Note: the following article is adapted from our book Eat Your Prenatal, coming to Amazon soon. Eat Your Prenatal is our full guide to whole-food, ancestral nutrition for pregnancy. It is the book our entire Aligned Motherhood Substack publication is built on. Be sure to join the waitlist to be the first to know when the hardcover is available.
Pregnancy nausea is very real, very miserable, and we wish it didn’t exist. For a lot of women it’s one of the most physically and emotionally brutal parts of early (or all of) pregnancy.
But let's get one thing straight: feeling like garbage does not mean you get to stop caring.
I know that's not what you want to hear at 9am with your head over a toilet after a saltine betrayed you.
Here’s the problem we have. Our bone to pick with society, conventional pregnancy care, and OBGYNs telling you what to eat (while having ZERO nutrition training) is…
That you've been told it's okay to survive on crackers and despair for nine months, like nausea cancels out what your body and your baby actually need. No one talks about how eating even a little better, even on the worst days, can be the difference between just surviving pregnancy and actually feeling a little more -like yourself again.
We want to be clear: feeling sick in pregnancy, living in survival mode, and going to fast food restaurants because you’ve been told to "just eat what you can keep down" isn’t your fault.
“Just get through it” became the entire medical system’s advice for morning sickness. But knowing better means you get to do something with it, because your health and your baby's health still matters. And we passionately believe you deserve better advice than "good luck." Nausea is not a free pass to eat like a dumpster and fill your body with suboptimal foods.
There are a lot of things worth knowing that most conventional prenatal care will never mention, and we have a major hot take and passionate opinion when it comes to the choices you make while feeling sick. Keep reading if you want to learn more about how to support your pregnancy nausea, better food swaps, and safe food lists.
The first thing your doctor will never tell you: the foundation for pregnancy nausea is built before conception
Morning sickness is most closely tied to GDF15 (Growth Differentiation Factor 15), a hormone produced by the placenta in early pregnancy. Research out of USC and Cambridge found that the higher a woman’s GDF15 rises in early pregnancy, the more severe her nausea tends to be. For women whose GDF15 was lower before pregnancy seem to be the most susceptible to that dramatic spike. In other words, your body’s hormonal and nutritional environment going into pregnancy directly shapes how it responds once you’re in it.
This right here is one of the strongest arguments out there for prioritizing mineral balance, blood sugar stability, and hormonal health well before you conceive.
Your man’s sperm contribution matter a lot too. Research from Cornell has found that paternal genes play a dominant role in placental development, meaning sperm quality directly influences how well the placenta forms and functions, including how efficiently it regulates GDF15. Sperm DNA damage, oxidative stress, and poor metabolic health in the father have all been linked to placental development issues that can worsen nausea and vomiting. His diet, sleep, stress, and mineral status matter more than most people realize.
So while you’re working hard to prepare for a healthy pregnancy, don’t let him slack off with energy drinks, fast food, and tons of beer. His participation matters just as much as yours!
Our Roman Empire: Your Prenatal Is Making It Worse
If we had $1 for every time we heard that a prenatal was the actual cause of one of our client’s or follower’s pregnancy nausea, we’d be rich.
And even if a prenatal isn’t the full cause, it may be contributing to your pregnancy nausea without you even knowing.
Most prenatal vitamins cram 20+ synthetic vitamins & minerals into a couple of capsules, several of which compete with each other for absorption. (What could go wrong?!) Add this to all the physical, digestive, and hormonal changes in pregnancy, and you’ve got a real problem on your hands.
Let’s look more closely at a few of the nutrients that are most directly tied to nausea:
Iron supplementation itself in the first trimester has been shown to cause nausea, and most conventional prenatal vitamins have 18–40+ mg of iron, often in poorly-absorbed forms like ferrous sulfate. A study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that discontinuing iron-containing prenatals significantly reduced nausea severity.
Additionally, synthetic B12 and zinc can irritate the gut lining, and zinc is known to cause nausea on an empty stomach.
