You have given birth to your little bundle of joy and are now back at home. The first two weeks or so will seem, for most new-mums, like a sweet dream. The little one will mostly sleep, eat, wee and occasionally poop. He/she would not require much to keep happy as long as s/he is healthy and there are no medical complications. After this brief period of peace and admiring your little bundle of joy though comes the big change.
The big change is basically the stages following the early peace, which involves crying a lot, sleepless nights, worries, lack of baths/showers and basically it is a time when motherhood takes over what you knew of your life and strips it by morphing your existence into a nappy changing, puke and poop with the occasional wee dodging, sleepless zombie whose every moment is devoted to the little bundle of joy. You will forget when you last had a wash or ate a meal properly or even slept but it is worth it in the end.
If you are, like myself, without nearby family help and are entering this stage of motherhood alone then I sincerely wish you all the best in the world cause you are going to need every bit of strength you can muster. At this stage it can be very difficult to fit in time to cook yourself and/or your partner a healthy meal. It is however, paramount that you eat healthily so that you have enough energy to care for the little one and yourself.
My tips on easy, quick and healthy meals are based on my own experience and they work. Here they are:
1) Invest in a rice cooker: If you haven't got yourself a rice cooker, please consider getting one. These little machines are so easy to use and make perfect rice every time with the minimum of efforts. All you do is measure the number of scoops (provided with the machine) of rice into the cooker and add the same number of scoops of water! It couldn't be easier and while the rice is cooking away you can continue with other tasks at hand. The machines also switch themselves off or to a warm setting once the rice is cooked so you don't have to worry that you will forget to switch it off or the rice will go cold.
Rice is also a very healthy meal to have and can be eaten with a variety of easy to prepare sauces or salads. The variations of what you can have with your rice allows you to have rice frequently without getting bored. Carbohydrates in rice are a good source of slow releasing energy, which is an added plus when you hardly have time to worry about meals.
2) Love pasta: If you don't think much of pasta please consider trying it. Pasta is very easy to cook, taking less than ten minutes to boil and is also healthy. Like rice, Pasta can be eaten with a variety of sauces and you could even add your own favourite spices and other ingredients to spice things up. I love pasta and it kept me healthy during the most testing times of motherhood so thanks Italy. My favourite way of having pasta is simply boil with a bit of salt and oil then once cooked add chopped chillies, olives and seaweed; yummy! You can add your own things to get the balance nutrition diet like eggs for proteins or chopped bacon or tuna etc., Point is that it is a healthy meal that can be made even healthier with simply additions and doesn't cost much nor take time to prepare.
3) Drink multi-nutritional high in antioxidants drinks: Okay, I know I said I was going to list some meals options and here I am talking about drinks but these are so worth a mention. Thankfully there are many such drinks available easily in supermarkets like Aldi, Tesco and Lidl. My favourite brand of such drinks is 'Naked'. This is a brand of freshly squeezed vegetables and fruits in the most highly nutritional way. Thus the selection of fruits and vegetable and the natural process of manufacturing these drinks is focused on giving you the highest nutritional content with the least artificial interference. These are great as top ups to maintain a healthy body or as additional boost to your overall well being. The bottles come in a variety of sizes so pick one best for you and a combination of fruits/veg that is more palatable for you. I personally found trying different varieties available rather than sticking to just one combination much more satisfying.
4) Super foods: There are a number of other highly nutritional foods that can be easily added to a basic meal to give it a healthy kick available. These include some grounded seeds that are sold in supermarkets or health shops that can be easily added to a basic salad or rice or even pasta for additional nutritional benefits. Also seaweed is great and so easy to prepare; simply wash and soak, rinse and eat! I love seaweed and add it to pastas, salads or even on top of an egg with a slice of bread! Seaweeds also have the capacity to double in size under water, like rice, so you don't need much to energise a simple meal. This also makes them very cost effective.
Other super foods can include things like nuts, which are healthy containing proteins in high quantities, fats and some antioxidants. When you are working twenty-four seven and are beyond tired, these simple foods can truly make a difference to how you feel and in keeping your overall health on tack. Antioxidants are very effective at limiting the damages caused by free radicals, which are released in the body during stress and motherhood is very stressful especially the early stages.
5) Multivitamins: Again not a 'food' source as such but I wanted to mention multivitamins because they too can help you stay healthy. These do need to be accompanied by a healthy meal to be of greater benefit in most cases but still, they are worth it.
I hope that this list helps you in your journey into motherhood. I also hope that it keeps you fit and healthy to continue to care for that little bundle of joy. It is also worth noting that during the early stages of motherhood, your body will be going through a lot of internal hormonal changes as it tries to return to the non-pregnancy state. These changes can be erratic in one's emotional well being and so eating healthy helps in supporting the body during this adjustment phase, which in turn helps the new mum cope with everything that is thrown at her. Did you find this information useful? Do you have any questions? If so please feel free to comment below. Good luck!
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