How To Have A Healthy Baby: 7 Things To Do Before You're Even Pregnant

Your health long before you get pregnant determines your future baby's health. That includes protecting them from allergies, eczema, asthma, depression, gut problems, autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease, and more. If you know you want a baby sometime soon, here are a few ways to help make sure you have a healthy baby:

Women who enter pregnancy overweight have a higher risk of prenatal and birth complications and need for a C-section, and baby is much more likely to have a host of health problems ranging from allergies, asthma, and obesity in childhood to diabetes and heart disease later in life. Find the right program for you, based on whole foods, wise eating habits, and yoga or your other fave form of exercise.

Exposure to pesticides in the womb may lead to trouble for kids' neurological functioning. Studies show1 that exposure to pesticides is linked to lower IQ scores2 and increased risk of autism spectrum disorder3. While going fully organic might not be practical or even necessary, start now by doing your best to at least avoid "The Dirty Dozen," the list of foods that has the highest level of pesticide contamination, or go organic on these. (And anyway, there are many reasons to eat organic other than expecting a pregnancy!)

Newborns are loaded up with about 300 chemicals that can be identified in their umbilical cord blood at birth. Fish is a super-nutritious protein source, but some are loaded with mercury. Mercury (and other heavy metals) in mom literally download directly to baby throughout the pregnancy and can cause a host of health problems. Mercury is particularly noxious because it affects the neurological and hormonal systems. Check out the Environmental Working Group's list of fish to avoid for more information.

Most women apply as many as 10 body products before leaving for work in the morning, and most of those have a dozen ingredients, some of which are known toxins, including lead found in some lipsticks and eyeliners4. Our skin is our biggest organ—a lot of what goes on also goes in! As with mercury, we accumulate these chemicals over our lifetime, and then baby inherits more than just our good looks—baby gets a cosmetic chemical infusion. Once again, the EWG is your go-to resource for the best cosmetics and body products to start using now. When you're ready, here's how to switch to natural makeup step by step.

The top things you can do to create a healthy gut flora for yourself:

I recommend 400 mcg to 1 mg of the active form, called methylfolate, for optimum protection. Also, while you're at it, hop on the fish oil train and add in some vitamin D3 (1,000 to 2,000 units daily), both of which can prepare you for an optimal pregnancy and which are great for your health even now.

Remember: The world we create today is the world our kids will inherit tomorrow.