Five Facts That Could Protect Your Pregnancy — What Every Mother Should Know

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Why I Find This Topic To Be Important

3. Did You Know That Many Congenital Health Problems Are Preventable?

4. “Your Child is what YOU have, or have not, been putting into your body!”

5. Cravings — What Are They?

6. Your Periods Have Always Been Trying To Tell You Something

7. Periods Should Be A Woman's Beacon of Health: A Short Science Class

8. Build a Healthy Lifestyle Before You Need One

9. The Less Spoken-About Impact of Pregnancy On Women's Bodies

10. Fetal-Maternal Microchimerism

11. Final Thoughts

Introduction

Most people get into parenthood without having even basic knowledge regarding how to have a healthy and successful pregnancy — not only for the sake of their child but also for themselves and the mother's body.

They often rely on what the medical system and school told them which for those who have encountered the sad things we're going to encounter in this blog,

This leads to a lot of unexpected complications that:

• significantly affect the quality of life for the baby, sometimes their whole life;

• significantly affect the post-natal quality of life for the mother; and

• can sometimes even be fatal for the mother and the child.

And having seen this first-hand, working with thousands of women, the sad part of all this is that these health complications are often, to a very large extent, preventable.

And not just when the pregnancy test shows positive, but many, many years before a woman even thinks about being a mother and all that goes into it.

And the even more surprising part: your body as a woman has been trying to talk to you for those same many, many years we just weren't taught to listen or didn't care to.

In this blog, I hope to teach you powerful lessons that, when understood and applied, could transform:

• the success of your next pregnancy attempt;

• the health of you and your baby currently in the womb; and

• the journey of your daughter, sister or friend who has been struggling with things like fertility, recurrent miscarriages, difficult periods, or babies born weaker than they should be.

Why I Find This Topic To Be Important

Before I began my weight loss business back in 2023, I was running a broader health and wellness practice where I worked with thousands of people for over five years, helping them heal, treat and "reverse" all kinds of health problems.

Inflammatory diseases like diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, growths and tumours, high cholesterol and fatty liver disease.

Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, eczema, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes.

Degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Reproductive health problems such as infertility in both men and women, severe hormonal imbalance, frequent recurring miscarriages, fibroids, PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), endometriosis and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

Almost any health problem out there — as some of you who have been with me for many years might already know — I worked with.

And one thing that always surprised me is how common those severe health challenges are and how many people live with problems that drastically reduce quality of life. I saw, probably in out of every a hundred women, that:

• almost, if not all, of them were suffering from some form of hormonal imbalance and inflammation,

• More than half had it manifest into, or were on the onset of it manifesting as, life-threatening growths, tumours or swollen glands such as thyroid enlargement, fibroids, ovarian cysts or PCOS (and other similar issues).

• At least 30% were struggling with some form of infertility: inability to conceive (sometimes due to poor health of their male partner), miscarriages, premature births, stillbirths, and babies born weak or with avoidable problems. (This last group pushes the figures higher by at least 30 more.)

And here’s the worst yet most hopeful part: nearly all of them had signs of the above being about to happen right from their teenage years — through their periods, their skin, their cravings, their energy levels.

So if you’re a mother, a mother-to-be, thinking of becoming a mother later, or even a father-to-be, keep reading. As scary as this may sound, it’s the context that makes the rest of this blog make sense.

1. Did You Know that Almost All Physical & Mental Disorders in Newborns Can Be Prevented?

Research has shown that many conditions found in newborns — whether health conditions such as certain heart defects, developmental or learning difficulties, epilepsy, or even a child just being slow in class — and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, club foot, cleft lip and palate, limb deformities, or neural tube defects — can, in many cases, have their risk drastically reduced.

Not only before and during pregnancy — but many, many years before you even conceive. Right from puberty onwards.

Now, to be clear: not every single condition can be prevented — life is more complex than that. But the chances of many of these problems can be made much lower when we take care of certain basics early enough.

Inbreeding — or reproducing between close relatives — is another common cause of congenital disorders/conditions. This is because inbreeding significantly increases the risk of congenital and recessive genetic disorders, since closely related individuals are more likely to share the same harmful recessive genes. In simple terms, “science science”, almost like a failsafe by God.

Inbreeding

Inbreeding — reproduction between close relatives — is a well-known risk factor for genetic disorders. Every person carries some “silent” genetic variants that usually don’t cause problems. But when both parents carry the same harmful variant, their child has a much higher chance of inheriting two copies, which can lead to congenital or recessive genetic conditions.

