Key Nutrients to Build a Nourishing Plate for Postpartum
Certain key components can make a significant difference in postpartum recovery and overall well-being. Protein is essential for tissue repair and muscle recovery, while healthy fats support hormone balance and brain health. Antioxidants play a crucial role in reducing inflammation and boosting the immune system, and choline is vital for brain function and development. Let’s dive into how you can incorporate these nutrients into your meals for comprehensive postpartum nutrition.
Protein
Protein is the building block of your tissues, essential for making breastmilk, and really for all the functions in your body! Eat various protein sources including meat, meat stocks, bone broths, poultry, fish, eggs, legumes, and whole milk dairy products. This provides a healthy balance of amino acids along with many vitamins and minerals necessary for tissue repair and overall health.
Fats
Healthy fats (and the fat-soluble vitamins that come along with them) are essential for hormone balance, blood sugar control, skin, bone and brain health, energy, and breastmilk supply and should be included in all meals.
Use grass-fed butter, ghee, lard, tallow, coconut, and olive oil for cooking.
Eat plenty of oily fish, avocados, nuts, and seeds.
Avoid vegetable seed oils and margarines that contain inflammatory fats.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are minerals (magnesium, zinc, and selenium), vitamins (vitamin A, E, and C), and other nutrients found in colorful foods that support healing and immune health. Incorporate plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables, seafood, eggs yolks, nuts, and seeds that are rich in these nutrients daily.
Enjoy berries with a custard made with egg yolks.
Have a side of steamed greens with a pinch of salt and butter or olive oil.
Try sunflower seed butter as a spread.
Snack on a handful of Brazil nuts to get more selenium.
Make miso soup with kombu and wakame seaweed to get extra minerals.
Choline
This is an essential, but often overlooked nutrient for improving immune and brain health that is important for you and your baby. Choline is found in highest amounts in egg yolks, organ meats like liver and kidney, fish roe (eggs), meat, fish, and shitake mushrooms. Treat yourself to a snack of sourdough crackers with cultured sour cream and fish roe. Make hard boiled eggs and add alongside meals or for a snack.
What If I Don’t Eat Meat?
The perinatal and postpartum period comes with intense demands for nutrition. Vegetarian diets contain less protein, iron, zinc, choline, calcium, vitamin B12, and iodine than omnivorous diets. While it can be difficult to get all your nutrient needs through food alone, even with a healthy omnivorous diet, vegetarian diets put mom and baby at higher risk for nutrient deficiencies or imbalances that can have a long-term impact. If you are vegetarian, consider individualized professional guidance to help you make an informed decision about your diet and ensure you get adequate nutrition during this important time.
Quick and Simple Snack and Meals
Making anything more than peanut butter toast can feel overwhelming when you are recovering from pregnancy and caring for a young child. We naturally crave sweets when we are sleep deprived, but over-indulging in sweets can leave you feeling worse. If this is the case, try to keep your kitchen stocked with healthier options. Here are some simple snack and meal ideas that will help restore your energy:
Snack on hard boiled eggs, jerky, sausage, cheese, sardines, or a handful of nuts.
Eat an apple and nut/seed butter or cheese.
Have a sandwich of smoked salmon and hummus with seaweed/nori snacks.
Make a smoothie with 1 small avocado, 1 banana, 1-2 dates, handful of sprouted pumpkin seeds, 1 teaspoon flax seed, and 1 cup of whole milk or coconut milk.
Have a warm tonic of ½ cup whole milk, ½ cup beef bone broth, and a spoon of molasses.
Conclusion: Prioritizing Your Postpartum Health
Navigating the postpartum period can be both rewarding and challenging. Prioritizing your health and nutrition is essential for supporting your body's healing and recovery and for the health of your growing family. By focusing on nourishing, nutrient-dense meals and incorporating traditional food preparation methods, you can provide your body with the essential nutrients it needs to thrive during this transformative time. If this diet is very different from how you typically eat (which it is for many!), focus on changing one meal at a time. Remember to prioritize rest and self-care, don’t worry about doing it all perfectly, and reach out for support from your community, postpartum support services, or healthcare professionals when you can. Although it is easy to feel overwhelmed, with the right preparation and support you can do this!
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Aerin Sembhi, MD is a wife, mom, and board-certified Internal Medicine and Integrative Medicine physician. She founded Sembhi Integrative | Early Motherhood Wellness to support wellness, education, and community during the preconception through postpartum years.
Are you on the journey to motherhood or planning to start soon? Be a part of our growing community with the Winter 2024/2025 launch of our Holistic Preconception and Postpartum Wellness programs. Learn more and join the waitlist for these one-of-a-kind upcoming wellness programs at www.drsembhi.com!
Led by Dr. Sembhi, these programs offer a unique blend of personalized holistic care and community support. With two decades of expertise in nutrition, medicine, and holistic health, along with firsthand experience as a mother for nearly ten years, Dr. Sembhi has crafted a framework to address the root causes of health issues and streamline the path to self-care for mothers.
Don't miss this opportunity to prioritize your well-being and embark on a journey to feel healthy, resilient, and confident as you navigate the joys and challenges of motherhood. Join our waitlist today!
