​In Chinese medicine Spring is associated with the element Wood. The energy of new growth and germination marks this season, and here in SE Queensland new plant life is springing up all around us. This is my favourite time of the year for urban foraging and wildcrafting edible weeds.

The meridian that corresponds with the wood element is the liver / gallbladder meridian. Wood element within us governs our sense of vision, the emotion of anger, and the sound of shouting. Wood energy can aggravate the mind by allowing pressure to build (like a seed germinating), propelling us forward into creating, planning and working. 

Wood element is about us having purpose and vision in our lives, our planning ability. Type A personalities this is the time to be careful to keep your perfectionist / overworking tendencies in check! (talking to myself here - I’ve taken on WAY too much work lately resulting in thoughtless shortcuts, frustrating setbacks and angry outbursts, and I now need to reassess my workload. AGAIN!)

​When vision is stifled, we feel that anger and frustration and want to shout, and at the right time and place we can and should shout. Anger is an energy that needs space and if pent up that pressure can become dangerous.
​

I agree with the notion that a witch is a woman (or man, but I'm mainly talking to women within my platforms) in her power. And a woman can only be in her power by regularly listening to, honing, and trusting her intuition.

Intuition is rooted in the body. Think of the words we use to describe intuitive hunches: I had a gut feeling. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I felt it in my bones. I knew it in my heart.

Think of the times your intuitive, instinctual nature has kicked into gear. When somebody has stepped into your space and something feels "not quite right". When you know your child is in danger and you check they're still in their sandpit only to realise they're about to cross the road by themselves.

When you sense the presence of a loved one who has passed on, something around 75% of us report having experienced. When you recognise a soul mate or lifelong friend by how your heart feels and the tingles running down your spine. These are usually gut feelings, a body sense. Not calculations you've made in your head.

Dieting and the religion of thinness have cut down many a modern day witch, leaving a gaping hole in our collective wisdom and capacity to heal ourselves and others.

For women whose slavery to the thin ideal has cut them off from their full witchy capacity, intuitive eating is a way to open a doorway to intuitive living. As I once heard another non-diet advocate say, "Intuitive eating, intuitive EVERYTHING."

Intuitive eating asks that we begin listening to the hunger and fullness cues of our bodies. But that's not all. It also offers ways to reject the diet mentality and let go of the religion of thinness so pervasive in our cultural and inherited conditioning. 

One caveat: If you've been chronically dieting, or you're in a semi-starved state, listening to and honouring your hunger and fullness can be difficult and complicated. This is where getting help from a non-diet practitioner can be of great value to re-nourish your body first so you can begin to receive and interpret those messages correctly.

Witches don't diet. It's impossible to be deeply connected to your intuition while you're still tracking macros like there's no tomorrow, you're not eating enough, or you're deadly afraid of carbs. 

Getting a balanced, satisfying and adequate intake of food can ease mood swings, panic attacks, anxiety, and mild depression. Mental health takes a dive when we're in a state of semi-starvation as the body struggles to construct all the neurotransmitters it needs to remain healthy. Intellectual clarity and intuition is improved when the mind receives proper nourishment. 

It's time to stop wasting your energy on the illusion of weight loss or maintaining a low weight as if that's the most important thing in life. It's not. 

Sister, we need you. Now is the time to hone your craft, shine your light and offer your healing gifts, and dieting is only stopping you from reaching your magical potential. The world needs your witchy-poo self, and it needs it now.
​

So, I lasted six months.

Six months of being an exclusively stay at home mum to Archie (2 1/2) and Kairi (6 months).

Six months of breastfeeding both kids (although Archie is nearly weaned), of spending most of my day cooking and cleaning, and of organising playdates in a chronically sleep deprived state.

Six months of attempting to care for myself in the way a "holistic nutritionist should" whilst managing my own feelings of inadequacy, disempowerment and overwhelm; the same feelings experienced by so many women my age who, like me, are striving for autonomy, more rest time, and the high levels of "wellbeing" that they see epitomised in a privileged few... often whilst mothering small children with a fraction of the support they actually require.

Six months of spending almost all of my waking hours caring for others with the general lack of recognition that comes with the emotional and physical labour of motherhood.

Six months of trying to be the new age Gold Coast attachment parent I thought I needed to be. The infinitely nurturing, gluten-free cake baking, cooing-at-my-baby-all-day, $300 boho dress-wearing Earth Mama I once thought I needed to be.

And although I swore I would soak up every second of motherhood I could this time around, and although I swore I wouldn't go back to work for at least a year... I'm back. 