Why does this happen? Most harmful genetic variants are recessive, meaning they only cause an issue when paired with another copy of the same variant. Close relatives are more likely to share these variants inherited from a common ancestor. This increases the likelihood that a child will inherit two copies and express the condition — a process called homozygosity.

The bottom line: In addition to individual disorders, repeated inbreeding can lead to a general decline in health, fertility, and survival in a population, known as inbreeding depression.

That’s why many cultures discourage close-relative marriage — it isn’t just about tradition; it has a clear biological and genetic basis.

Beyond in-breeding/genetics, many congenital conditions have roots in the mother’s long-term nutrition, inflammation and hormonal balance — not just what she ate when the pregnancy test turned positive, but how her body has been fed and treated for years.

Repeat after me… prevention starts long before the pregnancy test.

2. “Your Child is what YOU have, or have not, been putting into your body!”

Most parents already know the common instructions:

“Don’t drink.”

“Don’t smoke.”

“Don’t take that medication.”

While those things matter, they only teach you what not to do. They don’t teach you how the baby is actually built.

A baby in the womb (foetus) has one source of nutrition: the mother.

The building blocks that form the nervous system, circulatory system, digestive system, eyes, brain — everything — can only reach the baby through the mother.

Your body is the manufacturing plant. Your womb is the assembly section.

If the plant has been under-supplied for years — worn machines, missing parts, poor materials — then even throwing in all the right materials at the last minute won’t produce the strongest result.

It is as simple as that.

And the “product” is your child.

“Your Child is what YOU have, or have not, been putting into your body!” “…been…” being the operational word.

A growing baby depends on a steady supply of good materials, such as, but not limited to: enough protein, good quality fats (especially omega-3s), iron, iodine, calcium, vitamin D and B-vitamins like folate, before and early in pregnancy.

If these are missing or very low for years, the factory — your body — struggles. It may still try to produce, but things may not form as strongly as they could.

So, assuming that your body as a woman has been created for the great purpose of creating, containing and delivering life, it should have systems in place to ensure that happens well, right?

Well, so what does your body try to do when it doesn’t get all the necessary materials and conditions to allow the mother’s body to properly prepare, to carry the baby full term or to enable the baby to properly develop?

It warns you through…

3. Cravings! What are They?

Cravings are famous.

They are casually talked about everywhere: in every household, women’s group and you probably have said that you crave something at least 5 times this week alone.

This becomes even more common and “severe” during women’s periods, pregnancies, and the post-natal recovery period when they’re breastfeeding.

It is so common, it is taught as a “normal” part of gestation, menstruation and the post-partum experience in schools and hospitals.

But I’d like you to think with me for a second.

What exactly are cravings? And why are they usually all so specific?

Just like a house is built from stone, cement, sand and paint, etc, your body is built from materials found in food called “nutrients”.

When a wall chips, you buy paint; when a pipe breaks, you call the plumber and replace the pipe.

Your body works the same way: repairs, maintenance and growth are supported by the new "materials" you give it through food.

If you keep applying the wrong paint on the chipped wall paint or repair the wall with cheap bricks, the house will show it, and you are likely to get another call from your fundi.

That is the same way your body calls you over and over, even when you eat a lot, for example, when you're pregnant.

So the body talks to you about those missing materials.

Now bring in the “call” analogy: your body communicates mainly through appetite and, in more urgent cases, cravings.

So when your body calls — through that nagging appetite, through those constant cravings that never seem to have a solution — it’s saying “I need resources. I need materials.”

Wouldn’t it also mean that your body needs resources to repair something, or—in pregnancy—to maintain the mother’s body and give the baby what it needs for the full nine months?

Or how else does the body get what it needs to grow, repair dead or worn-out cells, maintain itself, etc.?

Is it not through food?

So again: what happens when you only give it bad materials — junk food and empty calories?

Will it stop calling? Or will it keep calling, again and again, hoping this time you’ll give the right materials it needs to maintain itself and allow the baby inside the womb to grow?

Cravings Are Your Body’s Emergency Calls. Appetite and hunger are your body’s regular reminders for nutrients — cravings are the alarms.

But what if I told you that cravings aren’t random — they’re alarms? If your body craves specific foods, it’s signalling a deficiency or imbalance. For instance:

• “Hey, I need you to eat that milk or beans for calcium — or the baby’s bones won’t form properly.”

• “I need fish or nuts — I’m missing essential Omega-3s for the baby’s brain development.”

