How to Eat Healthfully After Childbirth

Your body can take a while to recover from childbirth, but eating right can help you get back to normal as soon as possible.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Dark Leafy Green Vegetables
• Whole Grains
• Whole-grain Bread
• Multivitamins
• Prenatal Vitamins

1. Wait about six weeks after your baby is born before you begin any formal attempt at weight loss. This will give your body a chance to recover from the stress of pregnancy and childbirth.
2. Eat iron-rich foods (especially if you are breast-feeding) and keep taking your prenatal supplements. This will help you recover from blood loss during labor and delivery.
3. Try to eat about 300 fewer calories per day than you needed during pregnancy if you are not breast-feeding; this will help you lose weight safely and gradually. If you are breast-feeding, add 300 calories to what you needed during pregnancy.
4. Be patient with yourself. It took nine months to put the weight on, and it can take up to a year for your body to get back to normal.
5. Keep your energy up by eating a healthy balance of carbohydrates and protein.
6. Get up to 30 percent of your daily calories from fat. Some healthy fats include olive oil and avocados.
7. Try to eat lots of whole grains, legumes, and leafy green vegetables; these will give you the most nutritional value with the lowest levels of calories and fat.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to combine foods containing iron with foods containing vitamin C ' this will help your body to absorb the iron more efficiently.
• Keep moving. Exercise combined with a healthy diet will help get your body back to normal as rapidly as possible.
• Stay off crash or fad diets. Overdieting can send your metabolism into starvation mode and hinder postpartum weight loss.
• If you are breast-feeding, the extra weight you gained during pregnancy should come off naturally and fairly easily; don't go on any formal weight-loss regimens without consulting your doctor.