Speaker 1: 0:10

Hey guys, welcome to Preview Alliance podcast. This is Sarah and we are at part two with Abby, talking about nutrition and herbs and really how to power ourselves into postpartum and motherhood and for our children. So if you have not heard our first episode, I encourage you, please go back. We're talking about trying to get pregnant, what we can eat in pregnancy and the immediate postpartum, so now we're diving in a little deeper. Welcome, abby. Thanks for being with me again.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Thank you so much, Sarah. It's good to be back.

Speaker 1: 0:42

So let's jump right into it. So we are talking postpartum and let's just go ahead and say it. Postpartum is not just the first six weeks. It is years after. Actually, research from mental health says it's up to four years postpartum that we really need to be nourishing our body for creating life and sustaining that life right as, like, these little guys will take it out of us. So we are trying to prepare. So what do you tell your clients and what did you do, which is interesting to tell? Our listeners always want to know, like, what does the expert do for postpartum and what do you tell your clients?

Speaker 2: 1:21

Yeah, so about I think it was like two months before I had my daughter. She did come early, so I'm very grateful that I planned. Two months ahead I started cooking some extra meals. So if I was making I don't know a lasagna or something, I made two and it would freeze it. And I made a bunch of soups and stews and I froze them because those are. You can stick it in a Ziploc bag and, like easy peasy, put it in the freezer. So, yeah, I just prepped my freezer as best I could with meals. It lasted us maybe like two weeks, but it was two weeks. We didn't have to think about food, so it was definitely helpful.

Speaker 2: 2:03

So if you can plan ahead and try to make some meals, also to reach out, if you have family close by or really good friends close by, the meal train idea is really great. Have them. You can either do like a sign up sheet and they can like online. They can plug in when they're going to drop a meal off, so you can kind of arrange the schedule or just have them cook it and you can freeze it and have it for postpartum. I think that's a really easy way to kind of set yourself up for success. You could hire a postpartum doula too. That could be helpful, because a lot of times they will prepare a meal while they're there, so that could be supportive for people as well.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Now it's for our breastfeeding moms, because that seems to be, you hear, mixed things. I remember being in the NICU and they're like someone was like, drink blue Gatorade, that's exactly what's gonna help your milk. And I'm like, okay, I'll do whatever. And then just let my milk come in. And then oatmeal right. And I was like, okay, these little oatmeal with the cream in the middle. I was like I'll eat as many of those as I can, right. So what do our breastfeeding moms cause? You are ravenous at times. You're trying to, you know, and then it is hard sometimes to maintain a milk supply, especially when you're going back to work. You have other kids you're healing. You could have had a traumatic birth. What is some advice and foods there that they can tap into?

Speaker 2: 3:25

Absolutely. So. The caloric needs postpartum is far greater than during pregnancy, so it's about 500 extra calories a day if you're breastfeeding, so really important. Yeah, you're going to be famished Absolutely, so you really need to be eating good food. I mean you can. Also, postpartum isn't a time for restrictions, so I really believe in, like you know, eating foods that are healthy, but also like, if you want some cookies, like have some cookies because you really need the calories.

Speaker 2: 3:55

Some foods that are supportive for lactation and that can actually like up your supply. Oats and barley are really great. Whole grain, brown rice, brewer's yeast, flax seed, sesame seeds, nuts are really great. Cashews, almonds, macadamia nuts, dark green vegetables are super supportive for upping your milk supply. There's also some herbs that could be helpful. Nettle leaf is a powerhouse herb, super rich in minerals, and will help boost your milk supply. Alfalfa as well.

Speaker 2: 4:31

They've done some research on fennel. Fennel in any shape or form. You can eat the seed, the bulb, you can have it cooked, you can have it raw. If you like fennel, that would be a good food to incorporate. Those are just like some of them. I know there's like the lactation cookie recipe that people can like Google and that's rich in oats and flax and brewer's yeast and has like grass-fed butter perhaps in it or coconut oil. So it's like you really want to make sure you're getting a good source of fat as well. Your body really like needs fat, protein, carbohydrates, like you want all the good stuff. During that time, you're going to want to continue your prenatal vitamin for as long as you're breastfeeding.

Speaker 1: 5:16

That's really supportive, just to make sure that you're not going to get depleted in any sense let's break it down, because sometimes you know, truly recognizing good healthy fats, because I think fats get a bad word, I think carbohydrates get a bad name and we've talked before protein we're not having enough. So to the mom who's in postpartum, so she has multiple kids, right, what is her go-tos? For some good healthy fats, some good carbs and some good protein that she can walk in again to most food stores in mind and know like, hey, this is going to give me some energy, I could give this to my kids, you know, and it's helping me get this, Because postpartum is such a tough time and I never want it to seem like one more thing that the mom has to add to her mental to-do list. Right, it's more of just like education and accessibility. So what would you tell her?

Speaker 2: 6:06

Yeah, so, like healthy fats, you want to look for olive oil, avocado oil, avocados as they are. That's a great source of really good quality fat. I'm all about butter, good quality butter. I mean butter is delicious and I think it should be added to everything. Yes, coconut oil, as well as like the fats that you can get from, like walnuts and other types of nuts. Those are, like my go to fat sources.