• etc

When these calls are ignored or only partially met or met with low-nutrient foods like junk, the body prioritises survival — often sacrificing cognitive or motor development in the baby.

Every craving, then, is an emergency message — the body’s last resort at getting what it or the baby needs.

Do you realise how, when it doesn't get the right materials to keep you and the baby healthy for the nine months, it might opt to stop the process — which might lead to miscarriage or stillbirth?

Do you see how if this goes on for too long, alongside other things harming the body because of an unhealthy lifestyle, that it might forsake the idea of having a baby altogether — leading to infertility?

Do you see how this, happening over and over, without the root problems, some of which we’ve highlighted in this blog, being taken care of, that if your body decides to continue the sacrifice and carry the child to term, this can also contribute, sometimes sadly, to the mother’s death during childbirth?

Worldwide, tens of thousands of women still lose their lives in pregnancy or childbirth every year

Worldwide, tens of thousands of women still lose their lives in pregnancy or childbirth every year — not because pregnancy has to be dangerous, but because of the strain that severe complications place on a body already drained of necessary materials and resources.

According to global health estimates, complications like severe bleeding (haemorrhage) and very high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia/eclampsia) — both of which are strongly influenced by long-term nutritional status, inflammation, hormonal balance and overall bodily resilience — remain among the leading causes of maternal death.

Other causes such as infections and obstructed labour are also listed in global statistics, largely reflecting gaps in emergency care, sanitation, skilled birth attendance and health systems, rather than nutrition and overall wellness alone.

Globally, an estimated over 260,000 women died in 2023 from pregnancy-related causes — roughly equivalent to one woman every two minutes. This figure reflects overall maternal vulnerability, not isolated events. (pmnch-who)

And here in Kenya, maternal mortality remains tragically high. Kenya’s maternal mortality ratio is around 355 deaths per 100,000 live births, which translates to about 16 women dying every single day from pregnancy-related complications. While access to care plays a role, underlying health, long-term nutritional depletion and chronic inflammation significantly increase risk when complications arise.

This is not meant to frighten you but to inform you.

When your body has been slowly depleted for years, the "stress" of pregnancy compounds problems that could have been avoided long before conception.

And when the strain becomes too great, the consequences can be devastating — not only for the baby, but for the mother too.

This is why the body "calls" and tries to "talk to you" years in advance, as I have been trying to teach you in this blog.

Hard to digest if you've gone through any of the below:

• Constant miscarriages,

• Pregnancies that you were not able to carry to term,

• Many years of unsuccessful attempts at getting pregnant and even getting to the desperate point of considering IVF or surrogacy,

• Have lost someone to maternal mortality.

But now at least, in the slightest form of relief, not only do you now know what has been going on, you have a chance at doing something about it without the "system" taking advantage of you through countless procedures, medication or "interventions".

If this realisation brings up guilt or self-blame, please pause and understand that nothing here means you caused this but rather educates you on how you can give yourself more power and confidence in your body, and life — in a way.

And if you have yet to experience the above, you can steer clear, or if you experienced the above but you’re past those years, maybe this could be a saviour to your daughter, friend or younger sister.

Here's the beautiful thing about all this though: like I said at the start of this blog, your body has been warning you for many, many years. And it has been doing so, through your periods!

4. Your Periods Have Always Been Trying to Tell You Something

Most women hate going through their periods: the cramping, the nausea, the dizziness, the headaches…the cravings.

But when it misses, hehe, that’s another story — unless of course you had planned for the pregnancy.

Periods are not just a monthly inconvenience; they’re a health report card.

Periods Should Be A Woman’s Beacon of Health — At Least In My Opinion

Let me “bore” you with a little science so that, as a woman, you may understand your body a bit better.

Take a moment to think of what periods really are: Your body every month prepares itself for the possibility of creating a new life.

That in itself is a big thought to process. “…creating a new life. 🤔” — even if we stop there, that is already something thought-provoking that you could sit with.

And this involves everything: a shift in body chemicals, physical changes, emotional and psychological changes, energy changes, even how you sleep and relate socially — you find you become more isolated and prefer staying indoors with a warm drink and a snack.

So after the ovum came and didn’t meet any (viable) sperm to fuse with, and it’s been two or so weeks since that point, your body — which has prepared the uterine walls by thickening them for the new baby — now has to remove all that to recover, get back to “normal”, before preparing again to be in "perfect" health and state for the next maybe-baby. (That rhymed well.)

