Post-partum diet plan

Long nine months of excitement and ecstasy turns out to be the pride and joy nestled in your arms. It is important to remember to take care of a new mom because only if they are at their best, they can provide the best for the baby. Most new moms want to lose the body weight and get back into their normal routine. Cutting down the calories or sticking on to a less calorie diet plan is not the real way to do that. Also as you are breast feeding that itself is an excellent way to scrape your extra fat from your body. You need not worry about the extra fat until you stop breast feeding. What your body needs is a recovery from stress and strain due to childbirth, and also needs a steady supply of nutrients and calories to produce milk as you are breastfeeding. Take on some time for yourself and get a post natal massage which will help you regain lost energy. Also a good diet plan will help you increase the seratonin in your body so that you get relieved from all your blues and emotional setbacks caused by hormonal changes postpartum. So, the true purpose of nutrition is to refuel, re-energize, and recover! A breastfeeding mother should have an extra 500 calories supply in her diet to have adequate milk for the baby.

Sample Diet Plan

– Soon after waking up: One glass milk with 4-5 soaked almonds
– Breakfast: 3 chapathis (multigrain)/dosas /idlis/poha with 1 glass milk
– Mid day meal: sliced fruits especially papaya, pomegranate and bananas
– Lunch: Red rice or multigrain chappatis+subji made of beetroots, ash gourd, bitter gourd, drumsticks – and drum stick leaves , sprouted green gram, paneer, Asparagus, Avocado ,Beet Carrot Fresh dill and fennel Okra, Pumpkin (While using dal remember to discard the soaked water)
– Afternoon snacks: fruits and nuts and a glass of fresh juice
– Dinner: Multi grain chapathi/red rice/ ragi mudde or porridge/oats +sabji made of beetroots, ash gourd, bitter gourd, drumsticks and drum stick leaves
Just before going to bed: 1 glass of warm milk

P.S. DRINK ATLEAST 1.5 LITRES OF WATER IN 24 HOURS

Foods for Successful Lactation and Rejuvenation

Massage after delivery, is a necessity for a new mom because the digestive power is diminished; a new mother’s digestive system is very delicate and her needs are great. Choices of foods and how a mother digests her food have a great deal to do with the quality of her breast milk, avoiding depression and colic, and the quality of her rejuvenation, strength, comfort, and natural expression of mothering.
Appropriate nutrition for mom postpartum, will help minimize difficulties for a breastfeeding baby. Dry or hard to digest foods that Mom ingests can create dryness, cramping and gas pains in babies.
The following suggestions are guidelines, please only follow what seems doable; the more the better, however, no need to think that we have to follow this 100%. In order to make a difference – making one change is better than none.

Preferred Foods During postnatal period

Fresh – Warm – Oily – Soupy – Moist – Nourishing – Delicious – Creamy – Digestible

Preferred Proteins

•Boiled warm milk
•Milk puddings (light) preferably sweetened with jaggery
•Split lentils soaked overnight made into thin soup,
•Almond or other nut milks
•Nuts well soaked (24 – 48 hours) for snack or prepared with soups, vegetables, grains, or sauces
•Yogurt or buttermilk drink thinned half with water and seasoned with desired spices (like jeera powder, curry leaves, ginger, black salt) It should not be consumed during the night time)
• Cottage and other unfermented cheeses
•Chicken and fish soups only after about 4 weeks for non-vegetarians

Preferred Carbohydrates

•Red rice (cook with an extra ½-1 cup water per cup of rice)
•Multi grain chapatis
•Grains such as oats, ragi.
•Flavor less refined sugars such as honey, and especially iron rich sweeteners such as dates, raisins, molasses and dark Indian Jaggery if available.
Preferred Vegetables
Prepare all vegetables until tender, season well and
enjoy with healthy oils (sesame,
sunflower,) or butter
•Asparagus
•Avocado
•Beet
•Carrot
•Fresh dill and fennel
•Okra
•Pumpkin and winter squashes

Preferred Fats

Use healthy fats and oils more abundantly than normal. This is important for optimal rejuvenation. Fats are building blocks for hormones and are important support and functional components of the cell membrane. Research show that low blood lipids are associated with depression and low hormone levels .Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs – Omega 3, 6, and 9) are, as the name indicates, essential to the body, mind and nervous system. The brain does not produce enough of these important oils, and if we get depleted, we are likely to suffer from anxiety, restlessness, and depression. Furthermore, low breast milk production and engorgement has been linked with low EFAs. The brain is more than 60% fat and needs a lot of healthy oils for its health.

•Flax seed oil
•Ghee (clarified butter)
•Butter
•Sesame, toasted sesame, and sunflower oils
•Coconut and olive oil in the summer
Preferred Fruits & Fruit Guidelines
•Iron rich fruits (soaked or stewed dried fruits like figs, dates, raisins, prunes)
•Sweet and fresh (not chilled) and freshly squeezed sweet fruit juices
•Coconut milk is a great substitute for sauces made on milk and cream
•Always enjoy fruits by themselves.