| Although it is many a woman's life dream to have | | | | bad effects on you and the unborn baby. |
| her own children (which is only possible after | | | | 2. Aim for a steady rather than a rapid gain of |
| submitting to a period of pregnancy); there is no | | | | weight during your pregnancy. While some |
| denying that the pregnancy through which the | | | | considerable degree of weight gain is inevitable |
| dream to have one's own babies can come true | | | | during pregnancy, it is within your power as a |
| comes with a number of off-putting things. | | | | woman to control the pattern that the weight |
| Take the weight gain (and resultant stretch | | | | gain takes place in. If you gain weight too rapidly, |
| marks) that every one who gets pregnancy has | | | | it is inevitable that you will find yourself struggling |
| to deal with, and you see just how off-putting the | | | | with stretch marks later. |
| idea of pregnancy can be to the image conscious | | | | 3. Increase your water intake. Increasing your |
| woman. But while there is really no way to avoid | | | | water intake will do wonders on your skin's |
| the weight gain that has to accompany every | | | | elasticity, which could keep you out of stretch |
| pregnancy, there is plenty that one can do to | | | | marks' way, while also doing you and your |
| keep herself from falling into stretch mark's way. | | | | expected baby a lot of good in many other ways. |
| Out of the considerable body of literature offering | | | | 4. Keep fit. Engaging in exercises (of course with |
| information on how to stay away from stretch | | | | your doctor's blessings) during the course of your |
| marks' way, we have culled these simple tips to | | | | pregnancy could also help enhance your skins |
| help every expectant mother steer clear of them. | | | | elasticity (and tone, one might add), which will go |
| 1. Be conscious about your food choices during | | | | a long way towards keeping you out of stretch |
| your pregnancy. While there are surely those | | | | marks way. |
| cravings that come with pregnancy, you don't | | | | 5. Consider going for the increasingly popular |
| have to yield to them every time, because doing | | | | pre-natal massages. These have been noted to |
| so could leave you with a huge mess to deal with | | | | work wonders on blood circulation in the body, |
| after the young one is born. Foods that are rich in | | | | which is important to everyone looking to steer |
| Vitamin A, for instance, have been known to be | | | | clear of stretch mark's ways; because poor |
| major culprits in inducing stretch marks, which | | | | circulation is one of the factors behind the |
| means that you should avoid over-indulging in | | | | formation of the stretch marks. |
| them, and instead opt for foods that are rich in | | | | 6. Consider making use of a stretch mark cream. |
| vitamin C, Vitamin A and the mineral zinc, as | | | | If you decide to go this route, though, you need |
| these have been shown to help in keeping stretch | | | | to be extra careful about your choice of stretch |
| marks away. Take note, though, that reducing | | | | mark creams, as quite a number of them may |
| intake of foods rich in Vitamin A does not mean | | | | contain substances that are not safe for |
| avoiding them altogether, as this could have very | | | | expectant mothers and their young ones. |