Five Healthy Diets for New Mothers
The toughest thing for a new mother to do is to get back into the swing of things and settle into a routine that includes having a new baby. Adjusting to motherhood does take some time to get used to, but once you establish a schedule that is flexible and works for you and your child then you have to be focused and diligent and stick to the schedule because it can be difficult to do.
When you are recovering from giving birth and settling into a routine there are some things you need to remember to do always. You will need a healthy and balanced diet, and often go jogging with your baby. By sticking to these things can help you to begin feeling like yourself again slowly, but surely.
I want to give you 5 tips for a healthy diet that includes daily exercise that is meant for new mothers specifically. Our hope is that these 5 tips will help you to slowly move back into a revamped healthier lifestyle.
Continue Taking Prenatals
This may sound weird, but is especially importing for mothers that intend to breastfeed their baby. You should continue to take your prenatal vitamins. It is just like taking a multivitamin with all of the added minerals that it contains.
It is very beneficial for your child that you continue to take these vitamins. You can consult with your physician about a prenatal prescription for you now that you have finally given birth to your child. The reason we say to consult your physician is that going through your doctor will allow your insurance to accept some of the cost of your vitamins.
Even if you are not intending to breastfeed continuing to take prenatal vitamins after you give birth still has vital vitamins and minerals that are beneficial to you and your child. Vitamins like vitamin D, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12.
Lose Weight Safely
Some women begin taking a ton of supplements and other weight loss pills in the hopes that they can lose the weight they put on while pregnant off quicker. However, losing weight quickly can be very dangerous to the mother and her milk supply.
Also losing excess weight can cause you to feel less energetic and more rundown then you felt when you were pregnant. You need to consult your doctor about how much weight you should lose per week and how to lose weight in a way that won’t affect you and your child in a negative way by robbing your milk supply of its nutrients.
If your losing weight to fast there may be a few reasons that you’re losing weight too quickly. Those reasons may be things like not getting enough calories throughout the day, you could be overworking yourself (taking care of everyone and everything besides yourself, and perhaps you may have an overactive thyroid gland.
To pinpoint the issue you will need to speak with your doctor so that the excess weight loss doesn’t continue to cause a negative impact.
Exercise Regularly
Exercising regularly helps you with a number of things like losing the extra pregnancy weight, reduces backaches, constipation, bloating, helps improve your mood, improves bad posture habits, helps with muscle tone and strength, and promotes better sleep quality. If exercising a few times a week will do all of this for a new mom then you should get to it.
But of course weight the recommended six weeks before beginning to exercise again. And even after the six weeks is up you shouldn’t jump into exercising full throttle you should take your time and ease your way back into it. You can exercise by doing things like walking, jogging, or taking a class at your local YMCA.
If you can’t make it out of the house and to a class at the gym all you have to do is check out a mommy and me workout video that’s easily found on youtube. Trust us there are tons of other moms that have engineered their workouts to incorporate your baby into your exercise time.
EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
I know you have heard before that you always need to eat your fruits and vegetables, but consuming them now is more important than ever before. Whenever you eat a meal you need to make sure that more than half of what is on your plate is fruits and vegetables.
Consuming your fair share of fruits and vegetables allows you to gain some extra minerals and vitamins. There’s nothing wrong with getting some extra health benefits from the things that you are eating. Plus consuming the extra vitamins and minerals also provides your body with necessary fibers.
Consuming the fiber helps to ease and prevent constipation which was a side effect of being pregnant. And now more than ever it is quite easy to become constipated again. We do recommend that before you eat any fruits and vegetables you wash them thoroughly to cleanse them of any bacteria that may still be lingering on them.
Limit Junk Food
Remember during pregnancy when you were told all of the foods that you can and can’t eat by your doctor and seemingly everyone around you? Well, here’s some news you need to continue to avoid eating those foods that are high in processed sugars, trans fats, and other harmful chemicals.
It is okay to consume some of those junk foods every once in a while, but you shouldn’t allow those foods to take place of the healthy foods that are in your diet. Not to mention that for the first year of your child’s life if you are breastfeeding or not the foods you eat will impact them.
If your breastfeeding the foods you eat will cause your child to be undernourished and not get all of the nutrients that they need to grow and develop. In fact, bad foods may cause your children to become obese later on in life.
If you’re not breastfeeding understand your child is always watching you so making bad food habits they will pick up on. And eventually, the eating habits you have exhibited will also become the habits of your child.
DRINK PLENTY OF LIQUIDS
Making sure to drink a lot of fluids is very important during pregnancy and even after you give birth. You still need to ensure that you remain hydrated so that you have the energy to get up and stay active in this new lifestyle routine that you have going.
It is recommended that you consume around six to ten glasses of water daily. Especially for mothers that are breastfeeding because through consumption of your milk it will help your child remain hydrated since their bodies are not equipped to handle drinking water directly yet.
You should consume water, milk, or other fruit juices. But when you speak to your doctor they will probably recommend that you stick to consuming mostly water regardless of if your breastfeeding or not.
IN CONCLUSION…
If you stick to the tips that we have given you there is no way that your transition from pregnancy to this new parental routine won’t become easy for you. The most important part for a mother after giving birth besides taking care of your child is getting back to feeling like yourself and recognizing that familiar person when you look in the mirror.
You won’t be exactly the same, but you will love the new version of yourself that you see staring back at you. And loving yourself regardless of body size or weight is important part of making sure you remain happy and healthy to take care of your new family.
About The Author:-
Tiffany Simmons is a Georgia mom, wife, and aspiring children’s book writer. She acquired a BS in Mass Communications & Marketing from the University of West Ga. She left a job in the healthcare profession to become a freelance writer for childmode.com!