The endometrium is the innermost lining of the uterus, a dynamic tissue that thickens each month in preparation for a potential pregnancy by developing rich blood vessels and glands; if pregnancy doesn't occur, this lining sheds as a menstrual period, but if a fertilized egg implants, it provides a nurturing environment for the embryo.

Periods occur when, after ovulation, the ovum that was produced was not able to be fertilised.

Because of this, you are going to need nutrients so that your body can repair the damaged uterine walls and compensate for the blood loss.

When you don’t have enough resources because of your ongoing diet, your body will start making the calls we've talked about in the previous topic about a week before your period, asking you to replenish and stock up sufficiently.

And when this call is ignored, or responded to by providing low-nutrition foods like junk food, the calls get more frequent — and eventually, when it doesn’t have enough, you feel or see the result of that in the fatigue, dizziness, cramps and the cravings which are the proverbial “calls” I have been using.

Do you see through this analogy that the symptoms you have been made to see as “normal” maybe shouldn’t be that normalised, given what they mean? And do you see now how they can all be treated, or at least be reduced to be more manageable?

Each month, your body prepares for the possibility of new life — building, nourishing, and then shedding that preparation if conception doesn’t happen.

That entire process requires immense nutrient and hormonal balance.

When your periods come with extreme fatigue, mood swings, cravings, or pain — that’s not “just how it is.”

It’s your body saying, “We’re not okay. We're not ready enough”

So as you can see… periods are a beacon to women’s overall health.

So if this process of preparing for a possible pregnancy takes a toll on your body and is extremely difficult to go through, what are the chances of your body going through the full 9 months of pregnancy successfully?

Scary, right?

Hehe.

But like I said earlier, I’m not sharing this to scare you — I’m sharing it to teach you, and therefore empower you with knowledge that could help you.And if not you — your neighbour, your friend, your sister, your daughter…

So what should you do as a woman to spare yourself the pain — and sometimes the shame — of repeated failed pregnancy attempts, miscarriages, stillbirths, or the need to turn to interventions like IVF or surrogacy?

5. Build a Healthy Lifestyle Before You Need One

The less spoken-about impact of pregnancy on women’s bodies

Persistent back pain.

A body that struggles to “rebound”.

Baby fat that doesn’t go away.

Constant headaches.

Post-partum depression.

Memory issues.

Fatigue.

Joint pain.

General body weakness.

These are some of the most common experiences women report after pregnancy — even when they carried to term successfully.

Given everything we’ve discussed so far, you can probably already see why.

Your body is expected to conceive a baby, develop the baby, and nourish the baby for nine months straight through the placenta.

All of this is built from nutrients — from food.

Your body must take enough for itself and have enough left over for the baby. But when a woman’s diet has been poor for most of her life, her body has been signalling that imbalance long before pregnancy ever entered the picture — through fatigue, severe cramps, drastic mood changes, headaches, sugar cravings, salt cravings, irregular cycles, and intense hunger around her period.

When pregnancy attempts begin in a body that is already depleted — struggling to meet its own needs due to long-standing nutritional gaps and hormonal imbalance — simply “eating more” of the same before-pregnancy, low-nutrient diet, during pregnancy, is not remotely the solution.

In those cases, the mother’s body is forced to sacrifice.

It pulls from its own reserves. It denies itself nutrients. It gives to the baby even when the cost is high.

And when that cost becomes too much — when the body recognises that continuing would drain the mother beyond what is safe, or that the baby still would not receive enough — the body may choose to end the pregnancy altogether.

This is not punishment. This is survival logic.

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By the way — did you know about fetal-maternal microchimerism?

Fetal-maternal microchimerism

Fetal-maternal microchimerism is a fascinating biological process where, during pregnancy, a small number of cells pass between a mother and her baby. The placenta isn’t a sealed barrier — it allows deep communication so the pregnancy can grow, adapt, and survive.

Some of the baby’s cells remain in the mother’s body, and some of the mother’s cells remain in the baby — sometimes for decades.

It is believed that this exchange supports immune tolerance, tissue repair, and long-term survival for both.

What many people don’t realise is that this exchange begins very early in pregnancy — often within the first weeks.

Which means that even in cases of miscarriage or stillbirth, this biological connection may still have taken place.

Long after the pregnancy ends, these cells can still be found in organs like the brain, heart, and skin — a quiet, microscopic reminder that pregnancy creates a lasting biological connection, not a temporary one.

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Now imagine this instead.

Imagine what it would look like if your body already had what it needed long before pregnancy.

