The stereotype of women ‘bloating ‘ after childbirth leads to the unhealthy worrying of what to eat to lose all the pregnancy fat. It is important to know the right way of eating right to feed your baby nutritious milk and staying in the ‘perfect’ body shape you want.
It has been observed over time how most new moms are made to believe that breastfeeding helps with weight loss after giving birth. However, while breastfeeding is said to burn a large number of calories, it also requires a daily intake of approximately 500 more calories than a pre-pregnancy diet.
This article is here to guide you through the healthy and essential calories for a breastfeeding mother.
FOODS WITH THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CALORIES FOR BREASTFEEDING MOTHERS.
Breastfeeding mothers generally need more calories to meet their nutritional needs while breastfeeding. ‘An additional 450 to 500 kilocalories (kcal) of healthy external icon food calories per day is recommended for well-nourished breastfeeding mothers’. (Cdc.gov).
There is a need for specific nutrients, including protein, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin C, B12, among others in breastfeeding mothers.
Below are some essential foods with the right amount of calories for breastfeeding mothers. Although fish is an excellent source of protein and contains essential vitamins and minerals for breastfeeding women, some care must be taken in deciding on the amount and types of seafood to consume. Most fish contain some amount of mercury, which accumulates in the fish flesh and can pass from mother to infant through breast milk. This can have adverse effects on the brain and nervous system of the breastfed infant.
Fish and seafood: salmon, seaweed, shellfish, sardines
Meat and poultry: chicken, beef, lamb, pork, organ meats (such as liver)
Fruits and vegetables: berries, tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage, kale, garlic, broccoli
Nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds, flaxseeds
Healthy fats: avocados, olive oil, coconut, eggs, full-fat yogurt
Fiber-rich starches: potatoes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, beans, lentils, oats, quinoa, buckwheat
Other foods: tofu, dark chocolate, kimchi, sauerkraut
Avoid dietary sources of caffeine such as:
Coffee.
Sodas.
Energy drinks.
Tea.
Chocolate.
HEALTHY STEPS TO BURN CALORIES AS A BREASTFEEDING MOTHER
1. Drinking plenty of water every day.
The body needs water to burn fat. Increasing your water intake may increase lipolysis, the process by which the body burns fat for energy, according to a 2016 mini-review of animal studies published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
2. Getting as much sleep as you can
This is usually difficult for breastfeeding mothers, as your babies may always be up in the middle of the night, sometimes throughout the night. Research has however shown that a sleeping baby is a well-rested mother. One theory on why breastfeeding mothers get more sleep is that human milk has melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. Human milk also has other “sleep-inducing” and “brain-boosting” components like tryptophan and amino acids.
Not getting enough sleep, makes you “metabolically groggy,” University of Chicago researchers say. ‘Within just 4 days of insufficient sleep, your body’s ability to process insulin, a hormone needed to change sugar, starches, and other food into energy, goes awry’.
When your body doesn’t respond properly to insulin, your body has trouble processing fats from your bloodstream, so it ends up storing them as fat.
3. Eating a balanced diet including fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats.
4. Incorporating moderate exercise into your daily routine, such as taking walks, stretches. This can be hard especially for mothers since there’s another responsibility to take care of, ‘the baby’, but incorporating exercises that shouldn’t take much of your time to do keeps you healthy.
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