Postpartum Nutrition and Herbalism
Updated: Apr 15, 2020
Preparing for the Phenomena of Postpartum Program
Photo credit www.nicoledanielsphotography.com
Many traditional cultures that still have the knowledge about what a postpartum body needs to heal recommend foods that are warm, liquid, with few easily digestible ingredients, and that are nutrient dense. The science backs this traditional knowledge as science tells us that a postpartum body does not have the same amount of digestive enzymes as a non postpartum body. This means that after you give birth it is harder for you body to break down foods that are raw like salads or smoothies. If your body can't break down the food, it can't absorb it and soon your will find that you are lacking nutrients which will affect hormone production. Often it is also recommended to avoid dairy and gluten in the immediate postpartum as they are inflammatory foods.
Ensuring you are drinking enough liquids is also important. Water, nourishing herbal infusions, herbal teas, herbal waters and homemade bone broth all will aid in healing.
Some other helpful tips for eating in the postpartum time: Set up a meal train so others can help you with food preparation. If you aren't ready for visitors set a cooler on your porch for food drop offs. Ask for gift cards to your favorite restaurants and get take out. Have nutrient dense one handed snacks available for in between meals and by where ever you find yourself resting. Lastly, during late pregnancy make and freeze meals and set up your fridge with easily accessible foods so eating is as easy as possible when most of your time is spent caring for another human being.
For this blog post please:
-Watch the below video on Herbalism and the Postpartum Period.
-Listen to the audio clip by following this link:
https://soundcloud.com/user-948095772/what-you-dont-hear-about/s-GBc2AAVwT7W
-See if you can get a copy of The First Forty Days, An Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother by Heng Ou. It's a great book about postpartum nutrition that includes recipes.
-More information about meal trains here: https://www.mealtrain.com/
-Follow this link to watch a facebook video on how to make Bone Broth by my friend Monica Buck at Wise Roots Apothecary. https://www.facebook.com/2199713283682842/videos/2531107387139299
-Check out the below recipe that was created by Maranda Bower, Postpartum Bliss Coach. This soup is so good and is perfect to support your healing in the postpartum period. You can get more recipes like these in her Postpartum Nutrition Plan. Find more about her work at www.marandabower.com
Remember: If taking in this information becomes uncomfortable for you it is important to shift and move these feelings. Feel them, identify what you need to learn from those feelings, then take action to move those feelings. This could look like free writing in your journal about your feelings, moving your body or expressing your feelings verbally. If you can't get unstuck, reach out to me and we will do a clarity coaching call.
With love,
