Philippa Lovrek (29) is a Nutritionist and Movement Coach based in Vienna, and Co-Founder of BASENBOX.
Philippa’s aim is to guide her clients on optimising their daily nutrition, with a healthy living and regular exercise approach in order to balance their often hectic and fast paced daily schedules. Her mantra is to make things easy, effective and inexpensive, and thereby really worth it for her clients. Together with her brother Leopold (left) and her friend Albert (right) she founded the company BASENBOX.
The BASENBOX offers a multi-day (5 or 10 day) organic alkaline nutrition program, freshly delivered to your home or office daily that provides you with healthy, alkaline based dishes to increase your overall well-being!
Nutrition Do’s and Don’ts during pregnancy?
Pregnancy generally means adjusting to a lot of changes, with nutrition often being one of these. It is really important for both mother-to-be and the developing baby that the daily diet includes the right nutrients to support the healthy development and make the mothers-to-be feel good throughout their pregnancy. Below are five general Do’s and Don’ts that women should look out for:
1) Try to make sure you are eating unprocessed food such as organic vegetables, whole grains and fruits.
2) Try to avoid raw; meat, eggs or fish. These can carry pathogens, which could be dangerous for yourself and especially for your baby.
3) Take vitamin supplements such as folic acid to best prevent neural tube defects in the new-born.
4) Try to enrich your diet with omega-3-fatty acids. Nuts, flaxseed oil or salmon (not raw) contain these healthy fats that support the baby’s brain and neurological development.
5) And of course avoid drinking alcohol and smoking!
Eating for TWO –Myth or truth?
Eating for two in my view is an absolute myth, especially during the first 7 months of pregnancy where there is no need to increase the quantity of calories consumed. Eating excessively could actually exacerbate additional risks, whereby excessive weight gain can increase the risk of gestational diabetes, backaches, high blood pressure, and an increased chance having to give birth via caesarean section. You should however try to increase the amount of certain important healthy nutrients like the ones mentioned above. In general and on average, you should be looking to increase your daily calorie intake by 300 calories per day – which is the equivalent of four apples, three slices of whole grain bread or one croissant.
Can nutrition influence the typical pregnancy symptoms such as nausea or tiredness?
Nausea or vomiting during pregnancy is mostly caused by hormonal changes. The sense of smell and taste can change and become very pronounced meaning that pregnant women can overreact to various smells and/or tastes. This doesn’t mean it will happen to all women and on average affects 1 in 5 women.
Having said that too many sweets, and a lack of vitamin B6 (contained in pistachios, linseeds and whole grain bread) can be associated with nausea.
Ginger tea can be a great help in combating nausea.
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Find out more about Philippa and the BASENBOX:
Instagram: basenbox