And as politically incorrect as it may seem, I'm absolutely thrilled to be working again!

I have missed it, badly. I've missed seeing clients, embarking on scholarly endeavours, creating workshops, and planning yoga classes. I have missed doing good work, I have missed it in my bones.  

Don't get me wrong - I adore my children. But that includes ALL of my children - creative children, as well as biological children.

​For me, activating the full time motherhood and nurturing circuits takes a toll on me physically and mentally. I can't be entirely happy and healthy unless I'm feeding my creative baby - my work - also. And I finally realise that this is OK.
​

It's a cold Monday morning in late May. I've just breastfed my 4-month old baby and given my 2 and a half year old toddler his single daily breastfeed - after 30 months we are finally down to one feed a day!

With the careful precision of a surgeon I extract myself from the tiny space where I was nestled between my two sleepy babes, hoping the breastmilk knocks them out for just a few more minutes. They have cuddled up as close as possible to me over the night leaving me barely any room. But I don't mind the tight squeeze; I so love being close to them and they to me, keeping each other warm.

Well, I wasn't smooth enough. My boob dairy didn't have the sedative effect I hoped for, and both kids are decidedly bright eyed and bushy tailed, with the toddler beginning his morning routine of jumping on everybody.

My husband reluctantly wakes as you do when you're being jumped on. I take Archie out into the yard to jump on the trampoline with him. His 6am squeals of delight ricochet off the wooden fence and I send a silent apology to the neighbours.

Our jumping serves not only to start burning off my toddler's seemingly infinite energy supply; it's also a warmup for my morning strength training session.

You see, I'm about to head into our garage home gym to lift some heavy ma-fa weights.

​And after I do it I am going to feel like all the pieces of myself, the bits I've given out to my children and others in nurturance over the last 24 hours, are again my own.

Tandem breastfeeding is my current reality and it's not for everyone. Yes, the demands on my body are greater, which is reflected in my needing to eat like a grown ass woman, and take rest very seriously.

But the hardest part of breastfeeding an infant and a toddler at the same time lies in the mental and emotional realms. 

Getting down to one feed a day for my two-and-a-half year old has taken time, and I'm happy with where we are. But this week Archie got sick and I've found myself feeding him three or more times a day. Combine that with the usual multiple wakings for baby Kairi's feeds and you've got one tired, cranky mama at her wit's end.

At times it has made me feel totally insane. I feel like too many people depend on me, and I'm being crushed by the sheer weight of that responsibility.

Such is the nature of tandem breastfeeding.

On the positive side, boobing multiple little people has driven me to take self-care far more seriously than I have in previous years.

Part of that care has involved taking up strength training, mainly in the form of lifting weights.  

And I don't mean doing dozens of bicep curls with 2kg hand dumbbells; I mean lifting serious heavy weights. Let me explain.

When I'm in our garage home gym or with my coach squatting, bench pressing and deadlifting, something lights up in my over-worked, baby vomit covered, under-appreciated mama soul. I feel as though I'm reclaiming my sanity and sense of self-worth, minute by minute, rep by rep.

Motherhood is fucking hard. Most days I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. But as I move my muscles against gravity to actively get that bar back onto the rack, I sense not only a physical release but a simultaneous emotional and spiritual release from the enormous psychological weight of being a mother of small children. 

As I rack after each set, I also slowly unload the weight of the world I've been carrying. I am reminded of how strong women really are. How strong I am.

Some neurological, hormonal and psychological magic takes place. In one powerlifting session I can go from bitchy wife and impatient mother pre-workout, to patient, content, soul-satisfied, and loving mama again post-workout.

Such is the nature of weight lifting for mums.
​

One way to look after yourself while breastfeeding is through frequent movement throughout the day, and exercise. When approached with care, and once you've been cleared by your doctor and you've ideally seen a pelvic floor physiotherapist (for abdominal separation and to assess your pelvic floor), you've got the green flag.

​Moderate exercise is safe for your baby and does not restrict baby's growth. And it's awesome for your physical and your mental wellbeing.

Strength training (or resistance training) in particular has many benefits for breastfeeding mamas. This is any activity where you use resistance to make your muscles contract, which in turn builds the strength, anaerobic endurance, and - to some extent - size of your muscles.

There are impressive benefits that you get from weight training that you just cannot get from running for kilometres on end, smashing it out on the elliptical, or HIIT (high intensity interval training). When your body is under load, you enjoy benefits that you can't glean from anything else.

