When I was pregnant I was very eager to learn more about no-drug anti-nausea remedies as I needed it sooner than later. Because I like to get to the bottom of things I researched the whole web for the best natural vegan remedies for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. This article goes into the best tested natural vegan remedies to deal with morning sickness and vomiting during pregnancy. Been there done that.
There are multiple natural vegan ways to deal with nausea and vomiting during your vegan pregnancy. I tested different natural remedies and found that using ginger in whatever form works best. Secondly I used sea-bands to deal with nausea. Sea-bands are bracelets that push on acupressure points on your wrists. Thirdly I went outside everyday to release stress and to breathe in fresh air and the probiotic properties of ferns. Fourthly I skipped saturated fat out of my diet And at last when my nausea was still there from time to time, I made sure I ate as much bananas as possible.
Do you want more breakfast ideas when you’re dealing with morning sickness? I’ve written a whole article about my best tested breakfasts during morning sickness that you can read here.
Read the article below to learn more about my best natural vegan remedies for dealing with morning sickness.
1. Pregnant, Nauseous and Vomiting? Banana: Your New Best Friend
Back in the days when I was working in the navy, I used to sail on different ships. And if there is one thing I learned, it was that I was seasick every first day on board which would only last for a day. Although I knew I was lucky because I only had to deal with it for one day, the first day, it is definitely not a nice thing to experience. When nausea kicks in there is no way back.
So I have had a whole experience on how to deal with being nauseous and still be able to work. And with me there were many people who had to deal with it on board. And the one thing that was – always – offered on board were bananas. Bananas were known to help with nausea during seasickness. So everyone who had to deal with seasickness ate bananas.
For some people of course nausea didn’t go away with eating bananas and they still had to vomit. And that’s another reason why you should eat bananas when your nauseous and vomiting: when you are vomiting bananas it is actually less bad to experience. The terrible taste and experience of vomiting lessens when you ate bananas before! What goes in comes out right? And it is much better that what goes out is sweet, has a nice texture and doesn’t taste or smell too bad.
Bananas are sweet and loaded with good healthy vitamins, minerals and fiber. When you’re nauseous you probably won’t eat a whole lot, so eating bananas as much as your stomach can hold is always a good thing.
Bananas stimulate the production of mucus from the stomach lining. This mucus acts as a barrier between the stomach lining and the acidic gastric substances that caused an upset stomach or heartburn.
2. Take Your Ginger and Take It Like This
We’ve all heard about this one right? Drink ginger tea, eat ginger, take ginger capsules or chew on ginger sweets.
But it’s not just another “let’s try and see if it works”. Research has actually found that ginger is effective for pregnancy induced nausea and vomiting. There is no research done yet on what the maximum dosage should be, but it is a safe remedy to use during pregnancy.
Research suggest that the ideal dosage would be 1 gram of ginger for pregnancy induced nausea and vomiting (about half a teaspoon). This could be taken in de form of:
How should you take ginger?
- 1 tsp (5gr) of freshly grated ginger rhizome.
- 2 tsp (10 ml) of ginger syrup.
- 2 ml ginger liquid extract.
- 1 cup (237 ml) of ginger ale (made with real ginger).
- 2 pieces of crystallised ginger, each 1 inch square, 1/4 inch thick.
- 4 cups (237 ml each) of prepackaged ginger tea.
- 4 cups (237 ml each) of fresh ginger tea (prepared by infusing 1/2 tsp of freshly grated ginger in hot water for 5-10 min).
3. Sea-Band Anti-Nausea Bracelet
Back in the days when I was in the navy, there were a lot of people getting seasick all the time. No matter how rough the sea was, some people were always seasick for a period of time. For me it was always only the first day on board. But still that one day was too much nausea for me to be able to still work. One day I met a co-worker who was wearing so-called sea-bands and he sweared by it.
Sea-bands are bracelets you wear on your wrist with a hard ball in the middle that should be worn at the inside of your wrist. On the inside of your wrist there is a so-called acupressure point.
This pressure point P-6 is also called Neiguan. If you do acupressure on this point it can help with nausea and prevent vomiting. If you wear a sea-band, the ball in the middle of the bracelet pushes at the P-6 acupressure point.
But I was very hesitant to use my anti-nausea sea-bands during pregnancy. So I researched the use of sea-bands during pregnancy and it became very clear that there is nothing to worry about the use of anti-nausea bracelets during pregnancy.
And so did my sea-bands become my best friend during the first trimester. I vomited zero times, and my nauseous periods lessened when I was wearing my special bracelets during my first trimester.
How do you find this acupressure point P-6? Look at the picture below to find out!
Tip: if you want to avoid people asking what kind of ‘bands’ you are wearing on your wrists, wear long sleeves. Some women want to wait weeks or months with telling the good news of their pregnancy, and wearing your sea-bands out in the open could lead to people asking questions you don’t want to answer just yet.
4. Skip Saturated Fat and Meat
Saturated fats and meat might be a big contributor for pregnancy induced nausea and vomiting. Population groups that rely on grains and fruit as their staples report little or no nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, according to research.
Avoidance of fatty foods and meat is what causes little or no nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The lowest rate of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is reported in India where 35% women suffer from pregnancy induced nausea or vomiting, compared to 89% in the United States. What a difference!
So what you can do is skip all saturated fats out of your diet. Skip meat out of your diet if you’re not already vegan. Meat contains a lot of saturated fats, and an aversion of meat might be protective for the embryo, according to this research.
But the best strategy is to avoid saturated fats before you get pregnant. Research has found that a pre-pregnancy diet low in saturated fat is associated with little or no nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. A pre-pegnancy diet with a high daily fat intake was associated with an increased risk of severe hyperemesis gravidarum (excessive vomiting during pregnancy).
Saturated fats can be found in cakes, cookies, ice-cream, fries, donuts, croissants and the like. If you don’t feel confident to get out fats in whatever form out of your diet, please consult a dietitian to discuss how to do this properly.
Do you want a recipe that contains no saturated fats? Read my recipe article about Cool Vegan Quinoa Salad.
5. Go Outside and Get Sky-Time
This is always a good idea, the more you are outside the better air you breathe in. And everything in your body works on oxygen. But it is especially a good idea when you’re pregnant.
Fresh air contains more oxygen than air inside an average home. All cells in your body need oxygen to do their jobs. And when creating a baby, your body is busy day and night to make cells, form organs, and make bones, skin and blood. Why not sustain this important task with extra good oxygen?
Going outside during pregnancy is always a good idea, but especially when you’re dealing with nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. You might want to lay on the couch, or be in bed all day, maybe you’re even vomiting and cannot hold food for long.
Especially when we feel off and nauseous, sky-time (time outside) is the first to be dropped. We don’t want to go outside, I didn’t want to go outside. And if we are outside, we don’t want to walk that extra bloc to a park or a near forest. But remember the more sky-time you have the better it is for your body and growing baby.
Going outside and being in nature is associated with lessened stress-levels. Maybe you’re very nauseous and your body tells you to slow down. In that case slow down! But don’t throw sky-time overboard, take someone with you, go walk your dog, or listen to an audio book to get your focus off of being nauseous. Your body and baby will thank you for it!