You made your birth plan. You have your nursery all decorated and ready for baby. You have a closet filled with tiny clothes for your new tiny human.
You know who your pediatrician will be and have your carseat all installed ready to bring home your little miracle.
Most women have all of that covered well before their due date.
But are you prepared for the postpartum period? Specifically, are you prepared for how you're going to keep yourself nourished while you take care of (and possibly feed) your baby?
On this episode, I speak with Lily Nichols, Registered Dietician/Nutritionist on how to help yourself heal after delivery.
Episode highlights...
How Lily is changing the world of prenatal nutrition with her emphasis on real foods
What are warming foods and why traditional cultures emphasize consuming them immediately after delivery to help your body heal physically
Two surprising foods that traditional cultures advise against eating soon after delivering a baby (HINT: We eat them all the time!)
Why Lily ate them anyway and why it's safe for you to as well
How to manage postpartum weight loss while eating nutrient dense food (HINT: Follow your appetite)
The biggest challenge postpartum women face nutritionally is being undernourished by not consuming enough nutrients and calories (especially if you're breastfeeding or pumping)
The importance of getting creating to eat well when you have a baby in the NICU and have no time, energy or desire to cook or eat
Lily shares many different options
I highlight the importance of snacking frequently
Why what you eat matters even for women who deliver preterm and are able to fit into pre-pregnancy clothes soon after birth
Make sure to have foods available to you that you can eat with one hand + plus how I ate when I had no hands to eat when my son came home from the NICU
Lily's advice on what to do when you want to do it all postpartum
You can help yourself heal postpartum by what you eat. You don't have to eat perfectly but the more nutrient-dense the food and the more easily accessible it is to you, you can help yourself heal physically so you can give more to your baby.
Resources from the show...
Visit Lily Nichols' website and get a free chapter of her book at Real Food for Pregnancy
What Every Woman Needs to Know About Gestational Diabetes (Listen Now)
Preparing for the Fourth Trimester - my conversation with postpartum Douala Adriana Lozada (Listen Now)
Eat Your Way Through Gestational Diabetes - Workshop with Lily Nichols (Register now)
Get your copy of Pregnancy Brain: A Mind-Body Approach to Stress Management During a High-Risk Pregnancy (Read Now)
Tweetables
It is a radical act of self-care to have nutrient dense food available to you postpartum. (Tweet that!)
Self-care is often not about doing something for yourself but taking things off of your plate. (Tweet that!)
About the Guest
Lily Nichols is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author with a passion for evidence-based prenatal nutrition and exercise. Her bestselling book, Real Food for Gestational Diabetes (and online course of the same name), presents a revolutionary nutrient-dense, lower carb diet for managing gestational diabetes. Her unique approach has not only helped tens of thousands of women manage their gestational diabetes (most without the need for blood sugar-lowering medication), but has also influenced nutrition policies internationally. Lily’s second book, Real Food for Pregnancy, outlines the problems with current prenatal nutrition guidelines and provides the evidence—920 citations and counting—that supports a real food diet to optimize maternal and fetal health.
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