Zen Journey - Maternal Nutrition, Birth & Postpartum Support

04/21/2022

04/07/2022

04/02/2022

We all have those foods we won't buy for various reasons...⁠
- price⁠
- taste⁠
- logistics⁠
- ethics⁠
- religion⁠
- culture⁠
- health ⁠
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Which is fine! But there are other people who do eat those foods. How do we talk about those foods we don't eat, so we're not demonizing other people? ⁠
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I've heard various foods referred to as evil, poisonous, dirty, etc. We know food is a part of people. So it's not hard to understand why kids (and adults) often think if a food is "bad", so are the people who eat it. ⁠
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I don't buy soda. I have my reasons (I have a "soda" highlight with some of them), but I don't think my kids are ready for the nuance that goes along with all of my reasons yet. They are getting there, and we are starting to have conversations to build on, but it will take some time. ⁠
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When they are little though, it's simple enough to just say "that's not on the list." Sometimes we need to give reasons - for safety (allergies) or cultural (this is our identity) reasons - but most of the time we don't. ⁠
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Then as they get older we can have more in-depth conversations. Is there something you don't buy?⁠

01/25/2022

One of my favorite ways to help clients get into cooking at home is to come up with a menu like this one! The classics include all dishes that you know how to make by heart or are your go to, and I have a build your own section that makes it easy to keep track of your macros.

01/19/2022

11/10/2021

Love this

I’m really not a fan of the whole “foremilk-hindmilk” chatter…
I think the reason I really dislike it is because it puts the blame on the mother as if something is wrong with your milk. It’s not - your milk is perfect. This isn’t what is going on 🙅‍♀️
First off, you only make one kind of milk! But it’s not “homogenized” so the fat naturally separates out *in your breast*
👉🏻The fat sticks to the sides of your milk ducts and further up near where milk is made
When a baby starts a feed, they initially get this “watery” milk that’s sitting right there at the ni**le. As the feed continues, the fat comes down too. Massaging your breast before and during a feed can help your fat come down, and a letdown especially helps.
So there is just one milk - your breastmilk. So why do we hear about this whole “too much foremilk, not enough hindmilk” stuff?
WELL I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!
When a baby is not feeding well, they are not going to get the fat to come down. They primarily get this “watery” milk… cue:
💨 gassy, fussy baby
💩green, frothy p**ps
📉 possibly not growing well
But the root cause of those issues has NOTHING to do with your milk. It’s your baby struggling to get your milk out.
📣 It’s a *feeding issue* 📣
You can do all the things that the internet tells you to about “getting the hindmilk”, or “making your milk more fatty”, but if you don’t fix the feeding issue, the problems will just start to stack up.
Your milk is more than just fat. Your baby uses EVERYTHING in your milk to grow ❤️
**p

10/26/2021

Yeah you bet I did the math on how much of your kids’ chocolate stash is safe to eat when you’re breastfeeding?
However much they let you 🤣
The main reason chocolate gets brought into question when it comes to safety in breastfeeding is because of the caffeine.
Let’s assume you’re a blonde roast kinda gal, so your cuppa joe has about 150mg caffeine ☕️ (I’m more of a dark roast mama which actually has less 🙃)
You’d need to eat 46 mini Hershey’s, 22 mini Aero, and 19 mini boxes of Smarties. If you’re wondering - yes that’s how much is in the picture lol. Oh and eat it all in one sitting. Not spread out throughout the day (because our bodies are always breaking caffeine down). It works out to 750g (or 1.7lbs) of milk chocolate 🍫
PLUS the recommendation is to keep it under 300mg of caffeine. So then you could technically have twice that!
But then you ask - “I heard it’s not the caffeine, it’s something else...”
That would be theobromine (a close cousin of caffeine, but they are not the same). It’s in *higher amounts* in chocolate, but it is *more weak* when it comes to comparing nervous system effects to caffeine.
The ONLY research we have is a single case report of a breastfeeding mother who had a newborn baby who was jittery and irritable. They figured it was because she ate 250g of chocolate EVERY DAY during her pregnancy AND while breastfeeding.
For perspective, that would be 25 mini Hershey’s. Every day for 9+ months.
Given the symptoms, we aren’t even sure if it was the theobromine or the caffeine in chocolate.
So eat however much chocolate feeds your soul, mama! The amount that even maybe would cause problems is A LOT. Watch your baby, and if you’re noticing problems - **check any feeding issues before jumping to food 🍫 **
Okay favourite chocolate bar, everyone - GO IN THE COMMENTS! 👇🏼

09/14/2021

08/29/2021