This is why we are so passionate about a food-first, intentional-supplementation approach instead of blindly relying on a synthetic prenatal. If you’re nauseous on your current prenatal, at least switching to something simpler and iron-free is what we recommend doing immediately (until Eat Your Prenatal comes out and you can follow everything we recommend step-by-step). The prenatal we recommend most is Seeking Health’s Optimal Prenatal.
What Actually Helps
Ginger. The gingerols and shogaols in ginger ease smooth muscle spasms in the gut and calm the nausea response. Ginger tea, real ginger chews, or homemade ginger ale (skip the corn-syrup versions) all work.
Peppermint. Peppermint tea has an antispasmodic effect on the digestive tract. Peppermint essential oil, inhaled straight from the bottle or a diffuser, can stop nausea immediately, so we recommend keeping a small bottle in your bag.
Vitamin B6. One of the most well-researched nutrients for pregnancy nausea. Look for the active form (pyridoxal-5-phosphate) rather than synthetic pyridoxine, so your body doesn’t have to convert it first. We recommend the Vitamin B Complex Enerig+ by LifeBlud. Use code ANNIKA for 10% off.
Magnesium and minerals. Magnesium deficiency contributes directly to nausea and digestive dysfunction, and a lot of women enter pregnancy already deficient. When vomiting or reduced intake causes electrolyte depletion, nausea gets worse. Mineral-rich drinks like coconut water and adrenal cocktails can help.
Progesterone. Progesterone relaxes smooth muscle throughout the body, including the GI tract, which slows digestion and can contribute to that heavy, bloated first-trimester feeling. But the flip side matters more: low or unstable progesterone creates an unstable uterine and placental environment that stresses the body, and nausea is often one of the signals something’s off. For women with significant nausea, especially alongside spotting, cramping, or a history of early loss, supplementing with bioidentical progesterone (with your provider’s support) is worth a conversation.
Whole Food Vitamin C. Associated with reduced nausea in some research, likely through its role in adrenal function and cortisol regulation. Fresh fruit, fresh juice, and a quality whole-food vitamin C supplement (Like Frtil or Perfect Supplement’s Vitamin C) cover this without adding anything synthetic.
Homeopathic Nux Vomica & Ipecacuanha. Two well-known and commonly used homeopathic remedies for nausea with a long history in pregnancy specifically. A qualified homeopath can confirm it's right for your specific picture, but it's widely available and worth having on-hand.
Lemon Water & Lemonade. Just the scent of lemon has been shown to reduce nausea, and one study found inhaling lemon essential oil helped with nausea immediately. Lemon juice stimulates stomach acid and bile flow, which helps with the stagnant, heavy feeling that comes with nausea. Lemon water first thing in the morning, or homemade/high-quality lemonade are great things to have daily.
Herbal tinctures. Liquid tinctures absorb faster than capsules or teas, which helps when you need something stat. WishGarden Morning Sickness Nausea Relief and Earthley Mama’s Tummy Relief are two of our favorites.
As always, check with your provider before adding anything new.
The two most important habits to implement ASAP (that do more than any remedy):
Eat before you get hungry. An empty stomach is one of the best ways to trigger nausea. Keep snacks in your nightstand if needed (Epic Bars, Chomps Sticks, Soley Fruit Bars, etc.) and eat before you even get out of bed. Then, eat every two to three hours like its your job, even when nothing sounds good. Make sure to have a small protein snack before bed to stabilize blood sugar overnight.
Cold foods > hot foods, and minimal cooking. The smell of hot foods one of the biggest nausea triggers in pregnancy. Cold or room-temperature food like fruit, yogurt, cheese, smoothies, cold leftovers, etc. are often much easier to tolerate (see our nausea swaps lists and nausea survival lists at the end of the article).
Nausea Medications & Informed Consent:
Did you get informed consent from your doctor before they just wrote you a prescription for nausea and sent you on your way?
Before you take ANYTHING for nausea, read on. One of the things we are most passionate about is informed consent, and we believe the two most commonly prescribed and recommended medication for nausea come with some serious considerations that deserve way more transparency than they get.
