The Vital Importance of Postpartum Nutrition
What is the best way to nourish a postpartum mother? What are the qualities of food that will allow her to tap into her postpartum superpowers to the fullest extent? In this new mini-series, SPM host Tatiana Berindei is rejoined by Postpartum Doula and Trainer Christine Devlin Eck to share why the way we nourish our new mom’s matters. Beyond any shame or emotions we may have wrapped up in our food choices, this episode focuses on the power of nutrition to allow a new mother to return to wholeness after the enormity of birthing. Jam-packed with tips and how-tos, tune in to this storehouse of information to learn how to best support yourself after birthing and nurture the new (or new-again) mothers in your family, life, and community.
Tatiana Berindei:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Superpower Mommas. I’m your host, Tatiana Berindei, and I am delighted to have Christine Devlin Eck back with me today. She and I, after our last really wonderful conversation, decided that there was just so much richness to offer here that we’ve decided to do a little series for you. We’re going to do three shows and we’re just diving a little more deeply into some of the topics that we brought up in our last show.
Today, we are going to be discussing the vital importance of postpartum nutrition and just going a little more deeply into why what we put into our bodies after we have our babies is so important, and it has such a long-lasting impact, not only on us but also on our little ones. I’m just really excited to have you back today. Christine, welcome back to the show.
Christine Devlin Eck:
Thank you so much, Tatiana, it’s such an important topic. I’m so happy to be here with you.
Tatiana Berindei:
Yes, me too. So since we already covered your bio and everything in our last show, I kind of want to just dive right in into why this topic feels so important to bring forward and to discuss today.
Christine Devlin Eck:
Well, I think that we all understand that nutrition is important. However, I think what we’re missing so much in our Western medical model is the medicinal aspects of our foods and how, yes, it’s important to be eating healthy foods, fruits, and vegetables and all those things, but that the foods specifically have qualities that are going to support different aspects of our health. So that piece of it is what is a little bit more mystifying for many, and, so during the postpartum window, we have this amazing opportunity to actually support the things that we have to be doing. We have to be making milk, we have to be healing our tissues. And so when we can pay attention and have some clues as to what foods are going to help facilitate our bodies naturally wanting to do that, we’re putting ourselves in a much better spot.
Tatiana Berindei:
Yeah, and there’s something that you mentioned that I think is really important, that I’m excited to dive more deeply into with you once we come back from the break and we have the time and space to do so, but you mentioned the quality of the food. I mean, you’re the one who is very well versed in Ayurveda and I’ve just dipped my toes into it and I find it fascinating, but I think one of the things that I really love about the Ayurvedic model, as far as the little teeny bits that I’ve come to understand it, is that there isn’t really a portion of bad and good food. It’s about the quality, it’s like what that kind of food or the qualities inherent that food does in our system. And when we have certain imbalances in the system or things that we want to enhance, then we find foods that have a quality that will support that. Am I correct in sort of that real sort of base understanding of what’s going on here?
Christine Devlin Eck:
Yes, I love that. I think that what’s so lovely about the Ayurvedic perspective is that it’s very, very common sense. We break it down into these 20 qualities, gunas, they’re called in Sanskrit and they’re 10 pairs of opposite qualities. Depending on what our body is needing at that moment, based on the season, the time of day, our situation in our life at that moment, our individual constitution of what makes each of us, our bodies are all different a little, and we each need different qualities in different amounts in order to find a really well-balanced place of being.
When we can understand what these qualities are and how to spot them, and they’re very easy like I said, we’re looking at like hot and cold and rough and smooth and in qualities that we see in everything around us when we can learn to apply that observation to what we’re putting in our bodies, it changes everything in my opinion. It gives such empowerment of, oh, I know what to do now. I’m feeling this way and so I can eat like this, and then it’s going to give me the qualities I need to turn that around.
Tatiana Berindei:
Yeah, and what I love about that is that it takes the shame out of food. So many of us, especially women, have so much shame associated with our eating habits and our relationship to food. I mean, I could feel it even when you were first talking about the fruits and vegetables, I’m like, oh my God. And then there are the people who are rolling their eyes like I just can’t, it’s too overwhelming, to try to quote-unquote, eat healthily. What I love about just sort of coming back to those qualities, it anchors us in a totally different place in our relationship to food.
Christine Devlin Eck:
It does, it does. I think that we have an opportunity to look at foods that we really actually love and identify what the qualities are about those foods that we really love. Oftentimes we’re going to see that we are actually kind of need those qualities. If it’s something that’s really sweet and creamy and, let’s look at how we’re feeling, maybe we’re feeling kind of dry or depleted and so that type of quality is actually creating a trigger in our mind and our bodies and helping to produce something that’s actually benefiting us. So, yeah, I agree and I think there’s a whole ‘nother level there too, of sort of the energetics behind how we treat the process of eating, and you just said there about the same piece. Well, what if we translate that into gratitude for this delicious, wonderful food that we’re eating and how does that then shift the way that our body reacts to that food?
Tatiana Berindei:
Yeah, totally. Okay. So we’re going to dive much more deeply into this after the break, we do have to go to a quick break. Before we do, will you tell our listeners where they can go to find out more about what you’re up to in-depth?
Christine Devlin Eck:
Yes, thank you so much. You can find us at sacredwindowsstudies.com.
Tatiana Berindei:
Awesome. Go and check out what Christine’s up to over at sacredwindowstudies.com. Also, I’m really excited to announce that I am now offering the virtual New Moon Circle through our Superpower Universe. So if that is something that you have been looking for to just find a way to ground more deeply into the rhythms and the cycles of the moon, of the earth, I’m so thrilled to be able to be offering these now for you all. Please go to superpowermommas.com and sign up for the Superpower Universe. That is the only way to access these circles, but they are ceremonies. Taking all of my ministries, all of my training, and bringing it to you that way to help you to just anchor more deeply into your life and into yourself. So go to superpowermommas.com, check out those virtual ceremonies. Go to sacredwindowstudies.com, check out what Christine’s up to. We are going to be right back, diving more deeply into all this yumminess about food and nutrition postpartum. So don’t go anywhere. Stay tuned.
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