MY TOP 4 FAVOURITE FOODS FOR POSTPARTUM RECOVERY (+ BEYOND)

Before I had Taj I felt I knew enough about the sorts of foods I wanted to be fuelling my body with after I gave birth - all the yummy slow cooked, replenishing, nourishing, energy rich and healing foods. However, as any woman who has given birth may tell you, between "labour land" hormonal highs, ecstatic endorphin rich moments, sleepless nights, and days blurring into one another, the first week goes by so quickly you can be left wondering where it went.

So as a nutritionist, an advocate of whole food eating, and your girlfriend in the fridge who wants to get you excited about epic eating, I wanted to give you a heads up on my favourite foods that if eaten post-birth will nourish you and rebuild you from the inside out. And if you know them now, you can prepare yourself to have them.

PREGNANCY + BIRTHING BOOKS :: MY FIVE FAVOURITES

If you're anything like me, then you want to get your hands on all the books you can when you want to learn something specific. And falling pregnant was no different. However, besides What To Expect When You're Expecting, I knew of no other books and a quick google search will do your head in! I remember sitting at my favourite cafe in Cairns and doing just that - ordered a couple but they were not the ones I am listing here for you.

So I wanted to share the books that have been amazing and that have made the biggest impact on me - be it for easing fears around childbirth, teaching me exactly what's going on during those 9 months, the best foods to eat for certain growing periods of bubs, and so on..

THE NATURAL REMEDIES I USED IN LABOUR

I knew I wanted a natural and drug-free labour before I was even pregnant with our baby boy. Sure the picture of labour I had in my mind wasn't the prettiest thanks to Hollywood movies and medical TV shows making it look like the most painful thing a woman could go through (and it may be for some women), but as I'm a bit of a health nut, I wanted to do it without drugs in my system. However... I knew there could be other things I could do to help with what pain I may experience. So I went researching, reading, asking, listening and came up with quite a few things I decided to take into the birth suite with me. 

So if you're anything like me, pregnant for the first time, and wanting alternative's to morphine and epidurals, I've done the hard work for you. Just copy and print ;)

CAN EATING DATES HELP LABOUR? (+ A RECIPE FOR PREGNANCY)

The inspiration for this recipe came from my mum - who is a yoga teacher and a doula - as she told me that eating 6 dates a day in the end of your pregnancy helps prepare you for labour, and research showed that women who ate dates versus those that didn't were less likely to need medication to keep things progressing. So I thought I'd do some research and it turns out, there's quite a bit out there on dates in the third trimester!

PREGNANCY :: REMEDIES FOR COMMON PAIN-IN-THE-BUM NUANCES

Pregnancy is a wonderful thing to experience. I'm making and creating and growing a baby! Holy shit! How incredible is that? And I am so grateful for the opportunity as I know not every woman has the chance to experience it. However... there are some things about being pregnant that, until you fall pregnant, you might not know about. Little niggly things that you're not used too and the usual remedies are not always safe in pregnancy, making it all the trickier to treat.

Now "common nuances" are common, but not a given. I never got nausea or morning sickness for example. Neverthless, here we go. A few of the common pain-in-the-bum-but-not-life-threatening-niggly-issues of being pregnant.

PREGNANCY : MY FIRST TRIMESTER TIPS

Being pregnant for the first time can sometimes feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole - you don't know what to expect, you don't know who to talk too about it (at least initially when it's usually kept under wraps), you're not sure what happens now that the box test says 'positive', what testing needs to be done (if any), or how to navigate so many emotions and physical sensations all at once.

And then when you do decide to tell people the exciting news, it doesn't necessarily make all this unchartered territory seem any easier to navigate. So I wanted to share a few things I learnt along the way early on that may help and support you as well, if you happen to be pregnant (or feel free to share this with anyone who is). 👶