Speaker 2: 6:36

And then for proteins, you want to be thinking about good quality protein. If you're eating animal protein, if you can get, you know, grass fed, pasture raised. You really want low antibiotics, also while you're breastfeeding, just because that will get passed through. So good sources of animal protein. I'm a big proponent of whole fat dairy. If you're going to eat cheese, like I don't think low fat should be on the menu. I think that full fat should be. It's just more nurturing and it will satiate you more than like a low fat milk product will.

Speaker 2: 7:12

As far as carbohydrates, we want to look at whole grains, so whole grain breads, whole grain grains and brown rice and spelt and quinoa. Well, quinoa is technically a legume but quinoa is a great protein and carbohydrate Barrow like. There's endless options If you. You know pasta in our house is a constant. We have a toddler, so you know there are some like whole wheat pastas. There's also like pastas now that are made out of like chickpeas, so like that could be like an added protein source. But regular pasta actually has a decent amount of protein in it too. So like I'm all about the pasta.

Speaker 1: 7:56

Yeah, absolutely. What about interesting to talk about too, when we're looking at the store choices and I don't think we're really ever taught you know if you are scanning something, the green flags that you may see on a label or a product versus a red flag? If you're telling a mom, you're like you're going into a store and she's like, okay, I've listened to Abby, I'm going into some stuff, but like marketing is a big business for a reason right, like how does she filter some of that?

Speaker 2: 8:25

Yeah, so I'm a big label reader.

Speaker 2: 8:28

I encourage everyone to become a label reader if you haven't been, because, yeah, the food industry tends to like overly processed foods and so, for instance, if you're buying whole grain bread, if you look at the ingredients, like it really should just be a couple of ingredients, but a lot of times you're going to see like added sugars, you're going to see like dough conditioners and all these preservatives, like you're going to want to avoid that. If you're buying something as simple as bread, it really should be like flour, water, salt. It might have some sugar in it for the yeast, the yeast in it. But yeah, so you really want to look at the label and kind of make sure. If the list is really really really long and you can't read half of the ingredients, I would say don't buy it. As well as, like, if there's like food coloring in it, like you really don't want to be buying things with dye added. Yeah, my rule of thumb is, if you can't pronounce whatever the ingredient is and it sounds like it was made in a lab, avoid it.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Yes, and then when picking fruits and vegetables, does it have to be fresh, or what's if someone has only access to frozen? Like the frozen peas and the frozen raspberries.

Speaker 2: 9:41

Oh, I think frozen vegetables and frozen fruit are absolutely just as good as fresh. It's great to have on hand if you're in a pinch. Those vegetables too, like frozen broccoli, spinach, peas, corn. They're all processed at the height of their freshness, so like the quality isn't anything less, it's like flash frozen, so absolutely frozen vegetables. I'm all about having that on hand, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 10:09

And there tend to be much more affordable. You know, if you look at that to say you know, and then you can get the different kind of variety depending on where you're at, and then you know we are a bulk society. But you know if you found something, you know if you just make that trip to Costco or Sam's like once, you like once a month and the frozen sections they actually have some really good kind of options there. And then do you have any tips or tricks when washing the produce? Do you wash it a certain way when you're cleaning and preparing it, because some people A don't even wash when they bring in fruits and vegetables from the store and then other people seem to have this whole kind of mantra of how to clean their products.

Speaker 2: 10:45

Yeah, have this whole kind of mantra of how we clean their products. Yeah, I mean, I'm not like super regimented with cleaning my greens or my vegetables or my fruits. Yeah, you see all those videos of people they like do like baking soda and I really just submerge, like. So if I'm like washing like vegetables, I'll just submerge them in water, like if it's like a leafy green and you notice maybe there's like a few bugs hanging out. You can put a splash of like white vinegar in the bowl and all the bugs will kind of like float to the top and you can just like skim it off. But when I'm doing greens I always do like a two or three rinse just to make sure, as well as like with lettuces and stuff. As far as fruit, I don't know, I'm kind of a purist, I just rinse everything with water.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Yeah, that's good to know because you're right, the videos you see online, you almost just get like a little terrified. You're just like, oh my gosh and it. You know. I understand what they're trying to do there. So what do you tell? Like the mom who's balancing the picky toddler. Or you know she's got a baby and she's trying her best for energy boosting foods to get her through the day that you know give her some good sleep, to help the children sleep. Like what is your kind of? Like power packs, accessibility. You're in the thick of it with your daughter now to you know just they do pasta may be the only thing they want to eat for a month. Or you know they may love avocados last week and now they won't touch it. It's the worst thing you ever did to them.

Speaker 2: 12:12

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, it's funny, toddlerhood is like a whole new world with children and food. I would say, you know, always introduce a vegetable if you can, if you have the means to like, just put it on their plate. If they don't eat it, they don't eat it, but the more that they see it, they'll be curious enough to try it. I know like my daughter was eating all these carrots all of a sudden like raw carrots and I'm like, because her friends at school were eating raw carrots, I'm like, oh OK, great, so I guess you like carrots now.

Speaker 1: 12:47

You're like carrots are a thing.