If, during your periods, you could clearly see that your body is well-resourced — less extreme fatigue, fewer intense cravings, more stable moods, less pain — not because you’re “lucky,” but because your body isn’t constantly trying to compensate for long-term nutritional gaps.

If you’ve still managed to get pregnant despite years of struggle, cravings, hormonal imbalance, or depletion — can you imagine how different that experience would be if your body wasn’t forced to sacrifice so much?

Imagine a pregnancy where your body doesn’t have to rob itself to support a growing baby.

Where it doesn’t have to choose between keeping you alive and sustaining a pregnancy. Where nourishment is sufficient for both.

Imagine how healthy and strong your baby would be at birth.

Imagine how much easier recovery would feel afterwards. How quickly your body, health and weight will bounce back.

Imagine how many of the painful, exhausting symptoms women are warned to “expect” after childbirth simply wouldn’t apply to you — not because you’re superhuman, but because your body wasn’t drained to begin with.

Imagine experiencing your femininity and strength fully — before, during, and after pregnancy.

Imagine how sharp your child’s development could be.

How resilient their health might be.

How well their skin, immunity, and overall vitality could reflect the environment they were built in.

And imagine you — as the mother — remaining youthful, strong, and yes, “tight” (hehe), even after pregnancy, because your body was supported rather than depleted.

Do you see this?

Doesn’t that feel like something worth working toward — not only for pregnancy, but for your body, your future, and even the women and girls around you?

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With all of this in mind, it’s worth stepping back and seeing the bigger picture.

Final Thoughts

What this all comes back to is simple, even if it hasn’t been treated that way.

Your body is not random. It is not failing you without reason. It is responding — faithfully — to what it has been given, and to what it has been deprived of, over time.

Periods, cravings, fertility struggles, pregnancy outcomes, recovery after birth — these are not disconnected events. They are part of one continuous story your body has been telling since adolescence.

The earlier you listen, the more gently that story unfolds.

When nourishment is built long before it is demanded, the body does not need to panic, compensate, or sacrifice itself to survive pregnancy. It can support life without breaking itself down in the process.

This is not about fear. It is about foresight. Not about perfection — but preparation. Not about fixing something that is “wrong” with you — but finally giving your body what it has been asking for all along.

And when that foundation is in place, everything else changes — quietly, steadily, and powerfully.

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So you see. Your body has been speaking to you all along — through periods, cravings and the strain that shows up long before a pregnancy test ever does.

I pray this blog has not only made you aware but has given you hope and taught you to listen to your own body.

In doing so, you can build a good relationship with yourself — not only in the spiritual sense, but in the literal sense of you and your body — so that you, and the women around you, can experience pregnancies becoming safer, babies growing stronger, recoveries happening quicker, and women remaining healthier long after birth.

“This even applies into the later years: a well-nourished life means a gentler, more comfortable menopause — a body that ‘closes up shop’ slowly and kindly, without brutal symptoms.”

Common menopause symptoms that good long-term nourishment can reduce include hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, mood swings and anxiety, vaginal dryness and discomfort, bone loss/osteoporosis, joint pain, and memory lapses.

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As this blog has informed and inspired you, start small and simple.

Pay attention to the signals — periods, cravings, energy.

Take time to learn how to care for your body naturally, without chasing miracle drinks, trendy “experiences”, or vague ideas of “self-care.”

The small, useful changes you make now — even what you choose for your next snack — will lead to long-lasting habits.

Those habits build the foundation for a healthy you and a healthy baby, for easier recovery after birth, and for wellbeing that carries into your menopause years and beyond.

This can include many things — addressing alcoholism, substance use, inactivity, or mental and emotional health — but fixing your food is one of the simplest, fastest and most powerful steps you can take.

It doesn’t need expensive programmes or long interventions; it can begin even with what you choose to be your next meal!

Start there, and the rest will compound. When your diet improves, your body feels lighter, you feel better about yourself, choices become easier, and other areas of life naturally improve — including your mental health.

I majored in weight loss because most people with health problems only look for help when they’re desperate — but being overweight gets far more people to try to get healthy than any other single motivator. That moment of willingness is an opening: a chance to support deeper, systemic change. So I chose weight-loss work as the doorway through which I could help people repair their health, not just their weight.

If you need my help, practical and sustainable diets are what I am all about — you can start here.

Remember: aim to build a healthy lifestyle before you need one. These quiet investments pay back in health, resilience, and the kind of pregnancies that don’t ask you to sacrifice yourself. If this message reached you, leave a comment below — your voice might be exactly what another reader needs to hear.