Consume extra calories, balance your diet and more: Some essentials of postpartum diet
Consume extra calories, balance your diet and more: Some essentials of postpartum diet
For nine months, the diet a mother-to-be takes is decided keeping in mind the nutritional requirements of both the mother and the baby. But did you know that the post-pregnancy diet is equally important? The post pregnancy dietary requirements may differ because of the physical and hormonal changes that take place. However, a proper nutrition is needed for new mothers, particularly for a quicker recovery and their overall health.
Here are some of the tips that lactating mothers should keep in mind:
1. Consume Extra Calories: Eat more to add an additional 330 to 400 calories a day, this will give you the energy and nutrition to produce milk. To add those extra calories, you may eat a slice of whole-grain bread with a tablespoon of peanut butter, a medium banana or apple along with yoghurt.
2. Balance Your Diet: Whenever you eat, half of your plate should be filed with fruits and vegetables. The other half should consist of grains like whole-grain bread, brown rice, or oatmeal. Limit the consumption of processed foods and drinks that have excess salt, extra sugars and saturated fat.
3. Consider Taking Supplements: Your doctor will most likely recommend a daily vitamin B-12 supplement. Vitamin B-12 is usually found in animal products, so it is difficult to get it through vegetarian diets. If you do not eat fish, you might want to talk to your health care provider about adding an omega-3 supplement to your diet.
4. Healthy Carbs Required: Postpartum, the body needs carbs too to keep your energy levels high along with other necessary nutrients. One must include cereals, brown rice and whole grains in the diet. Even when you workout for weight loss, carbohydrates should still be a part of your diet.
5. Beany Diet: Beans are among the best source of iron. The darker beans have many benefits like Black beans and kidney beans which are rich in iron and are the best source of proteins for vegetarians.
Celebrity nutritionist Lovneet Batra, in her recent Instagram post, shared a few tips for lactating mothers.
Batra advised to have a protein-based diet and avoid excessive tea and coffee.
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