I told you I would be covering other cultures and how they address the postpartum period. It’s all about recovery ladies and really should be viewed as a time to make yourself even more spectacular. 6,000-year-old Ayurvedic medical texts explain that because a woman’s psycho-physiology is in complete transition for six weeks during the postnatal period, a rare opportunity exists to reset all systems for ideal health. (The photo image is of sesame seeds).

Below is an article I found by Martha Oakes out of Boulder, Colorado. Martha is a certified Postpartum AyurDoula, a Diplomate of Ayurvedic Health Science, Aromatherapist and mother of three wonderful children.

After the delivery of a baby, the digestive power is often diminished; a new mother’s digestive system is very delicate. Yet her needs are great. Choice of foods and how well a mother digests her food has a great deal to do with the quality of her milk, avoiding depression and colic, and the quality of mom’s rejuvenation, strength, comfort, and resulting spontaneous and natural expression of mothering. The following suggestions are time tested, from the ancient system of natural health care called Ayurveda, and found common to many cultures around the world.

Try adapting your family favorites and refrigerator on-hands (no leftovers please) to using the preferred veggies, seasonings, grains, sweets and proteins. Use ample oiliness, moisture, warmth, and of course, love. She will feel it all. Please use suggested seasonings too! We need all six tastes in our main meals for balanced nutrition, but see the ones to emphasize - sweet, sour and some salt. The herbs and spices help digestion, often lactation as well. Mom and baby have much inner and quiet work to do right now which has such long lasting effect on her well being and family life. And on ours too.

Preferred Foods

There are lots of yummy things you can do with this list!

• Pure water, warm, oily, liquid or moist, nourishing, delicious, gentle on the digestion. Fresh ingredients freshly prepared by a happy cook – these have better life force and maternal/infant results!
• Proteins to favor are ricotta, cottage and other unfermented cheeses, and boiled warm milk. Sesame and almond milk, split hulled mung beans in soup, perhaps other soaked overnight and well-cooked lentils. Possibly tofu, chicken and fish soups after about 4 weeks. Lassi, a yogurt or buttermilk drink thinned half with water and seasoned, sweet or savory. Also ground nuts (or, especially nourishing are well soaked, 24 – 48 hours) in nut milks, soups, or sauces. Most women have trouble with soy products.
• Carbohydrates – Favor Basmati or white rice (cook with an extra ½-1 cup water per cup of rice), unleavened wheat such as couscous, pastas, sprouted grain “Essene” breads, and chapattis (unleavened tortillas), tapioca without the egg, yams, sweet potatoes and winter squashes, oats, and quinoa in smaller quantity. Women who have been eating brown rice daily may be fine with it, but is rougher on tender bowels. Favor fructose rather than sucrose, or less refined sugars if possible - especially the iron rich ones like Succanat, the dark Indian jaggery and molasses. Do not cook with honey. Postpartum moms DO need healthy sweets, even if not breastfeeding!
• Fruits – Sweet fresh (not chilled) and freshly squeezed sweet fruit juices are wonderful for their life force. Coconut milk is soothing and delicious in cream sauces or soups too.
• Veggies – Cooked until softer – Asparagus, beet, carrot, summer squashes, pumpkin avocado, artichoke, chayote, okra. Some green beans or broccoli well seasoned if she is not of thin body type, and peeled eggplant and kale, spinach, or chard may also be fine. Be sure to use oiliness, seasonings, salt, and lime juice with leafy greens.
• Seasonings - Basil, a little Black Mustard Seed, Cumin, Caraway, Citrus Peel, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Fennel, Fenugreek, Licorice Powder. Fresh Garlic - prepared only by mincing and browning in oil or butter. Ginger (fresh is usually best), pinches of Hing (Asafoetida - instead of Onion), Lime, Orange or Lemon juice and Peel, Marjoram, Nutmeg if she is not prone to constipation. A little Black Pepper, Paprika, Tamarind, Tarragon, Turmeric. Ajwan (wild celery) seeds soaked first in cool water.
• Fats - Use healthy fats and oils more abundantly than normal, this is important. Most particularly butter, clarified butter, coconut oil in the summer (it cools), sesame and toasted sesame oils, and some olive are the best ones. No hydrogenated ones, or trans-fatty acids please! And forget the low-fat idea!!!!!

The “Rejects”

(Just minimize these as best you can)

• Dry, cold, rough, harder to digest, heavy, clogging, fermented and “rascally” pungents. At least minimize these, or just avoid. They may for various reasons aggravate mother or infant digestion, accumulate into colic, or slow mom’s rejuvenation. Some are bigger no-nos than others. Rushed or irritated atmosphere in cooking, serving, & eating also weakens digestion, hence maternal/infant tummy comfort etc.
• Most of us know about these – Coffee, sodas, chocolate, alcohol, garlic (dry, raw, or undercooked); onion, radish, chilies, cabbage family.
• Cold Foods and Drinks – yup, like ice cream and salads and chilled foods and drinks in general.
• Heavies – such as red meats and fermented cheeses, sour cream, yogurt, lots of nuts, eggs, and fried foods (sauté is ok).
• Dried foods – Rule of thumb is those obviously taking moisture out of the system to digest, like dried fruits, crackers, toast! These and rough dryer grains (millet, brown rice, corn, buckwheat) can be hard on fragile innards. Less white potatoes as well as drying, bitter, and astringent herbs (even frequent chamomile, red zinger and red raspberry), and watch out for the legumes - heavy wind producers. 2 – 3 cups of strong Sage or Turmeric tea is extreme enough. It is used by midwives to dry up lactation. Balance with oil, moist, sweet, sour, salty tastes and influences if you can’t avoid.
• Tomatoes, Peas, Peppers, Sprouts, Salads. Easy also on Leafy Greens first weeks, and other bitter/astringent foods. But the greens are so high in iron and bone flexibility minerals (especially the stems for the latter), if they sound good to Mom, balance them with oiliness, salt, fennel or cumin or caraway or dill, and ginger or roasted garlic or hing, lime, and some sweeter vegetable as well.
• Milk, Cream with Sour, Salty, or Astringent tastes – Milk/cream digests best boiled (simplifies protein molecule), ok with grains, puddings or sweet fruit, not with main meals. Or enjoy warm with a little honey or favorite sweetener and ginger, cardamom and/or saffron type spices.
• Fermented Foods – Such as Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Pickles, Tempeh, Miso, Most Cheeses, Mushrooms. Both easy and hard to digest foods, as well as leftovers, after about 6 hours, point is degenerative energetics. Make enough for just lunch and dinner for the family.
• Cooking with Honey is proven to create mildly toxic accumulations over time in the body channels. Raw or drink-ably warm is fine if you like it.
• Leavenings – Yeast, Baking Powder and Soda all are somewhat of a strain on Mom’s rejuvenation too.

Meals brought by friends honoring these principles are such a great gift!

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June 21st, 2007 | Permalink