Speaker 2: 12:49

But yeah, I would say, you know, keep introducing different fruits and vegetables to your kid as much as you can. Eventually they'll try it and especially too, if they see you eating it they'll be like, oh, what are you eating? And and then it kind of opens up a dialogue. It could open up a dialogue to kind of, you know, talk about different fruits and vegetables. But yeah, my daughter's totally on a noodle kick and so, if you can, you can. Sometimes I do this. I like will cook like veggies and like a broth and then like puree it and then like put it on the noodles, so at least it's like some vegetables are getting in there. That's a really easy way you can make like green mac and cheese with like spinach and some basil blended up in the blender with like a cheesy kind of sauce, and then put it over some noodles, kind of like hidden veggies.

Speaker 1: 13:43

A little sneaky smoothie I love. You know my kids used to be into smoothies and I think they caught on, but now they're. You know that used to be something that I could in muffins. It's always amazing to me what they will eat in a muffin versus what they would eat individually. Right, which I guess we're the same way. Right Is like, sometimes we don't know what's exactly in that, it just tastes really good. But what about you know for us? I loved how you always have, like you said, your trial mix or you know the string cheese, or you know you've got those kind of on the goes Cause I feel like we're so on the go as moms. So what other things you have in, like your little arsenal that powers your body and your daughters?

Speaker 2: 14:24

Yeah, I think it's so important not to skip breakfast. I know mornings are so hectic, you're trying to get everyone out the door and ready for the day, but if you can like carve out time for breakfast, because breakfast truly is like the most important meal of the day. It really sets you up, your energy up. So if you can, you know, have a solid breakfast, whether it's oatmeal, it's yogurt. You know something you can make like overnight oats. You put them in the refrigerator the night before and like a little bowl with some oat milk or regular milk and then you can throw in some chia seeds and it's like an easy, like almost like pudding consistency for the next morning when you eat that you can throw some berries on top and some nuts and like there you go, it's like easy.

Speaker 2: 15:10

But yeah, I would say, make sure you're having breakfast, make sure you're having snacks throughout the day in between your meals.

Speaker 2: 15:16

You know, having those protein grab and go kind of things on you some trail mix, a cheese stick, a hard boiled egg, something like that, just kind of keep your blood sugar regulated because those crashes, that will happen.

Speaker 2: 15:31

So if you're reaching for something like you know in the afternoon you're like oh, I really need like caffeine or I really need like sugar. It's just probably your blood sugar is low because, like it's been on kind of like a roller coaster throughout the day. So if you can have, you know, those three meals a day, broken up with some snacks in between, your energy level will just be definitely more like stable throughout the day. So yeah, I mean I know it's like easier said than done, but I think with a little bit of like prep work, just like the night before or for the week, like you can make like egg frittata in muffin tins, like little mini egg frittata things, and like freeze them, put them in the freezer and then you can just grab one, put it in the microwave and then like put it between two pieces of bread and like there's your breakfast.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 2: 16:20

Yeah, Unfortunately, it's like you need to have some prep, but I think it will pay off in the long run.

Speaker 1: 16:26

Thank you, Abby, for this conversation. Before you leave us, I'm going to ask you we ask all our guests, okay, and this is no right or wrong answer but now that you're a mom, what would you go back and tell yourself when you first found that pregnancy test about motherhood that you wish you would have known?

Speaker 2: 16:43

Oh boy, that's a good one. I would say that you need to like surrender to the experience of pregnancy and postpartum and look for support along the way. It's a time where you can't foresee what's going to happen. It's a time where you can't foresee what's going to happen. It's unpredictable. But as long as you kind of have that support system around you, I think that's the most important thing.

Speaker 1: 17:08

I think surrendering is something we all struggle with as moms right and control, because obviously we love these things so much and we want the best for ourselves and them and like with this false sense of illusion that we can control. But I think that is a common theme. I think it's really beautiful, though, that you just, you know, kind of just buckle down and you got to go with it.

Speaker 2: 17:27

Yeah, absolutely, because having a child is, yeah, unpredictable in and of itself. So, yeah, I think that that is just, yeah, just surrender to it all.

Speaker 1: 17:39

Perfect. Well, abby, thank you so much for being with us for this episode in the last and really just helping us be more educated and aware of things we can be doing, and thank you for your work with moms and we'll be sure to link in the show notes the website where you guys can find Abby and we hope this conversation it's empowered me and I hope it's empowered you guys that little steps, little things we can do, really makes a big difference.

Speaker 2: 18:03

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 18:06

All right, listeners, we'll be back with you next week.

Speaker 3: 18:12

Maternal mental health is as important as physical health. The Preview Alliance podcast was created for and by moms dealing with postpartum depression and all its variables, like anxiety, anger and even apathy. Hosted by CEO founder Sarah Parkhurst and licensed clinical social worker Whitney Gay, each episode focuses on specific issues relevant to pregnancy and postpartum. Join us and hear how other moms have overcome mental health challenges, as well as access tips and suggestions on dealing with your own challenges as moms. You can also browse our podcast library and listen to previous episodes at any time. Please know you're not alone on this journey. We're here to help.