One thing I love about weight training is that women can do it all through their fertility journey, all through pregnancy and postpartum, when done with intelligence and when it's tailored to your body and your needs.

When it comes to strength training you have many options to choose from, from traditional weightlifting (e.g. powerlifting with a barbell - which is my jam right now - or using kettle bells, or dumbbells) and bodyweight exercises (e.g. pushups and chin ups), to practices and sports that involve a strength element such as pilates, yoga, pole dancing, aerial and circus arts.

​Women strength train because there are so many wonderful benefits to it including:

• increasing muscle mass and strength
• increasing or maintaining bone density
• increasing metabolism (due to the increased muscle mass)
• improving insulin sensitivity 
• improving joint function
• reducing risk of injury to connective tissue
• reducing psychological stress
• feeling and being more physically capable and independent.

Add breastfeeding to the mix and pretty much all of these benefits are going to become even more appealing, and crucial.
​

Personally, the main reason I'm a fan of strength training isn’t just for the physical strength. It’s about psychological resilience and spiritual strength as well. But here are the five main reasons why lifting weights has without a doubt made my life as a mum of two young kids, better.

1. Keeps bones strong and healthy

While we are breastfeeding, oestrogen levels remain loooooow. Aside from vaginal dryness, a libido that's MIA and no periods, another fun side effect of this dive in oestrogen is that during the weeks, months or years we spend breastfeeding, bone mass decreases more rapidly than usual. 

As you may be aware lower bone mass increases the risk of osteoporosis. Broken femurs and carrying babies are not a good mix.

While it doesn't seem like we can completely stop the decline of bone mass while we're breastfeeding, we can slow it down. How? Strength training. In one study lactating women who lifted weights three days a week and did 45 minutes of weight-bearing aerobic exercise three days a week lost significantly less bone mass than women who did not (1).

The added bonus of lifting weights while you're breastfeeding is that you can actually reshape your bones so that in the long run, they become stronger. Although bone loss accelerates during lactation, in the long term it appears that women may have the opportunity to rebuild and create fresh bone (2). Again, a great way to lay down strong healthy bone tissue is by lifting weights.

In short, strength training while breastfeeding is an awesome way to both slow down the rate of bone loss and rebuild healthy and strong bones in the long run. Since bone mass and bone density start to decrease from age 35-40 years onwards (3), and I'll soon be staring at my mid-30's in the face, it seems like now is a good time to get lifting.


2. Increases lean muscle mass 

After giving birth ​most new mamas feel like they've suddenly landed in a new, softer, sorer body. Over the following weeks, months and years, our bodies can remain drastically different or morph in unpredictable ways. 

We may have fat where there used to be none and missing muscle where there used to be bulk - flat mum bum is a real thing!

It's the reason many new mums launch too soon into long duration cardio and high intensity exercise that only increases their risk of injury, stress and cortisol dominance (more on that soon), and why many new mums under eat in order to "lose the baby weight". Sigh.

A totally new body composition after childbirth is something our culture frowns upon. It's also something that makes many women feel is their own fault, which it's not. 

Part of the reason for flabby mum bits where maybe there used to be muscle? Low testosterone.

Testosterone is the main hormone responsible for building muscle which is why women have a much harder time gaining size from strength training than men. Women have 10 to 30 times less testosterone than men.

This is why you need not worry about getting Schwarzenegger-bulky if you weight train - women just can't look like that. Unless they're doing an absolute shit tonne of training and possibly taking some questionable performance-enhancing substances.

Women have even less testosterone during breastfeeding, when our testosterone and oestrogen levels remain low until we reduce and eventually wean our babe/s.

This all means that if you're breastfeeding, building and maintaining muscle and muscular strength is even harder than usual.

And when you're holding an infant in your arms for hours a day breastfeeding, lack of physical strength is going to be bad news. 

One way around this is strength training. Even though it's harder to build muscle, lifting weights or some other form of strength training while breastfeeding will at least maintain strength and reduce your chances of being injured. Which brings me to the next point...

​
​3. Reduces your risk of baby-related injury

Weight training not only increases strength in your muscles, but also strengthens connective tissues and joints. Strong joints, ligaments, and tendons are crucial to prevent injury.

When you're lifting babies and/or toddlers all day long, trying to wrangle kids in and out of cars, and using your body to stop your toddler from jumping on the baby for the 137th time that day, injury becomes a real risk.

​Especially repetitive strain injury which I experienced after having my first baby, before I started strength training.

Strengthening muscles and connective tissue will make injury from daily mummy tasks and exercise less likely. 

