Using Food to Recover From Pregnancy and Birth
Did you know that nutrition needs in the early postpartum phase are actually HIGHER than when you are pregnant? Here’s some food ideas and info that can help you recover during your postpartum period.
Healthy fats —Have you heard of mom brain? Our brains are 60% fat, that means to be able to keep your brain functioning well, we need to eat fats. Sometimes, I wonder if we had more healthy fats in our diets, during pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding (or really anytime), would it help a little with the “pregnancy brain” or “mom brain?” Maybe not completely, but maybe enough for us to feel a difference.
Fatty fish || Avocado || Animal Fats || Nuts and seeds || Eggs
Dark Chocolate is also high in fat ;)
Vitamin C — our bodies use more vitamin C when we are stressed, and many parents to a newborn are stressed. So it’s good to increase vitamin C during this time.
Bell Peppers || Kiwi || Pineapple || Mangoes || Tomatoes || Broccoli
Cauliflower || Cabbage || Potatoes
Just to name a few.
Protein-rich soups / Meat based protein — Some cultures have a rule that mom doesn’t eat anything cold for an extended amount of time, because warmth helps healing. I like to think of this when I think of soups for mom. A classic chicken soup (with the bones) is amazing for a postpartum mom. New moms need 1/2g of protein for every pound of weight. For breastfeeding moms it’s even higher, almost 1g per pound! Soups are a great way to incorporate the warmth and the protein together!
Bone broth - This may be my all time favorite. Maybe because it’s so easy to make our own where I live, or maybe because it’s so full of good stuff! It can help with inflammation and is a great source of collagen protein, which helps in wound healing (Hello, postpartum). It also supplies you with calcium, magnesium, iron, omega-3s, omega-6s, and more.
And, it’s simple! If you can manage to sip on some broth, it doesn’t involve cooking. There’s tons of recipes out there for drinking bone broth! You can add in some herbs that promote healing, like ginger, turmeric, basil.
Easy to grab foods — Think cheeses, cottage cheese, toast/bread with natural peanut butter, muffins - (this does require some prep, but there’s a million ways you can go with muffins. Pumpkin is easy to digest, which is important during recovery,) tortilla chips and guacamole, fruits, or boiled eggs. I liked to have some mashed potatoes in the fridge, and eat with some cottage cheese! It was simple and a bit heavier than fruit alone.
Eating the right food in your postpartum experience can help your recovery! No matter how you gave birth, it takes an intense physical toll on your body. If you’re breastfeeding, while breastmilk is jam-packed full of nutrients as-is, what mom eats does matter. Not to say that you shouldn’t have a treat, but breastfeeding is a big task, you’re doing a lot of work. You will want to fuel your body to continue that work. You should to replenish those nutrients that have been drained for so many months, and continue to be pulled from while your breastfeed your little one.
Lily Nichols has a couple books, Real Food For Gestational Diabetes, but it is good info for any pregnancy, really. And another book called Real Food For Pregnancy. She also has meal plans and recipes for postpartum on her website.
Resources:
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/real-food-postpartum-recovery-meals/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7257931/
https://www.mumsoasis.com/blog/bone-broth-for-your-postpartum-recovery