Nourishment in the Fourth Trimester

Oct 11

Flatlay of ripe vegetables on wooden cutting board with a bowl of leafy greens and wooden utensils

A wise person once said to me, preparing for postpartum is like preparing for a trip to Mars - you can only be so prepared (for the unknown). While I’ve never been and will likely never orbit into outer space, this sentence and sage piece of advice holds so much truth - the postpartum period no matter how prepared you think you are (or how many times you’ve done it before) is much like a trip into the great unknown. Mostly because each experience - and baby is uniquely different to any other birth, or postpartum experience.

What I do know to be of utmost importance during this time however is proper nutrition and nourishment (not just for baby) but for mama and the entire family, especially in the first forty days.

The first forty days is an almost six-week period, a critical time for rest and recovery, and for a new mother to bond with her newborn baby.

This tradition, honored by many eastern cultures allows for a period of healing and adjustment and is centered around caring for and nourishing the new mother. By taking all responsibilities off her plate it allows for her to focus on one thing only, the transition from maiden to mother - a time of physical, psychological, physiological, social, and spiritual change. Sadly in the fast-paced western world, many women are immediately forced to jump straight back into and meet the demands of a modern society that does not honor this transition.

With most postnatal care ending just six weeks after birth, many women are not afforded the luxury of being able to focus on their own nourishment and wellbeing while also caring for and nurturing their newborn baby. For this reason, many new mamas can begin to suffer the effects of nutrient depletion which can contribute to exhaustion, moodiness, digestive discomfort, low energy levels, and poor recovery.

When preparing for the postpartum period, I knew that much of my recovery would be dependant on the foods I was consuming in those first few weeks post-birth. As Australian ex-pats living in New York, my husband and I knew that we couldn’t rely on family to drop off freshly prepared home-cooked meals, and so we needed a (nourishing) food strategy. Takeout was not an option.

I was lucky enough to partner with Chiyo for the first forty days postpartum and benefit from nutrient-dense nutritionally balanced meals (and snacks) specifically created for healing in the fourth trimester and beyond. Here’s a gl impse into how delicious and nourishing the meals are in action.

Chiyo is a meal-delivery service that combines Eastern Food Therapy with Western Nutrition for each stage of motherhood, from preconception to postpartum.

All meals are gluten-free, dairy-free, organic, and local where possible and with a vegetarian option. Their meals are safe for women with gestational conditions, including Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Gestational Diabetes, Gestational Hypertension, and Preeclampsia.

Even before becoming pregnant, I have always been very mindful of how I nourished myself. After suffering ten years of extreme digestive issues which led to a diagnosis of pre-cancerous bowel polyps at age 30, I have worked very hard to heal my once toxic relationship with food which was centered around deprivation and restriction. This transition created the perfect foundation for fertility and pregnancy in that I was already very conscious of what I was putting into my body and making sure that I was choosing foods to nourish and support my body’s changing needs.

Food, nutrition, and supplementation played a huge role in my conception and pregnancy. During the early phases of my fertility treatments (IVF), I worked very closely with my reproductive endocrinologist, acupuncturist, and integrative physician to make sure that my food choices were addressing any nutritional deficiencies. I made sure to include low-inflammatory and nourishing foods with a big focus on protein and iron-rich food sources. I prioritized organic fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, grass-fed meat, wild-caught low mercury fish, free-range eggs, non-gluten whole grains and legumes, and antioxidant-rich foods including berries and acai.

After taking such good care of and nourishing my body throughout preconception and pregnancy, I wanted to carry the same food philosophy into my postpartum recovery but knew that with the arrival of our daughter I no longer had the luxury of time.

As someone that loves to cook and finds joy in planning and preparing meals, I was nervous about the lack of creative control, but I also knew that cooking extravagant meals would not be sustainable in the early postpartum days - and if it was, it would likely be at the expense of something else, like sleep.

