Nurturing Your New Life by Heidi Sze

Author:Heidi Sze
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

Eat lots of wholefoods

Generally speaking, wholefoods give our body generous doses of the nutrients we need. This is especially important during periods of increased nutrient requirement, such as when growing and breastfeeding a baby.

I define wholefoods as foods that have been grown or raised in our natural environment, and that haven’t been processed beyond what is necessary. Now some degree of processing is normal in order to get food from field to plate (cooking is a process, after all). And sometimes additional processing is warranted, such as to extend a product’s shelf life. Other times, over-processing is used to cut costs, intensify flavours and sell products; and this can end up altering our expectation as to how food tastes, thereby potentially leading us to consume fewer wholefoods overall. This isn’t a moral judgement of highly processed foods or the people who eat them. Food access is an issue of privilege and some people simply don’t have a choice. Even if we do have a choice, we shouldn’t feel shame for eating these foods. I myself am quite partial to flavoured potato chips. There are, however, so many highly processed foods on the market that our access to them is disproportionate to our access to wholefoods – particularly wholefoods that have been grown or raised locally by farmers who use sustainable practices (yet these are the foods that are important in helping our bodies, and planet, to thrive).

Thus I encourage women to make wholefoods the foundation of their diet (though you probably don’t need me to tell you this – chances are that when tuning in you will recognise your body feels better when you eat this way most of the time, and you’ll be driven to do so).

Another reason I favour wholefoods is the physiological changes our body experiences in the perinatal period. Many women struggle with a sluggish digestive system during pregnancy due to the action of certain hormones. To help manage this, they will benefit from increasing their intake of fibre-rich foods, such as vegetables, legumes, fruits and wholegrains. Many will also experience nausea and blood sugar fluctuations, both of which can be better managed by intentionally creating balanced, wholefood-based meals and snacks, rather than simply eating a bag of potato chips (which is all I seem to want in early pregnancy).

The same goes for after our baby is born, when breastfeeding hunger and a lack of sleep drive us to want seven cups of coffee and three slices of cake for breakfast. Coffee and cake are excellent additions to our diet, but we won’t feel very good if we consistently consume them in the way our sleep-deprived brain instructs us to. All this is to say that you may need to incorporate even more wholefoods into your diet in the perinatal period than you ordinarily would. And that is why I have defined what they are, and lavishly listed a bunch for you to consider here.

Listen to your body

This one is fairly straightforward. It involves paying attention to how you feel and using that information to influence your actions.

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