​
4. Releases stress (and maaaan do we need that.)

Lifting weights makes me feel bloody good, so there's a chance it might for you too. There are a bunch of hormones and neurotransmitters at play here, but we'll focus on just two: endorphins and cortisol.

​First, endorphins. As you probably know, exercise and weight training release endorphins. Endorphins are neurotransmitters that prevent pain, improve mood, and alleviate depression, stress and anxiety. Endorphins also give you an alertness and energy boost. 
​
Of course not just any exercise will do, and more is not better especially for breastfeeding mums who are already under more physical strain than usual.

This is where cortisol, a long term stress hormone, comes in.

When your cortisol levels are increased for extended periods, and your stress is up, you're more likely to be insulin-resistant and have high blood glucose. 

​Consistently high blood glucose levels along with insulin suppression lead to cells that are starved of glucose. And since those cells are screaming out for energy, you feel hungrier than usual (4). This can lead to overeating and craving all-the-things.

​And, of course, unused glucose is eventually stored as extra body fat above and beyond the extra fat your body needs for breastfeeding. Persistently elevated cortisol also suppresses your immune system and is linked to poorer digestion. 

Running miles and miles a day at 4 months postpartum might release endorphins, but too much steady state cardio also increases cortisol which we know as a nursing mum we do not need. Plus, who has time or energy to exercise for hours a day when you've got kids literally hanging off you?

​Not eating enough - which is a major stress on the body - also increases cortisol, just in case you were wondering. This is partly why the standard recipe of calorie restriction and heaps of cardio is so ineffective and counterproductive for women, especially breastfeeding mothers.

When you're a busy mum the goal is to exercise smarter and more effectively, not harder. Heavy weight training, when approached intelligently, lowers cortisol. As long as you're eating enough and aren't stressed AF, which leads me to my final point...


5. May minimise fat storage... as long as you're not stressed AF

For me, lifting weights leads to a decrease in visible body fat, and an increase in muscle mass. For me.

I didn't actually want to draw attention to this fact and was tempted to leave it out altogether.

Why?

Because I don't want "fat loss" to be the sole reason you start lifting weights. As a HAES dietitian I emphasise that there's nothing wrong with body fat. It's a neutral body tissue and it exists to keep you alive. Having a certain amount of fat on your body says nothing about your worth as a human being and gives surprisingly little information about your health. 

Plus, due to genetics and a host of other factors, fat loss from weight training doesn't happen for everybody, especially if your body doesn't think you can afford to lose said fat. For example, when you're breastfeeding, or you're overly stressed.

As I've alluded to a few times already, excess cortisol from too much stress (i.e. insufficient sleep, over training, under eating) leads to insulin resistance.

This in turn may increase body fat storage above and beyond the body fat range where your body might otherwise be to produce breastmilk.

Basically when your body is under stress of any kind - which includes dieting and over exercise (ironically, the things that people do in order to lose weight) - your body will probably eventually lay down more fat to keep you alive through this perceived threat. This is partly why diets backfire, i.e. they actually lead to long term weight gain, 95% of the time.

The other part of this equation: when you add muscle to your frame, your body has to expend more energy (burn more calories) to maintain that muscle tissue. So when you are at rest, even sleeping, the more lean muscle mass you have, and the more calories you will expend. 

At least, this is the logic so many crazy fitness people use when touting weight training as a fat loss panacea. 

But just because your metabolic rate is higher and you're "burning more calories at rest", doesn't necessarily mean you'll automatically lose weight. If you've gained muscle but aren't eating enough calories to feed that new muscle, it won't stick around for long, if at all.

For me, putting on muscle just means I want to eat more. Which probably helps my body not think it's in a famine, stress the eff out, and slow my metabolism down.

Eating plenty keeps my cortisol levels down, which - you guessed it - minimises fat gain. Does one's head in, especially if you're a dieter.

To summarise, strength training lowers cortisol, lowers insulin resistance AND increases lean muscle mass, meaning you may store less fat than you would if you didn't lift weights. 

​However, if you're coming at strength training with a weight loss mindset, chances are you're also doing other things that will stress your body out such as under eating and doing too much steady state cardio, which will only slow your metabolism down and can lead to more insulin resistance and more fat storage, not less.

A good way to sidestep all this worry about whether or not weight training will result in fat loss? As Nia Shanks, one of my favourite strength coaches says:

But what about weight loss?

Ah, that eternal question about postpartum weight loss. Since I don't weigh myself I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure lifting weights has lead to an increase in my overall weight.

