Welcome back to The Prenatal Nutrition Library Blog! Did you know that it’s estimated 75% of pregnant women experience some degree of nausea in the first trimester of pregnancy? It’s true! Morning sickness symptoms can start as early as four weeks of pregnancy and peaks at about nine weeks. It can also occur day or night and it does not depend on the time of day. While most moms-to-be start feeling better by their second trimester, some experience nausea throughout their pregnancy.
The cause of morning sickness is unknown. Some experts and theories suggest that hormone changes or low blood sugar could trigger it. Stress, fatigue, or certain foods may also worsen morning sickness. It’s more common and often worse for women expecting multiples.
If you’ve ever experienced nausea during pregnancy, you know first-hand how unpleasant and even debilitating it can be. This takes a toll on your quality of life. Fortunately, natural remedies like drinking certain juices may help reduce and safely manage pregnancy nausea. Today, I’m sharing a round-up of the best fluids pregnant women can drink to combat nausea and treat morning sickness and help when you feel sick.
5 Best Juices For Nausea During Pregnancy
Lemon Juice
For many pregnant people, lemon is a secret weapon for reducing nausea and vomiting. Lemon juice is one way to incorporate lemon during pregnancy. It may also help with hydration by flavoring water in a tolerable way. Doctors and dietitians recommend that pregnant women consume extra daily fluids to stay hydrated. There isn’t a “set recommendation,” but we know fluids should be increased during pregnancy. Some research says expectant mothers should try to consume at least 300 milliliters (about 10-12 ounces) of extra fluid daily.
Adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to water increases its flavor profile, which may make it easier to drink more water throughout the day. Lemons are also a great source of vitamin C, folate, niacin, and fiber.
Lemon scents can also be good for morning sickness. If you’re experiencing intense nausea and having difficulty keeping food down, try smelling a lemon or diffusing a lemon essential oil.
Be aware that excessive consumption of lemon juice can potentially damage your teeth. Lemons are highly acidic. When you consume too much lemon juice, the acidity could erode your teeth. Incorporate lemon juice in moderation and dilute it with water or other beverages to protect your teeth.
Ginger Juice
Ginger is one of the most popular natural remedies for nausea during pregnancy. It works well for some people. Its antiemetic properties may help settle your stomach, improve digestion, and reduce feelings of nausea.
There are several ways to incorporate ginger and fresh ginger into your pregnancy diet. Chewing on whole ginger can be one of the best pregnancy snacks for nausea, but not everyone can handle chewing on a fresh piece of ginger. Instead, you can suck on ginger candies, sip on ginger tea, enjoy ginger snaps, or try other ginger-infused food and drinks like ginger ale. Consuming small amounts of ginger juice or adding a few splashes of ginger juice to water effectively reduces nausea for many expectant mothers.
Add pure ginger juice, like Ginger Juice from The Ginger People, to your pregnancy diet for some relief. You can drink it straight as a “wellness shot” or mix a small amount into a variety of pregnancy-safe beverages like sparkling water, smoothies, or even a homemade popsicle recipe.
Watermelon Juice
Not only does watermelon have a super high water content (92%), but it also boasts a long list of nutritional benefits for pregnant women. Watermelon is loaded with vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium, and some magnesium. Not to mention, it’s delicious!
Pure watermelon juice has similar benefits, minus the fiber. It’s an excellent option for pregnant women with morning sickness. Not only is it easy to digest, watermelon juice is a great way to stay hydrated and can help keep nausea at bay.
Evolution Fresh Mighty Watermelon is a great watermelon juice drink on the market. It contains only two ingredients: cold-pressed watermelon and lemon juice. Mela Water is another popular natural watermelon juice drink that may help relieve nausea and other common pregnancy symptoms. It’s made from watermelon and ginger juice– two effective natural nausea remedies.
Remember, this does provide a significant amount of carbohydrates and naturally occurring sugar. Diluting juice in water or adding a splash to sparkling water can be an excellent route if choosing to drink watermelon juice. Additionally, if sipping on a bit of juice helps to relieve nausea, try eating something more substantial with protein before, ideally, to keep blood sugar levels well-managed.
Grapefruit Juice
Grapefruit juice is another excellent juice to help control morning sickness. It has a sweet-sour taste that may help to prevent or reduce waves of nausea during pregnancy. Additionally, like watermelon, grapefruit is high in vitamin C and has a high water content (91%) that can help you stay hydrated.
