One of the questions I get asked is, what are the best foods for postpartum recovery? Be it a vaginal or c-section delivery your body has gone through a lot to get this beautiful baby out into this world. What it needs now is both healing and muscle-building foods.
Here are some options for you to include in your postpartum recovery diet that will support your body to heal quickly.
THE BEST FOODS FOR POSTPARTUM RECOVERY
- Bone broth – bone broth is a good source of collagen, fat, and nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus all of which are needed to maintain healthy bones and muscles.
- Animal protein and organ meats – be it bone broth, fish with skin on, chicken, beef, or organ meats your body needs protein and especially collagen right now for tissue repair.
- Nuts and seeds- are rich in omega 3’s, a source of healthy fats, and an important iron source for mothers.
- Ragi-ragi millet is a rich source of calcium that supports a mother’s bone health postpartum. Read this post to understand the benefits of consuming millets like ragi regularly.
- Eggs – can help you bump up calories in meals and meet the extra protein requirements when breastfeeding.
- Vegetables and fruits- think of the color of the rainbow when it comes to vegetables and fruits. A wide range of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from a variety of vegetables are needed for recovery and to rebuild depleted resources.
- Hearty soups – use easy-to-digest soup and soupy meals to start on your postpartum journey and ease back into regular meals. Many women suffer from bloating and gas in the initial weeks postpartum and soupy meals can be a solution to curb some of that discomfort. Soups are especially great for a quick c-section recovery. They are warm and comforting and can be made to include many nutritious vegetables or lentils in one easy-to-eat meal.
- Whole grains – contain a good amount of B vitamins, fiber, and carbohydrates as fuel. Some good options are rice, oats, millet, quinoa, sourdough bread, and more.
- Probiotic foods – yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut to maintain a healthy gut and promote good digestion and reduce inflammation in the body.
- Comfort foods – mood swings and long days and nights can leave you feeling exhausted and low, it’s okay to indulge in your favorite comfort foods to lift your spirits. Healthy living is all about balancing the needs of our mind, body, and soul. For some quick and easy sweet snack recipes that are also nourishing in the postpartum period check this post of mine.
I wish for every new mother to be able to have the right kind of support at home and interested and caring people around her to feed her nourishing meals. If this is not going to be possible meal plan before the baby comes and build a freezer meals stash ahead of delivery.
It will do you a lot of good in the long run. Home-cooked meals are better than eating restaurant meals every day.
For some easy meal ideas for new moms check these older posts from my blog that can come in handy when you want to make something quick and easy yet healthy and nourishing.
Breastfeeding soups for new moms
Chicken soup for the tired mama’s soul.
Save this list of postpartum foods to include in your postpartum diet plan and share it with other new moms in need too.
Good ideas, I didn’t think of millets, will try and incorporate in my post baby meals.