Yes, an increase in weight. 

I can tell because very few of my T-shirts fit me anymore, and Andreas now struggles when he tries to pick me up. This is all probably due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat, and whilst I've lost a bit of fat I've also gained significant muscle.

And I couldn't give a rat's arse. I say, take up more space. 

Basically, don't approach strength training with a weight loss mindset. Your body will do what it will do. If you lose some fat and gain muscle mass and overall weight like I have, great. If you don't lose any visible fat nor gain muscle but your bones get stronger and you feel more calm and centred, well that's awesome too.
​
​Like Nia, I like to just focus on getting strong. Physically strong, mentally strong, and spiritually strong.

Welcome to my quick reference guide to helping you get started on your journey to intuitive eating!

Chances are, if you've followed my work for a while - or even if you've just found me - you're a yogi, earth goddess, pachamama, natural health buff, or hippie who also happens to be smart and keen to learn more about all things non-diet.

I'm personally a lover of Mother Nature, and I think you might be too. I believe that the patterns and cycles found in nature can teach us much about food, connection and culture. They have the power to help us not only be healthier, but also to understand and heal our relationship to food and our bodies. The relationship that has been fractured by diet culture.

​There are many cyclical patterns in nature and each has its place in helping us live full, rich, and healthy lives. The continual shifting of the four seasons is a well-known natural pattern, as is the alternation of day and night, and the lunar cycles.

This intuitive eating series started in 2017 and is based on the 12 to 13 lunar cycles per year, which roughly tie in with the four seasons. It's my personal take on the original 10 Intuitive Eating principles as first defined by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole in their revolutionary book, Intuitive Eating.

This is still a work in progress but there's plenty of material here to start experimenting with as you reclaim your agency from diet culture and start the work of healing your relationship with food and your body.

The Intuitive Eating Principles:

1. Shallow Water Moon - Hitting Diet Rock Bottom
2. Blood Moon - Slaying the Diet Mentality
3. Moon of Underground Treasure - Shifting Your Beliefs About Food, Weight and Your Body
4. Moon of Long Nights - Embracing Hunger & Fullness Cues
5. ​Wolf Moon - Discovering Satisfaction
6. ​Seed Moon - Moving From Body Shame to Body Respect

Visit them in order or simply start on the area you think you most need help with. As I mentioned this is a work in progress and there are still a few more lunar cycles to come! If you would like more resources to continue on your intuitive eating journey, click here.

Good luck and travel boldly!

​Casey x

Dinner out with the family, and we are in the same neighbourhood as our favourite Thai restaurant. I enjoy a Jungle curry; dotted with sliced red chillis and entire bunches of green peppercorn rows and without the merciful cooling effect of coconut milk, its one of the hottest items on the menu.

That night as we drive home, my husband cops an earful about his driving. I have a cold shower but still feel hot and sweaty afterwards. I'm more impatient with my kids as I put them to bed. I'm unsettled and agitated but eventually fall asleep.

I dream of billowing red clouds in the distance. Looking around I notice I'm standing in the doorway of my house, and that the crimson clouds are emanating from nearby houses which are being engulfed by a bushfire. I look behind me and realise that my home, too is on fire. I am trapped with my husband and children and think "this is the end" until a bunch of firefighters kick the door down.

That's what you get when you load a pitta meal onto a pitta person! According to Ayurveda, my constitution is predominantly pitta, or hot: my mind is sharp (as can be my tongue), my build is medium, I put on muscle quite easily, and when threatened my temper can flare. Ayurveda would say that my heat-increasing indulgences increased the natural heat in my pitta constitution and lead to hot conditions “erupting” in my body and emotions. 

Even whilst knowing that my pitta body and mind respond in a certain way when I eat spicy food, I will continue to eat spicy food for the rest of my life as I absolutely love it. 

It's mid-April in Southeast Queensland, Australia and I'm on a brisk neighbourhood walk with my 3-month old baby strapped to my chest. Autumn has arrived and I'm enjoying her cool, dry winds blowing away the last bites of summer heat. The sky looks to be at its most crisp and brilliant blue, and as if my psyche is mirroring that azure expanse I'm experiencing more clarity of vision, both pragmatically as well as spiritually.

I love autumn: the way the Eucalypts never shed their leaves but somehow still change with the seasons. In Summer they surrender their volatile oils to the scorching sun and droop in reverence of Sol's firey power. Today their leaves rustle joyfully as a cool breeze glides between them, that blue bowl a striking backdrop. The vata (wind) element as described in the ancient system of Ayurveda is undoubtedly the primary seasonal force at play.