Lakewood Pure Pink Grapefruit Juice is 100% organic and pasteurized grapefruit juice. Try adding a few splashes to your cup of water in the morning to help prevent or reduce nausea. You can also try blending it into a smoothie, like one of the tasty ones in my cookbook or the smoothie guide found inside The Prenatal Nutrition Library (TPNL)!
Orange Juice
Enjoying a glass of orange juice in the morning isn’t uncommon. For pregnant women, doing so may be a tool for alleviating nausea and morning sickness. There isn’t any scientific evidence to support orange juice as a remedy for nausea, but countless current and former expectant mothers swear by it. Orange juice is packed with powerful antioxidants, vitamin C, and potassium.
Drinking orange juice is an easy way to reap the benefits of oranges, but if you can tolerate eating a whole orange, this would be an even better choice. Evolution Fresh Organic Pure Orange is a great option because it’s organic, pasteurized, 100% cold-pressed orange juice with no added ingredients. Whichever juice you choose, picking a choice free from added sugar would be ideal.
Cranberry Juice
Cranberries are a small, red fruit characterized by their tangy flavor. We often consume them as juice or dried (try them in a salad!) or as sauce during autumn and winter holidays.
Prevention against and treatment of UTIs is one of the most well-known uses of cranberries. In a few studies with pregnant women, the results showed promise that cranberry supplementation could reduce the instances of UTIs. In these studies, women had to take cranberry capsules twice daily or drink cranberry juice 3 times daily.
Though the research is still mixed, cranberry consumption is considered safe, even during pregnancy.
Kale Juice
Kale is a cruciferous vegetable in good company, with broccoli, cauliflower, and arugula, to name a few. It comes in several varieties and contains antioxidants, fiber, vitamins A, C, K, and B-6, folate, beta-carotene, and other minerals. Kale juice includes all these nutrients minus the fiber content, so it is an excellent choice for pregnancy.
Ensure your kale is thoroughly washed before you juice it, and if you want the fiber to keep things moving, use kale in a smoothie instead!
Spinach Juice
Spinach is widely known and touted for its health benefits and as one of the original “superfoods.” Spinach is versatile and doesn’t have to be eaten in salad or cooked as a plain side dish. You can blend it into smoothies, grind it into a pesto, or even juice it!
Like kale, spinach is an excellent source of folate, fiber, vitamins C, K, and A, antioxidants, and more. The juice of spinach has all these nutrients again, minus fiber. Spinach or kale are both excellent additions to juice if you love it!
Lime Juice
Because it is a citrus fruit, limes contain a good amount of vitamin C and several vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins, niacin, and folate. Lime is very similar to lemon, as you can imagine. It is great to squeeze into your water or cut into slices and add to a pitcher with water to infuse lime flavor.
Limes are highly acidic. Like lemon juice, be aware that excessive consumption of lime juice can potentially damage your teeth. The acidity could erode your teeth when you consume too much lime juice. Incorporate lime juice in moderation and simply add it to water or other beverages like smoothies to protect your teeth.
Celery Juice
Eating whole celery versus drinking it is different nutritionally. Juicing celery requires much more celery than you could eat raw in one sitting with your favorite veggie dip.
A 16-ounce glass of celery juice usually contains around 9 stalks, although you can use less to sip a little green juice or if it is a blended green juice.
Due to using a much larger quantity of celery in juice creation, the nutrients you obtain are higher, which appeals to women trying to increase their nutrient intake during pregnancy. Compared to fruit juice, celery juice is also much lower in sugar, which adds to its benefits. The two downsides are the lack of fiber content and food safety concerns, which are true for all juiced produce.
These juices may help to relieve pregnancy-induced nausea and morning sickness.
If you’re part of the large majority of pregnant women experiencing morning sickness in the first trimester or other side effects, hang in there and know you don’t have to eat bland foods forever. There are many things we can try to reduce feelings of nausea. Juice is one of those options that may provide some much-needed relief when protein rich foods don’t sound good. These five juices are touted for their ability to help curb nausea, even when it feels like there’s no relief in sight.
For more ways that food and drinks can help during every step of your pregnancy journey, sign up for The Prenatal Nutrition Library (TPNL). We offer tips and strategies to combat and manage common pregnancy symptoms like nausea, aversions, and heartburn inside TPNL. For a sneak peek at what our meal plans look like, grab my FREE 1-week meal plan for pregnancy! You can also check out my blog for more valuable info on supporting your pregnancy with proper nutrition. See you there!
