Rea Frey - Detox Before Youre Expecting: A Cleansing Program to Prepare Your Body for Pregnancy

Copyright 2015 Rea Frey. Design and concept 2015 Ulysses Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the Internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Published in the U.S. by

ULYSSES PRESS

P.O. Box 3440

Berkeley, CA 94703

www.ulyssespress.com

ISBN: 978-1-61243-415-5

Library of Congress Control Number 2014943014

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acquisitions Editor: Katherine Furman

Managing Editor: Claire Chun

Editor: Renee Rutledge

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Front cover design: Michelle Thompson

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Cover illustrations: Shanina/iStock.com

NOTE TO READERS: This book has been written and published strictly for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as medical advice or to be any form of medical treatment. You should always consult your physician before altering or changing any aspect of your medical treatment and/or undertaking a diet regimen, including the guidelines as described in this book. Do not stop or change any prescription medications without the guidance and advice of your physician. Any use of the information in this book is made on the readers good judgment after consulting with his or her physician and is the readers sole responsibility. This book is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and is not a substitute for a physician.

To my pre-baby vagina:

I will always love you.

Contents

I know most of us want to know the secret to health. We want vibrant, radiant skin, a flat stomach, low cholesterol, a healthy heart, a stress-free life, and a million dollars. But heres the thing: Theres no quick fix or easy answer to getting to the healthiest version of yourself. Period.

No author or expert (or even doctor) can tell you all the steps you need to take to get to your healthiest self. We are all different, which means we require different nutritional, emotional, physical, and mental needs. However, we can certainly gain the tools to make a positive change, which is what Detox Before Youre Expecting aims to do.

Most of the books on the market today seem to regurgitate the same tired information. Eat whole foods! Stop eating processed crap! Exercise! Drink water! Reduce stress!

Its not always easy to implement these habits into our daily lives. We have deadlines to meet, bills to pay, and mouths to feed. There are too many foods to try, too many parties to attend, too many stressors, and too much temptation. And life is short, right? You might as well enjoy it!

While we can all live this mantra, the word enjoyment has taken on a vastly different meaning in todays world. Enjoyment often means sitting at a restaurant table, gorging ourselves on steaks and alcohol, then falling asleep in bed. Whats so enjoyable about that? What happened to getting our enjoyment from activity, travel, and connecting with people (face-to-face and not via social media)? What happened to sending our children out to climb trees, make mud pies, or ride their bikes and telling them not to come home until dinner? What kind of enjoyment will your kids have? What world do you want to bring them into?

When you have children, everything does change. You have to reevaluate what you want your life to be and what you want theirs to be. And this can leave you with a lot of tough choices. But heres whats unacceptable: Passing down awful habits and nutritionally devoid foods to kids. Children should have the option to be introduced to healthy food. They should know what a vegetable is and why its important to the body, and that yes, they can have candy on occasion, but thats the exception, not the rule. They should understand that eating foods in their natural state is always preferable to shoving their hands in a bag of chips. They should be involved in their choices because learning about food is one of the best educations they can get.

But everyone feeds kids crap, right? Just look at any restaurant kids menu. Look at the statistics. Look at how many kids are obese or sick or have adult illnesses, like diabetes. Their nutrition starts with your nutrition. In the beginning, its up to you.

And because its up to you, it starts with you. This book aims to help you clean out the junk from your system and press reset on your body before you conceive. Being pregnant is an amazing experience, but if youre not healthy, it can be unpleasant and put your baby at risk for unnecessary (i.e., preventable) health problems.

Be sensible with your choices. Find the parts of your life and diet that you can change and start to implement these tips, rules, and suggestions as you see fit.

We all slip up. We all fall off the wagon. We all love a good pizza or an ice-cold beer. But, as youll soon learn, all of these behaviors can be changed or enjoyed moderately from time to time. You can still enjoy yourself. You can still be lenient and healthy. Its about changing the definition of what we think of as healthy. Its about starting a new chapter, or even a new page.

I hope you find something worthwhile within these pages. I hope this book inspires you to change even one habit and prepare yourself for parenthood in a more positive way.

I wish you the best of luck!

Happy parenting.

Having been a vegetarian/vegan for over half my life, Id returned to a meat-heavy diet in the years prior to getting pregnant. I was living in Chicago, which is heavy on environmental pollutants and smoking. Feeling sluggish and unhealthy, I decided to venture back to a completely plant-based diet. My husband decided to join me. Together, we began slowly eliminating and swapping our staple foods (you can read all about it in my book Power Vegan: Plant-Fueled Nutrition for Maximum Health and Fitness) with healthier, more nutrient-dense foods. We cleansed and felt our energy soar, unnecessary weight slough off, and stamina increase. After six months of plant-based eating, a detox, one colonic, and tons of water to flush my system, I got pregnant with our daughter Sophie. Thankfully, I was in the absolute best internal and external shape of my life.

Because of the proper steps Id taken to get rid of the junk in my system, I knew what to eat, how to supplement, and what to feed my body and my growing baby. I swapped all of my makeup for natural choices and our household cleaning items for toxin-free, fragrance-free products. I learned that giving yourself an education on what you need and why you need it before you conceive is one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself, rather than jumping in blind.

Bun in the Oven

Getting pregnant: There is no scarier or exciting time. Almost as soon as you see that plus sign staring back at you, the questions begin. What doctor should I see? Do I want a midwife? How am I going to afford this? Will the baby be healthy? Am I ever going to sleep again? (No, youre not.)

Before you lose yourself in a sea of baby books or opinionated mothers who will tell you how to do things their way, your prime focus should be making your pregnancy easier, happier, and stress-free: getting healthy before you conceive. Though health means many different things to everyone (especially in todays overly saturated health and wellness market), we all want to be healthy and stay that way. But first, you must define what health means to you.