Inside your postpartum support

Welcome to your postpartum food support box and our virtual support realm. Navigating this time can be a whole lotta hard as well as soft,beautiful and joyful. We believe that in the stormy sea of postpartum, nourishment can be your north star.

Your Food Support

Our approach is in no way prescriptive, or protocol when it comes to what to eat when. I want you to be mainly guided by what you are feeling like eating, because seeking food pleasure, joy and comfort, is an important part of postpartum nourishment. It’s also helpful to tap into how your body is feeling with regard to digestion, which in early postpartum can be slow and sticky!

If you are looking for a little more direction , there is a note at the bottom on what is believed to be the most supportive melas for those earliest days. You might not be eating these meals consecutively (days in a row) thats okay!

Resources to add to your fridge.

In your box we’ve given you some resources to help guide your postpartum nourishment support. The 3 focus foods charts we have developed for fourth trimester healing have been used curate the menus, ensuring we tick off as many of the focus ingredients possible, It’s like a fun game of kitchen bingo for postpartum healing!

Use the Ayurveda and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Focus Foods Chart along with the five principles in the initial 2 weeks post birth, as this takes into consideration the potential fragility of digestion, the need to build blood, cleanse the system and warm you from the inside out!

The Postpartum Focus Foods Chart ingredients can of course be added in too, and there ARE duplicates across both charts —but be mindful to apply the nourishment principles too. For example, the Postpartum Chart chart has some fruits on, which are great- but stewed with spices and warmed works for your body over cold and raw fruits (as per the principles).

Breakfast wise

Breakfast is VERY important, right now — it can often dictate how they rest of the day can feel, so please, nourish well as your day begins. It is not uncommon to speak to mums who find they haven’t eaten and it’s early afternoon because the morning has melted away. But please, even if its breakfast oat bites/muffins that can be left by the bed for you to have first thing, you must nourish well. (It’s also great to have nourishing snacks next to the bed to nibble on throughout the night if up feeding. Pair protein & healthy fats with complex carbs (the three key macronutrients). Here are 5 great Breakfast ideas. If having smoothies please have at room temperature again to avoid cold. A cacao, oat, plant milk and banana smoothie with collagen is a good one — best to leave in the blender for a few hours before blending to soak the oats and make them easier to digest.

— Overnight oats and chia, warmed w/ stewed apples & nut butter

— Eggs w/ Greens & Quinoa

— Bone broth w/ Soft boiled egg and a tablespoon of cooked Quinoa

— Buckwheat/ Oat flour Pancakes w/ Stewed berries sweetened with honey, seeds on top

— Sweet Potato Frittata w/ warming spices

SIDEKICKS

A few ideas for what you can have alongside your meals, to extend them if you wish

— Baked sweet potato — Such a good nourishment ally, breakfast lunch or dinner, or in brownies!

— Cooked quinoa/buckwheat (convinience pouches of these are handy)

— Basmati rice (optional: cooked in broth for extra goodness)

— Homemade chips, cooked in Grass fed Tallow or Ghee ( both vailable from Ossa Organic) or Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

— Red lentil pasta is very high protein

— Pop a soft boiled egg on top of the congee/ dahl if you wish, to up protein.

— A sprinkle of seeds on your meals can go a long way in increasing protein and healthy fats!

The importance of Hydration

Your morning herbal tonic is a blend of supportive herbs for Postpartum. Herbal teas all day long is great — Being well hydrated in general will support a steady supply, digestion, elimination, energy and emotional regulation. Even fresh herbs in hot water such as Rosemary or Thyme postpartum work well. Bone broth as a warming drink is a great postpartum nourishment ally too, very comforting! A few other warming drink options are — Mineral rich dried Seaweed in boiling water w/ a drop of Toasted Sesame oil, or Ghee, Miso in a mug, Functional Mushroom/ Adaptogenic Lattes or Warming Cacao/ Golden Milk, or warming homemade electrolyte drinks. If consuming coffee, to support your nervous system avoid coffee on an empty stomach, nourish first, or save the coffee until the afternoon. Adding collagen to coffee is always a winner too.

Enjoy your food support. Please get in touch if you have any questions via the contact us page.

Sending warmth and love

Kate

EARLIEST DAYS DIGESTION

The Kitchari, Congee and the Dahl would be the most traditionally supportive meals for the earliest days, due to how hydrating and supportive they are for digestion. Also the Ktchari and Dahl have ghee in, which is seen as a vey supportive ingredient for lubrication the digestive tract for more easeful elimination. It’s important to build iron, and of course get adequate protein so the beef and chicken are great options for this. Be guided by your body.

This is one of the MANY reasons I advocate for staying at home, in your nest. It not only allows, slowness, healing and bonding but also the space and quiet to listen & be mindful of how your body is feeling in response to foods & drinks. In a world that wants to hurry you, know the world can wait for you to emerge, your healing can’t.

Our Partners

Ossa Organic are the best of the best for buying broth, its what I use in all my meals. You can use the code FOODDOULA10 for 10% off. They also have grass fed ghee, and my pregnancy, postpartum (and life) staple, grass-fed collagen powder — which is tasteless and dissolvable in any liquid (water, cups of tea, soups, stews, anything!)

Head to https://www.ossaorganic.com/ to use your code FOODDOULA10 and stock up!