Monday evenings soon became our favorite time of the week as we excitedly anticipated our Chiyo delivery for the week ahead. For the first forty days, I opted for Chiyo’s postpartum recovery plan known as The Restore Program with my husband choosing the 7-day family add-on, available at a discounted rate. Each meal option in the recovery plan included 3 meals (breakfast lunch and dinner) a daily snack, recovery broth, and herbal tea focused on tissue repair, rebalancing gut health, and regulating energy and mood. All of Nouri’s meal plans are customizable with 3 to 7-day options and the flexibility to choose from breakfast, lunch, and dinner combinations based on budget and individual requirements.

A woman enjoying a Chiyo meal to nourish in her stage of motherhood

With the unpredictability of sleep/wake and feeding schedules (or lack thereof), Chiyo become our one constant and we appreciated the convenience of having ready-to-eat meals in the fridge. It also helped that my husband and I could prepare and eat our meals at different times of the day if I needed to be nursing or tending to our newborn daughter - something which, up until we were in the thick of it I hadn’t even considered.

Despite my best intentions, there were times in those early postpartum days when I struggled to find 5-minutes to eat a meal, let alone shop for, prepare, and cook it!! if it weren’t for Chiyo I probably would’ve relied on eating dry cereal out of a box, because that’s all I had time for… and that’s coming from an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.

I appreciated that I could spend all of my spare time soaking up these newborn moments with our precious baby girl and didn’t have to worry about planning, shopping, and cooking meals.

All of the meals in Chiyo’s postpartum Restore plan are simple to prepare with the option to eat cold, or warm for a few minutes. I found it easy to throw all of the ingredients into a pan and heat gently on the stovetop, or if I found myself in a pinch I ate them one-handed straight from the container while juggling a sleeping baby.

Some of our favorite meals included the quinoa radicchio mung bean salad, Nicoise salad with sesame miso dressing and salmon, bibimbap with spinach, shiitake, and purple cabbage, and the black lentil corn salad with chicken. A breakfast highlight was the congee with kimchi and tea egg, for me, waking up to a warm breakfast felt like the big nourishing hug that I needed. As for the snacks, they were all delicious and helped to curb my insatiable appetite as a nursing mama... but if I had to pick just one, it would be their much-coveted ube coconut donut bites, with an honorable mention going to the chickpea beet brownies.

Each Chiyo meal is created with specific considerations based on your stage of pregnancy (Trimester 1, 2 & 3) if you are postpartum or trying to conceive. It also took the guesswork out of knowing if I was getting the right nutrients knowing that all of my meals were OB-GYN recommended, and chef-curated.

Elisa Henry Morton, fertility coach, speaker, and CEO of Eat Heal Move, dropping leafy greens into bowl in kitchen

As someone that boasts about the benefits of self-care and ‘eating to nourish’ my food philosophy is deeply rooted in the foundation of food as medicine, and as a source of nourishment - Chiyo ticks all of these boxes.

Even with sleep deprivation and round-the-clock nursing, I found that I had an abundance of energy, zero digestive issues, and all the nutrients I needed to support my recovery and healing after a C-Section. My obstetrician even commented that my healing was “remarkable” at my 2-week postpartum check-up (and that’s coming from someone with over forty years of experience).

As a new mama, my number one piece of advice when going through your checklist of ‘things to prepare for the arrival of your baby’ is to have a postpartum food strategy. This might look like batch-cooking and freezing soups, stews, and broths (even with a summer baby there is much to be said for the healing power of warming foods), enlisting the help of family and friends using a service such as Meal Train, or buying and storing extra shelf-stable things that are quick to prepare and easy to eat when you’re in a pinch. This includes things like oats, grains, canned fish, frozen vegetables, nuts, and seeds. You can see what I stocked up on he re.

If you are trying to conceive, newly pregnant, or preparing for the postpartum period, I cannot recommend the convenience and nourishment of Chiyo enough. Use code ELISA30 to receive $30 off your first Nouri order.