Pre-eclamsia Prevention

If you’ve had pre-eclamsia, you already know that there’s no cure (except delivery), and that there’s no sure-fire way to prevent it—yet. But there are constantly studies being done and scientific strides being made, which gives me lots of hope regarding my current pregnancy.

Do you have any tips that your doctors suggest or that you think worked for you? Feel free to share them in the comments. Meanwhile, here are a bunch of solid tips that I’ve found online that I’m incorporating into my pregnancy this time around.

The DASH Pregnancy Diet. It’s basically a healthy diet, but with lots of whole grains. You eat 7-8 whole grains per day plus 5-6 vegetables, 4-6 fruits, 2-3 lowfat dairy servings and 1-2 lean meats. You avoid salt as much as you can, with less than two teaspoons per day.

In addition to these foods, here are some other great tips I came across in my research:

Sit up straight—it helps send calming messages throughout your body!

Drink coconut water.

Have ½ a teaspoon of cardamom daily.

Eat L-arginine, found in red meat, in moderation. Studies show that women who ate this amino acid in food bars who had pre-eclamsia before and were high-risk again during their next pregnancy had significantly reduced rates of developing the disease. Here are some foods that are high in the amino acid.

Eat 3 slices of watermelon daily—I’m not sure if I can manage this one, given the cost of watermelon, but we’ll see. I have one so far.

And here are a bunch of other great tips.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia