How Can I Nourish Myself in the Postpartum Time From an Ayurvedic Perspective?
-
Kaely Harrod 0:02
Hello and welcome back to Kaely Daily. Today's question is how can I nourish myself in the postpartum time from an Ayurvedic perspective? So we are going to be joined by a special guest. Stay tuned and hear all of her wisdom. This is Kaely daily, the bi weekly podcast about all things doula Tips and Tits where we answer one question about pregnancy, labor, postpartum, or lactation, in order to have your journey in this parenting world be just a little bit more informed and filled with consent button. Hello, and welcome back to Kaely daily. I'm Kaely Harrod, your host. And I'm joined today by a lovely guest. Again, I told you guys a few weeks ago, we'll have more guests on and I'm super excited for this guest. Her name is Olga, and she's going to be talking to us about postpartum nutrition, and all kinds of lovely things. Olga, if you could share a little bit about yourself and your background, and what do you do? That would be awesome.
Olga 1:10
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Um, so yeah, my name is Olga, and I am an Ayurvedic postpartum, planning caregiver and educator. And that really came about because of my own experience during postpartum which wasn't the greatest. And I did suffer from quite a lot of anxiety. And it took me quite a while to figure out what was really happening. And then it led to kind of like ill health, which then I had to figure out like, how do I overcome this? Which is then what led me down the road to Ayurveda? And, yeah, and how phenomenal phenomenal this medicinal system is, for the postpartum period. So yeah, that's a little bit about me.
Kaely Harrod 2:04
Yeah, well, the postpartum period is such a critical time for like the rest of our lives of health. You know, once you have a baby, I kind of feel like we're always postpartum. Once we've had a kid, you know, our bodies have shifted, and so yeah, but that's another that's another soapbox for another day. I would love for you to start before we dive into our official podcast question to start with, describing to us what is ayurvedic? I'm going to say that wrong every time. It's like a tongue twister for me, even means, like, what is that system of medicine?
Olga 2:43
Yeah. So I Ayurveda is actually the oldest medicinal system in the world. And it originates from India, ancient India. And for those of you who know yoga, I'm sure many of you do, I have whether is actually the sister science of yoga. So these sisters, so it's based on the same kind of philosophy. And I think what's important to mention that the difference between Western medicine and Ayurveda is that it looks at the person as a holistic system. And it doesn't just focus on the physical body of the individual, but the physical body, the emotional body, the mental body and spiritual body and considers that as the holistic system. And if, yeah, so it doesn't kind of just look at something in isolation, you know, it's the whole system. And another really key, I think, important factor to, to tell your audience is that I am better is based on that philosophy that the law of nature is present in every living and nonliving entity out there. So, from your plant life, your minerals, your animals are human beings, we all consist of the same natural elements. And, and as a result, because we have, and those five elements are actually earth, fire, water, air, and ether. And everything's made up that so if if one of those elements are out of balance, within that we can go to food, because they consist of the same five elements and using the appropriate foods, we can heal our bodies. So kind of that's just the simplistic premise of what I read is
Kaely Harrod 4:43
right, right. Yeah, the overview. That's awesome. I love that I do have tons of clients and, and friends and family members who are either yoga teachers or yoga practices, you know, so it does go hand in hand with that, and I think yoga It is so much more well known in the western culture than the sister science of ayurveda are, I'm really gonna say it wrong. I know I even looked it up before we were meeting because I was like, I'm going to keep saying it wrong. I know I will. So anyway, so our official Podcast Episode Question is, how can I nourish myself in the postpartum time from this perspective? So that's what I would love for you to dive into. And I know it does differ a bit right person to person, postpartum time is different. But as a general idea, what does it look like to nourish yourself and postpartum?
Olga 5:40
Yeah. And I just want to jump back quickly to help us understand why according to Ayurveda, it's so crucial to Yeah, for your body to have the right nutrients. First of all, is because immediately after birth, the new mother's digestive system is completely out of whack. It's really functioning at a very low level, right? So not all nutritious food is going to be helpful to you, right, because some food is harder to digest than others. And then the second reason why nutrition is so important is because we need to replenish energy that has been lost throughout the process of forming the baby for nine months and growing the baby. And then of course, the birth process, right. And thirdly, it's to be able to produce nutritious and wholesome breast milk. Yep. Right. And then fourth, and very importantly, it's so that we can rebuild the tissues. Right? There's there's been quite a lot of, I wouldn't say damage, but there's a lot of stuff that's been going on the mom's body, and those tissues need to be rebuilt, and she needs to recover and get her health back. So those are the four reasons why it's important. Yeah. So yeah. Do you have any questions based on what I just told you?
Kaely Harrod 7:06
No, no, keep going. You're doing great.
Olga 7:10
So I'm just what is your kind of go? Let's just quickly go back to kind of like, let me see how I can address a particular question that you have, because I don't want to go on this.
Olga 7:21
Yeah. So I, the question is, from this, like, ayurvedic persspective, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just keep trying to say it and saying it wrong, and you can laugh at me. And this perspective, what does it look like to nourish yourself? One of the things you already mentioned is the digestive system, which I talk to clients about all the time, because I'm like, you need you need well cooked, like easy to digest food, you know, because your body has just been through so much, starting from the fact that your entire intestines have been squished in the last couple weeks of pregnancy, you know, but that's, that's more of a logistical thing, a space thing, you know? So yeah, what is it? What does it look like compared to I think in the Western culture, we we lack some postpartum I don't know some postpartum customs that other cultures do much better than we do. Right? Around nourishment around rest around recovery. So what does that look like for this this perspective? Yeah.
Olga 8:29
Right. So um, so just to kind of like, maybe take a little bit of a setback, again, is that during postpartum or immediately after a woman gives birth, the two natural elements that are in excess is air, and ether, or space is another word for it. Because those two elements are super, super important. For the down movement of the baby, to help the baby come out the birth canal, anyone in forming the baby, so there's so much air and space that gets kind of accumulated in the body. And, and then immediately after birth, that is what needs to be restored back to balance. And the qualities of air and ether are like, it's cold. It's very mobile. It's rough. It's subtle. So all so in order to reduce the qualities are something we need to use the opposite qualities in order to reduce those, right. So the foods that we consume, have to be first of all mushy, and soupy so I would say and the first few days until the breast milk comes in, it's so important to eat things like rice pudding, or, you know, a bone broth kitschy. Bone Broth, kanji, so like very mushy kind of food. And I would say that the consistency would be around 16 cups of water to one cup of the grain. Because, because, I mean, I think, you know, once you've had a baby, you will know that you will suffer from constipation and those first few days. And that is the key kind of like, indicator that your digestive system is actually almost not even working. And that is why that supinated motion is so important because it's easy for your body to digest that. And to assimilate and absorb those nutrients from that kind of consistency, right. And then the other thing is, the food has got to be warm, even hot, depending on you know, what the mother is able to, you know, if it's really hot outside, if it's in the middle of summer, then we want to go to warm room temperature stuff, but food has to be warm. Yeah. And then the other thing is, it's going to be unctuous and oily. Right? Now, it's, it's, I think a lot of moms tend to stay away from like fats after birth, because they think, oh, I want to lose the baby fat. I don't want to gain more. But good fats are so crucial. First of all, to kind of to produce those four outcomes that are mentioned right at the beginning, but also so vital for hormone production production. Right. And the consistent promotion of healthy hormones throughout your body. So the one fact that I read up it's almost a superfood an iron better. And it's called de Agra, if you I'm sure. Yes, yes, yes. And it's it's basically clarified butter, which makes a protein in milk a lot a lot, much, much easier to to digest. And it is it's good. So when he benefits gi it is it's really a superfood, and I use it in my food every day. And so yes, it's very important to include that fat anxiousness in your meals. So literally, like, if you have if you're going to eat rice pudding very runny, kind of, you know, rice pudding, add one or two tablespoons of ghee into that. Right. Yeah. And then and then the other thing that's also important is that we want to kind of have a heaviness to the food and in the sense not to say that it's gonna be like a heavy meal like a like a like a cheese cast or like a casserole or in Sanya, not not at all on first few weeks. But the heaviness, tiredness comes from that kind of like the oiliness the fat, and from sugar. Sugar is actually the sweet taste is actually one of the most important tastes or qualities of food that a mom needs to include in her food. And that doesn't mean candy. Heroin doesn't mean you know all the bad things, but like grains, they are naturally sweet, you know.
Olga 13:17
And brown sugar, like dark sugar, like molasses, jaggery and even even maple syrup. Those those brown, dark sugars are iron rich, right? which promotes the building of blood. So yeah, so initially in those first few days until the breast milk comes in, it's really about making a food predominantly sweet grains. No dark sugars. And then a little bit of Well, yeah, another thing and I read I said that the food has got six kind of like tastes to it, which is sweet. We know about the sweet taste, we know about the salty taste, sour taste, then there is a pungent taste which is like garlic and onion, pepper, it's kind of like it's got the heat to it right. And then you've got astringent taste, which is foods such as like green bananas, and chickpeas, it's got like, if you put that to your tongue, it's got this dry taste to it. And then the last one is better, which is mostly predominant in your leafy greens. And in the first few weeks or two weeks of post postpartum, where you want to only favor sweet, salty and sour. Okay, right. So yeah.
Kaely Harrod 14:50
Yeah, so I do so this is I don't want to sidetrack us with this but um, as you were talking about the like dark sugars, molasses Isn't maple syrup and those sorts of things, I was thinking about how this time also differs a bit for people. If they've started, like, let's say they are dealing with anemia in the midst of pregnancy, right, or they had more blood loss than usual with the delivery, then my assumption, but I want you to tell me if this is true, is that it would be beneficial for someone like that to work with someone like you who can say, because of your specific scenario, this is how you help to replenish your even more significant iron loss, right? Is that true? Or what would that? Or does is are the general principles applied equally, no matter what the scenario is, in the birth? Does that make sense? It does
Olga 15:45
differ slightly from person to person, depending also on what type of you know, body type, they all kind of environment they live in. But yeah, I mean, you know, somebody has anemia, and, like, in Ayurveda, the the sour taste, which would be like, you know, lime, lemon tamarind, sour cream, all those kinds of things. We kind of want to not, if you suffer from a lot of blood loss, you don't want to actually eat a lot of the sour taste because a sour taste prevents blood clotting. And, and can also can lead to excessive lochia or bleeding.
Kaely Harrod 16:34
Yeah.
Olga 16:35
So, so yeah. So there's certain things that we can absolutely food, you know, can be used to help and herbs as well. To help us certain conditions that is for sure.
Kaely Harrod 16:50
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think I mean, for me, I think it's easy to think through all the various scenarios that I've seen that are slightly outside of the normal, you know what I mean? Because there are those scenarios, of course. But I feel like nourishing your body is such a universal principle in that postpartum time. And we generally aren't great at that in Western culture anyway, you know, like, even without pregnancy and postpartum. So, yeah, yeah. So,
Kaely Harrod 17:25
you mentioned a second ago, sorry, I'm gonna ask you another question. You mentioned a second ago having this like, in the first few weeks, does this change. So like, in in the US, for instance, a lot of, you know, maternal, like leave time is like six to eight weeks. And that's kind of the time that we think about as the postpartum time I, of course, think that it's much longer than that forever after you have a baby. But what does it look like in in terms of nourishing yourself, once you get a little farther out, like three or four weeks postpartum? Yeah.
Olga 18:03
And, and it really all kind of depends on how your digestive system's working, because that will be the key indicator, where they it's beginning to work better, whether it's getting to its optimal level. But But traditionally, it's kind of split up into four phases as to which foods to introduce. And in the first few days until the breast or the breast milk comes in, it's really about eating porridge you like food, like I said, that the consistency of 16 cups of grains to one cup of water, and put is going to be cooked for a long time. Right? Like, like a very light doll. And, you know, I read it typically is vegetarian and really great source of protein is a lentil called Mung Dal, which is one of the easiest to digest lentil on the planet. So I'm kind of using or cooking a really light doll with using mung beans. It's also great for sometimes a mother, Well, strangely enough mother. She, my clients, always when I tell them about the recipes to use in the first three, four or five days, they're like, oh, but when they have to give birth, and they actually taste this food, they actually realize that what they created was a lot of sweetness. And in those five days, until breast milk comes in, you don't want to be eating fruit and vegetables, raw fruits and vegetables, or anything that's heavy. You know, moms tend to friends tend to come over and bring lasagna over. Or you know, or, you know, Mother will crave a hamburger and she's opted she's just given birth and those are all her nose, no nose. Yeah, and then once the breast milk has come in, then it's you can kind of decrease the consistency. So you can then drop down to between 12 to 10 cups of grains to a cup of water. And you can slowly start introduce, like vegetables, you can have a lovely, sweet potato cream of potato soup, or you know, like very again, it's just got to be very watery, so that it's so that your bodies really have to have the take the energy to digest something that's solid. Right? Yeah. So usually it's about but three weeks onwards that you can start in it, you know, including a lot more complexity, like you can start having pasture but you want it to be even more a lot more than authentic. It's got to be a bit softer. And your clues always about how's your digestion? How are you gassy? Are you bloated? Are you feeling lethargic? Heavy? You know, if that's the case, then you got to kind of take a step back and say, Okay, how complex is the food that I'm eating right now, and kind of just go back to introducing more of that soupy you know, mushy kind of food. And I think, you know, I, I wish I had known about the sooner but and I are veteran if you can utilize all these principles in the first part and period, it has the power to completely reset a woman's physiology, like, like this three, according to classical idea, there's three times in a woman's life, when she first gets a period, when men see starts after birth, and menopause. But But postpartum is a very potent, very, very potent time. And so few women know about this, like, literally, even if you are suffering from a disease, such as cancer, you can completely reset it. But it really does require that even though it's just first six weeks, you need to be resting. Yeah. Because if you're moving around a lot, and if you're doing a lot of things are taking away energy from the recovery process from your, your digestive system, you know, starting to work properly, again, you're not allowing that to happen.
Kaely Harrod 22:27
Right? Yeah. So I love that the digestive system can kind of be a guide to you like if you know, like, if you're ready to move on to more complex foods, then you see that which I think is really helpful. Because in the postpartum time, I think, similar to birth, in some ways, we can feel like it's happening to you rather than you you having some control over how your body heals. Mm hmm.