Unisom (Doxylamine). This one is most OBGYNs immediate go-to, often paired with B6. It has a more established safety profile than Zofran, but it’s still worth knowing that doxylamine crosses the placenta. A 2025 report linked it to a fetal arrhythmia that resolved once the medication was stopped. Common side effects include drowsiness, dry mouth, and constipation. It also treats the symptom, not the cause, so nausea will almost always return once you stop.
Zofran (Ondansetron). One of the most commonly prescribed meds for pregnancy nausea and HG, but never FDA-tested or approved for pregnancy (!!!). It was developed for chemo-related nausea and later marketed off-label for morning sickness. A JAMA study of 1.8 million pregnancies linked first-trimester use to a small increased risk of oral clefts, and other research has flagged possible heart defect associations. We highly recommend reading the long and concerning list of potential side-effect here.
More than morning sickness: Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG)
Everything above applies to typical pregnancy sickness which although does suck, is manageable, and usually improves in the second trimester without threatening your health or your baby’s health. HG is something else entirely. Symptoms include relentless vomiting that can cause significant weight loss, dangerous dehydration, nutrient deficiency, depression and mental health issues, and serious complications if untreated. (HG is one of the leading causes of first-trimester hospitalization).
If you can’t keep food or liquid down for more than 24 hours, you’re losing significant weight, you can’t function day to day, or you’re seeing signs of dehydration (such as dark urine, dizziness, rapid heart rate) contact your provider immediately.
The genetic piece. A 2023 study in Nature confirmed GDF15 and sensitivity to it as major drivers of HG, with UCLA researchers identifying a second gene, IGFBP7, also elevated in women with HG. There’s also a growing research around variants like MTHFR, MMR, and MMADHC, and whether some women with HG simply can’t metabolize the synthetic folic acid and cyanocobalamin in standard prenatal supplements, which may be compounding the very problem those supplements are meant to help.
If you’ve experienced HG, especially across more than one pregnancy, it’s worth asking your provider about methylation testing and making sure any B vitamins you take are in active, methylated forms (L-methylfolate and methylcobalamin) rather than synthetic ones. This is yet another reason why we love and recommend the Vitamin B Complex Enerig+ by LifeBlud (use code ANNIKA for 10% off).
IV therapy. For women with HG, IV therapy can be life-changing and we can’t recommend it enough! IV therapy delivers fluids, electrolytes, and nutrients straight into the bloodstream, bypassing a digestive system that can’t currently do its job. Many functional medicine and IV therapy clinics now offer pregnancy-safe hydration protocols. If you’re dealing with HG, please don’t try to push through it alone. Reach out to your provider, ask about IV therapy if you can’t stay hydrated.
Healthier Swaps for Nausea Survival Foods
If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU for taking the time to understand and learn why you may have nausea and pregnancy sickness, and how you can support yourself.
Now, let’s get into what I promised on Instagram. The list of our favorite nausea survival swaps that involve NO cooking, so you don’t have to try to survive the fumes of cooking to get something beneficial into your system.
Here’s our favorite swaps (this page is taken directly from our book, Eat Your Prenatal.)
Lastly, here’s the list of foods our Instagram audience shared with us that they lived off of during peak nausea. These are foods that require minimal preparation, no heating, and are gentle on the digestive system:
Raw cheese
Raw milk
Cottage cheese
Fresh fruit
Watermelon with lime + salt
Acai Bowls
Smoothies
Bone broth rice
Bone broth
Soup
Muffins
Homemade lemonade
Chocoalte milk
Sourdough bread/bagels
Sourdough crackers
Applesauce
Sauerkraut
Potatoes in any form
Homemade popcorn
Popsicles
Eggs
Oatmeal & Overnight Oats
Beef liver supplements
What were your nausea-safe foods? What was your experience with pregnancy nausea? Have you noticed a correlation of taking your prenatal vitamin and feeling nauseous or dizzy? Tell us everything and feel free to ask questions in the comments!
With love,
Emmalee & Annika
This article was edited by AI, but written by the authors of Aligned Motherhood Collective. We write from the heart, but that’s sometimes while breastfeeding, inflating a bouncy house, or contact napping, so typos and run-on sentences are pretty normal. We have AI clean it up but that’s it, just so it’s easier to read for you.
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