The unabashed beauty of Mother Nature is quickly shut down like an airtight lock in a spacecraft as I interrupt my walk to dash into a supermarket. I'm here to grab a few ingredients I'm missing for some cookies I want to bake. Since the air-conditioning is cranked at an uncomfortable full throttle and baby is starting to squirm in reaction, I make the diversion as quick as possible.

At the checkout I notice the usual purveyors of diet culture: several women's "health" magazines with impossibly white, thin, able-bodied, rich, heteronormative women on the covers, shouting their dietary dogma at me. In the interests of social experimentation I resist the urge to cover up each of the horrendous women's magazines with copies of Home & Garden, flip open a popular rag, and peruse:

11 Things You Can Do In 5 Minutes Or Less To Help You Lose Weight
5 Surprising Ways With Edible Flowers
12 Foods You'd Never Guess Are Actually Vegan
9 Keto-Friendly Snacks That Will Actually Keep You Full
Master Trainer So-and-So Shares Her Day On a Plate (turns out she only eats protein and raw vegetables, with pumpkin "as a treat")
The Best Way To Deal With Food Pushers (i.e. how to stay on your diet and say no to cake when "pushy" family members offer you their home-baked goods.)

This is sad. It is depressing. And it is bullshit. It's autumn, it's getting cooler, and the last thing I feel like eating are edible flowers. The Ayurvedic cookbook I was flipping through earlier today had some much more appetising options.

It's times like these I'm so fucking glad I found intuitive eating, a flexible, instinctual relationship to food that transcends beliefs and systems, drawing directly on embodied experience. ​

Curiously, ancient systems like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) seem a lot more accommodating to the seasonal fluctuations in food cravings that I experience. At least they don't suggest that in autumn I should eat raw salads decorated with edible flowers.

But does this mean I should cast aside my intuitive eating principles and rest easy in the comfort of eating according to my dosha (Ayurveda), or whether I'm ruled by the metal or the wood element (TCM)?

Well, not exactly. 
​

Having a baby is one of the most challenging things you’ll ever do.

Going through pregnancy, labour and delivery demands a lot from a woman - physically, mentally,  emotionally, and spiritually.

From the time we see that double line on the pregnancy test, many women spend hundreds of hours finding the right antenatal care providers. We read all the books, ask all the questions, and buy or borrow all the things we think a newborn baby needs

By the way, they mainly just need you, your boobs if you're breastfeeding / bottle if not, and your body warmth.

What we often fail to prepare ourselves for is what comes after the baby is born:

the months (and in some cases years) we spend recovering from this massive life event.

Our recovery from childbirth. The all important but under-acknowledged postpartum. And the desperate need we have, both as individuals and as a society, to nourish the mother during this time more than any other.

What you eat during the month after you give birth has the power to radically improve your strength and recovery.

And, it is said in Chinese medicine, what you eat and how well you take care of yourself during this crucial time has the power to impact your health 20, 30 or more YEARS down the track.

There are other important things to think about in your Golden Month, which I mention here - but of course, being a nutritionist, I believe the food you eat after having a baby is crucial.

Nutritional requirements during recovery and breastfeeding unsurprisingly increase, and in the case of some specific nutrients, quite significantly so.

If you're breastfeeding your requirements for protein, zinc, iodine and vitamin A literally double.

And to produce milk, you need to be getting more overall calories than even during your third trimester of pregnancy; around 500-600 calories more for the first six months postpartum if breastfeeding exclusively (as recommended by the World Health Organisation), which is an extra meal or 2-3 extra snacks a day.

Of course I don't recommend calorie counting and nothing is set in stone - listen to your hunger and fullness cues and you will be fine. Note: If you have a history of or current disordered eating you may find it difficult to follow your body's hunger and fullness cues, in which case seeing a HAES or non-diet health professional would be super helpful for you.

Even if you cannot or choose not to breastfeed, extra nutrition is required to heal from childbirth and replenish your body after nine months of pregnancy.

And if your kids are more school age than newborn, you need some serious fuel to keep up with all the crazy demands asked of you, mama. You have important shit to do and you need energy and nutrients to do it.

So without going into a huge amount of detail on exact postpartum nutrition requirements, here are the three big nutritional principles from TCM you can aim to follow in your Golden Month. 

And by the way, nourishing yourself well is as crucial in healing immediately after childbirth, as it is 10 years postpartum. These three tips apply just as much years after your last child is born, as they do as soon as the baby is born.