Plant-Based Eating For Postpartum
Given I’ve written a whole book about plant-based foods for new mums I didn’t think I’d have that much more to say about it! But then I reflected on the most frequently asked questions about my book and realised I love food so much I could easily write another whole plant-based recipe book… but for now, this blog post will have to do, because of time.
In many cultures, meat is a common postpartum food, especially organ meats and bone broths, but in Ayurveda, we are taught that plant-based food, plus dairy is ideal for new mums. Who is right? Your body. If you find yourself craving some meat after your baby is born, listen to your body. But if you are happy eating plant-based food it is absolutely safe and healthy to do so.
This blog post will include fewer recipes (because all my best postpartum plant-based recipes are already available here) and more of an exploration of the plant-based nutrition for new mums.
Alternatives To Ghee And Butter
The most frequently asked question I get about my recipe book is what to replace ghee with. In Ayurveda, new mothers are fed enormous amounts of ghee. You can read a little more about ghee in this blog post and in my recipe book.
The problem with ghee is it is obviously not vegan, and although it has no lactose it does still have milk protein which is the bit that makes some breastfed babies tummy’s upset. So I can understand why you’d want to leave it out.
If you do need to replace ghee then reduce the amounts in my recipes a lot, as ghee aids digestion where other fats and oils and heavy and difficult to digest. You can use whatever oil you usually use including olive oil or coconut oil as appropriate to that recipe, but use it more as something to stop onions sticking than as a medicinal food, just in much smaller amounts.
Probably the main reason I’m not vegan is butter. Butter is magical to me, and especially ghee!! And butter alternatives like nuttelex are not even food if you ask me! Sometimes I’ll have tahini, hummus or avocado on toast instead of butter, and we use a lot of olive oil to reduce our butter intake. But I really could never eat margarine for health and taste reasons so I don’t use butter replacements!
Iron And Plant-Based Foods
I know it’s common to worry about iron when you cut out meat, but I’m vegetarian and the only time I’ve been seriously iron deficient is during one of my pregnancies, and I know many meat-eaters who are frequently iron deficient. Here’s what I think: whilst it’s true that plant-based iron is more difficult to absorb, it’s also true that plant-based foods are more likely to contain other micronutrients such as Vitamin A, C and beta-carotene which increase your absorption of iron. You may just need to eat a little more iron from plant-based sources than you would from meat. So if your plant-based foods include lots of healthy fruits and vegetables then you are probably doing alright. But if you are eating lots of processed and packaged foods it could be problematic regardless of whether they are plant-based or not.
And here’s the science:
“Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. This article reviews the current data related to key nutrients for vegetarians including protein, n-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, and vitamins D and B-12. A vegetarian diet can meet current recommendations for all of these nutrients. An evidence- based review showed that vegetarian diets can be nutritionally adequate in pregnancy and result in positive maternal and infant health outcomes.
The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.
The variability of dietary practices among vegetarians makes individual assessment of dietary adequacy essential.”
Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets.
And some more science on iron and vegetarian diets.
Phew. Put simply, your health is impacted more by what you DO eat than what you DON’T eat.
Mental Health And Plant-Based Diets
We need to take extra care of mental health during postpartum and some studies found that vegetarians are more at risk of depression than meat-eaters.
However, I’ve wondered if this is because vegetarians are likely to be more sensitive and hyper-empathetic people, to begin with, so which came first!?!!? Is someone depressed because they are vegetarian? Or vegetarian because they are depressed about the state of the world!?
So I did some googling and came across this:
“Importantly, we found no evidence for a causal role of vegetarian diet in the etiology of mental disorders. Rather, our results are more consistent with the view that the experience of a mental disorder increases the probability of choosing a vegetarian diet, or that psychological factors influence both the probability of choosing a vegetarian diet and the probability of developing a mental disorder.”
Here is an interesting study in case you want to explore this one further.
B12 And Plant-Based Foods
I always thought that vitamin B12 came only from animal products. Since I’m vegetarian and not vegan I’ve never worried about it since I do eat some dairy and eggs, but vegans usually supplement B12.
But then I learned that B12 isn’t actually created by animals, it created by healthy soil! Vitamin B12 is the most chemically complex of all vitamins and is produced by soil microbes that live in symbiotic relationships with plant roots.
Given my obsession with regenerative agriculture, this really spiked my interest! Healthy soil that is high in carbon is an essential aspect of regenerative agriculture and a leading solution to climate change. In their natural habitats, grazing animals ingest small amounts of soil and therefore B12 as they graze and drink from natural water sources. But as I’m sure you know many factory-farmed animals today never get to graze on healthy soil or drink from natural water sources, resulting in B12 deficient livestock, and many animals are given B12 supplements now too.
So even if you eat meat it’s possible you are getting your B12 from a supplement anyway!
Today we need to heal the earth by creating healthy soils, which sequester larger amounts of carbon and are the building block of all life. Healthy soil is healthy for everyone.
Seaweed
I also recently learned about seaweed, which is not actually a plant or an animal but gets it own special weird category which I don’t quite understand. Seaweed is an incredible food and some varieties include Omega 3 and even Vit B12. I’ve included a seaweed recipe here because seaweed is magic, carbon draw-down, super healthy food that is common in postpartum menus in various parts of the world.
Here is a traditional Korean postpartum recipe for seaweed soup, that you can make without the beef if you want to stick to plant-based foods.
And if you want more plant-based postpartum recipes you’ll have to buy my book :)
Learn More About The Plant-based Series >>> Plant-Based Eating For Beginners , Plant-Based Eating For Pregnancy and Plant-Based For Babies And Toddlers.