Olga 22:52
Yeah. Yeah. And I was gonna say, and especially women who've had a cesarean, that will, all of those symptoms were more pronounced, the digestive system will take longer to heal, just because it's literally as you you know, cutting the woman open. It's that cold air and space that kind of goes inside your organs. So that kind of Yeah, so definitely does take longer to heal from that. Right. Yeah, yeah.
Kaely Harrod 23:24
So I know there's tons more we could discuss about that. I know. In order to keep the episode nice and short, I would love to stop here. But I want to hear, or want my listeners to hear from you, how you can how they could work with you how they can learn more about you. And I think you even have something to share with them. So
Olga 23:45
yes, yes. So yes, so I am offer a five week, five week online program where I actually educate moms to be on how to incorporate all of this knowledge. And to make it practical, in the postpartum period, which includes literally all the meal plans and everything that you need from the herbs that you need to take to help with lactation and recovery, and also how to kind of gather your tribe. So that because you do need support in those in those six to eight weeks. So I also help ladies gather their tribe to get that assistance so that she can recover and rest. And you can you can find me on a mother's spark.com with two s's a mother's spark.com or on Instagram at a at a mother spark. And then yes, I also want to share with your viewers a gift. It's a guide on understanding how you develop perinatal anxiety and stress disorders and how to nip it in the bud.
Kaely Harrod 25:05
Oh, what a gift. Yes, that is a good resource.
Olga 25:09
Yeah. Because absolutely, you know, we don't know, until we get it that it's such a common thing.
Kaely Harrod 25:16
Yeah, yeah. And it's, again, one of those things that we're we kind of are just like, I don't know what happened to me and I don't have a lot of control, you know? Yeah.
Olga 25:25
But that's the thing we actually can we actually can control it, know how to right from the onset.
Kaely Harrod 25:31
Right, right. And kind of look at it. I love looking at the postpartum time as a way to support yourself, you know, rather than feeling like you kind of suffer through or survive these weeks, but like, actually set yourself up to be well supported. So that it feels like a lovely time and not just like a brutal, kind of like rude awakening to new parent life. You know, which so often that is what it feels like, but it doesn't have to, you know, so.
Olga 25:58
Yeah. And then it also gives you that that time, this first six weeks to really bond with your baby to really understand what your baby needs and not be rushing around and like Absolutely. Oh, my gosh, all of this has happened.
Kaely Harrod 26:09
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, I will make sure that all of all this information is in the show notes so you can go back and reconnect with her. All that it has been lovely having you here. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much. Yes, of course. All right. Well, until the next episode, I wish you well informed, consent filled births. These episodes are edited and produced by Kaely Herat as I'm sure you can probably tell, and our amazing music is credited in the shownotes as well. So we look forward to seeing you on the next episode. And in the meantime, have a wonderful and consent filled birth.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Nourishment is a vital part of the postpartum time. There are many specific traditions throughout the world on the best ways to nourish a postpartum person. The guest we have today is an expert in Ayurveda and will give us insight into how that medicinal tradition recommends nourishment to look after a birth.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The key components of Ayurveda are the five elements that all living things consistent of: earth, fire, water, air, and ether
Immediately after birth, the new mother's digestive system is completely out of whack, so not all nutritious food is going to be helpful.
During postpartum or immediately after a woman gives birth, the two natural elements that are in excess are air and ether.
Good fats are so crucial after birth. First of all, to produce those four elements that were mentioned right at the beginning, but also so vital for hormone production production.
OUR GUEST:
Olga is Ayurvedic Postpartum Caregiver and Educator, Life Purpose and StrengthsFinder coach. She is very passionate about empowering women to live their best lives, helping them to make empowered conscious choices to attract the right life circumstances and people into their lives.
RESOURCES
FREE GIFT from Olga:
https://omniform1.com/signup/v1/6203de17c3cbf785ac06892b_62d9de3f31b29860f3a9ab19.html?fbclid=IwAR2X6-gdITB3doQ56ype7opz-Iaflry1ITARPOjImKtOi7UBp2erZlhU3Ls
CONNECT WITH Olga:
https://amothersspark.com/
IG: @amothersspark
FREE OXYTOCIN GUIDE:
6 Ways to Increase Oxytocin for Labor Progression
https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/free-guide-6-oxytocin-tips
CONNECT with Kaely on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
This podcast is hosted by the Birth Prep Blueprint - comprehensive Childbirth Education for expectant parents to feel calm, prepared and confident about labor and birth. Podcast listeners (that’s YOU!) get 10% off! Use the link below to get that great deal!
https://thebirthprepblueprint.com/offers/884d5a56-9089-4482-a944-6bb7c26c9b04
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
