Savvy Pumping Mamas Part 4
In our continuing series, helping you to make savvy choices as a nursing mom, we focus on diet once more.
Remember, eating a balanced diet is all about maintaining your personal health and energy so you can meet the rigorous demands of motherhood with smiling strength.
We covered the basics of what constitutes a balanced diet in our earlier post.
In brief: a balanced diet is natural, fresh, and has variety. This might seem easy on paper; it can be difficult to implement into your daily life when you’re running ragged trying to juggle everything for everyone else. So here are a few quick tips:
- Planning makes you prepared. And when you’re prepared, you eat right. Plan your dinner calendar for a full week. You can prepare by grocery shopping for the dried and/or packaged items over the weekend or on a day when you are off from work. You can quickly pick up the fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, or fish on the day you’ll eat them (or the day before). This plan will empower you to eat healthy meals and to see that you are incorporating various foods in a balanced way (differing forms, combinations, and preparation styles).
- Pack your lunch. It might sound so very grade school, but again this is about being prepared. When the hungry hound takes you over, you’re likely to grab the first thing that looks and smells good – regardless of its nutritional content or which food groups your body might need at the moment.
- Eat a snack. Whenever you’re with your baby, it’s likely you’re carrying a baby bag. Always toss a healthy snack into that bag for yourself: carrot sticks and hummus, an organic snack bar, a small bag of nuts or trail mix.
- Hydrate. Stay mindful of drinking your eight glasses (64 ounces) of water throughout the day. When you wake in the morning drink a warm cup of water with lemon juice. This is a fabulous way to hydrate and gently awaken the digestive system and knock out 8 ounces immediately. We also like to drink a glass of water just before sitting down to each meal as we often forget to drink throughout the meal. That, plus your warm morning cup will get you halfway to your daily goal. Whenever you’re out and about carry a water bottle with you and drink as you notice your thirst.
Do the best you can, always remembering that finding balance is something personal and ongoing—even in your diet.
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