I’m gonna get all hippie and metaphysical on you. You aren’t just the sum of your parts you are an amazing woman designed to be healthy, strong, and bold. Ponder all the times you’ve been excited about something only to fail I get it, I’ve been there a thousand times myself, from that first time I put my Teen Steam dance video in my VCR to the last time I tried a fancy new diet. Nothing ever worked for me. So I understand the fear all too well I know that fear far too intimately.

Stay strong; this will work, I promise.

I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself healthy and fit. What that looks like is different for everyone. I know what that looks like for me: I want this port out of my chest; I want to finish a 10k in an hour and fifteen minutes; I want my belly to be full of healthy fuel, and my muscles to be beautiful and strong; I don’t want to worry about diabetes looming; I don’t want to be nutritionally deficient; I want to look damn good in my size twelve dress and sexy heels. That’s what health looks like to me, and for the first time in my life, I feel so close to having just that. I’ve got it within my grasp, ladies. I’m almost there! And you can be, too.

Look at the cover of this blog; do I look healthy and happy to you? Through all the trials and tribulations, through all the false starts and failures, I’ve learned that my body does work. Right now, my body’s fat mass is within a healthy range for the first time in my life! My legs are strong. I’ve got powerful biceps. My back doesn’t hurt anymore.

Quick Guide to Pregnancy

What about you? What’s your story? What’s your final goal, and how are you going to make that vision in your head become a reality?

All you need is eight weeks to change your life; I don’t think eight weeks is a long time, do you? Yes, there are things that might be difficult in those weeks. In fact I’m pretty sure people will send me nasty emails around week five. I’m okay with that! You can even email Jack about how horrible I’m for putting you through this, but I know that by week eight, I’ll be getting an equally awesome apology email. One that says your inflammation is now gone, that you finally have a normal blood sugar level, and maybe there will even be a photo of your face looking years younger. You’ll tell me that not only did you lose weight but also, for the first time in your life, you have self-confidence and strength and you feel sexy in your skin.

I want those things for you! I want you to learn what I’ve learned on this journey: most of us weren’t born with something wrong with us. Most of us aren’t genetically challenged. We don’t lack will power, we don’t need to cut ourselves open and remove portions of our intestines, we don’t need to sleeve, band, or starve ourselves to be healthy.

It’s about food combinations. It’s about moving. It’s about kicking sugar to the curb and never looking back.

Please believe me when I say that if this hot mess mother of six can do it, you can too. I know it!

Pregnancy Survival Guide | Fit Pregnancy and Baby

What I would love for you to do is read through the start-up plan and the recipes that follow all the way to the very end and then I want you to take some time and think about why you want this. Why is this your moment? Why are you finally done with all the diets, the workout fads, and gimmicks. Why is now the moment when true health is going to be your goal?

Before I even started writing this blog, I knew it would be the most important blog I ever wrote.

I feel a responsibility, an obligation, to use my story to help people. Even if only a few people pick it up, I know I can change those lives forever. I have the ability to reach people who would never pick up a health blog unless it was written by me. What an honor! If you’ve never read any other health or fitness blog before, then you picked the right one! This is going to be a system you can live with, and it will allow you to enjoy life as never before.

Take it one day at a time, one meal at a time. Stick with me even when it gets hard, even when you see the scale creep up during the challenge weeks. It’s okay, it happens, and it will come back down. Give your body grace and time you deserve that. Your body needs time to heal from the lifetime of damage that sugar and chemicals and refined carbs have done to it. Detox is a gift to your body, but you have to give it time.

If I could talk to you right now, I would ask which race will be your first I’m so excited for you to cross that finish line! I can see it in my head, and it makes me want to cry for you, for all of us who never thought we were capable of running, for those of us who never believed our bodies could cross a finish line without being dragged across by paramedics. You yes YOU will finish that race, and it will be glorious.

Then I would tell you to take this one week at a time. Follow the plan I’ve laid out. Yes, you could take a short cut, but it will not do any good in the long run. This is four weeks of detox and four weeks of learning how to create your meals; that time is crucial, so don’t skip it.

The last thing I would do is tell you this is a journey you should enjoy. The year or two it will take to transform your health is a blessing. How many people will you inspire? How many lives will be changed watching you take control over your health and your life? Just remember, I’m going to be here cheering you on the whole way! I hope you connect with me on social media and share your progress I can’t wait to watch you run wild!

Please remember to consult with your doctor before starting any new health plan. If you are already being treated for diabetes or blood pressure, talking with your doctor regularly is very important.