Postpartum University® Podcast

The Postpartum Nutrition Plan That Will Change Your Life EP 191

• Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

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Struggling with postpartum fatigue, mood swings, or lingering hair loss? This episode dives into Maranda Bower’s Postpartum Nutrition Plan—a transformative, nutrient-rich approach designed to help mothers recover fully and thrive, not just survive. Maranda reveals core elements like nutrient-dense foods, balanced blood sugar, and high-quality fats along with practical strategies for incorporating these nutritional powerhouses into your daily routine. 

From the vitality-boosting power of grass-fed meats and omega-rich salmon to the soothing benefits of herbs like nettle and red raspberry leaf, this episode provides insights to restore lasting energy, mental health, postpartum hormonal balance, and overall postpartum wellness. Forget calorie counts; this episode is all about whole-food nourishment for true healing. 

Here’s the big news: The Postpartum Nutrition Plan will no longer be available to the public after December 31, 2024. Starting in 2025, it will be exclusively accessible through licensed Postpartum Nutrition Certified (PNC) providers, ensuring mothers receive targeted support from professionals trained in postpartum nutrition. Whether you're a mom ready to reclaim your health or a provider eager to make a deeper impact, this episode delivers powerful, actionable steps for long-term wellness and the future of postpartum care. Don’t miss this life-changing information while it’s still available!

Check out this episode on the blog:
https://postpartumu.com/the-postpartum-nutrition-plan-that-will-change-your-life-ep-191


KEY TIME STAMPS: 

00:02 — Introduction to postpartum nutrition and why it’s critical
2:02 — Announcement: transitioning the Postpartum Nutrition Plan to providers
5:38 — Key nutrients in postpartum: Iron, magnesium, B vitamins, and more
7:36 — Why postpartum nutrition goes beyond calorie counting
9:48 — Maranda’s four nutrition pillars for postpartum health
11:52 — Importance of healthy fats like avocado oil, ghee, and omega-3s
15:31 — Managing blood sugar levels to avoid crashes and anxiety
18:36 — Preparing meals in advance and tips for real-life postpartum application
22:19 — Reframing breakfast as high-fat, high-protein, nutrient-dense meals
26:32 — The impact of whole-body nourishment on energy and mental clarity
27:39 — Final thoughts on embracing postpartum nutrition as a journey to thrive

NEXT STEPS:

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🍲Get Your Postpartum Nutrition Plan- Retiring Dec. 31, 2024!
📚Get a Copy of the BOOK: Reclaiming Postpartum Wellness

🎒FREE Provider's Postpartum Nutrition Toolkit
🔔Sign up for the Postpartum Nutrition Certification Waitlist
🧠Perinatal Mental Health Certificate Training & Additional Courses for Providers & Postpartum Professionals

Speaker 1:

Depression, anxiety and autoimmune symptoms after birth is not how it's supposed to be. There is a much better way, and I'm here to show you how to do just that. Hey, my friend, I'm Miranda Bauer, a mother to four kids and a biology student turned scientist, obsessed with changing the world through postpartum care. Join us as we talk to mothers and the providers who serve them and getting evidence-based information that actually supports the mind, body and soul in the years after birth. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Postpartum University Podcast. Today we are diving deep into a topic that is so foundational to my work and my own journey as a mother and the wellness of every postpartum woman out there. If you're here, I know you're committed to changing lives and prioritizing the route of healing in the postpartum journey, and today I'm going to share my own secrets, my own go-to, non-negotiable approach to nutrition that can transform how we see postpartum recovery. Yes, I am talking about the postpartum nutrition plan, the very plan that I have carefully crafted and witnessed change thousands, literally thousands, of lives. So grab your notebook, get comfortable, hit subscribe, if you haven't already. This episode is going to be so packed with essential, life-changing insights. I'm really going to give you everything on how I built this and why it works so well, so that you can incorporate this, and I'm going to tell you why I'm doing it. The postpartum nutrition plan has been something that I've offered for many, many years, and we are retiring the postpartum nutrition plan. Don't panic, don't freak out. I'm going to tell you what's transpiring here.

Speaker 1:

For so many years, I have been working directly with moms, and that has shifted in the last three to four years where I've been really working with providers, and the one amazing thing that I've noticed and actually there's many multiple amazing things about working with providers the lactation consultants, the doulas, doctors, midwives, nurses you know everyone who serves postpartum women, the list is quite long is that they are able to reach a level of women in their local communities that go well beyond what I could ever do. And when I am working directly and I'm going to be honest with like a business perspective here, because I've been getting this question so much between serving moms and serving providers and by splitting my time, my energy, my finances I have, I have limited how much I can support them, and so I am going to put all of the support for postpartum moms, for women in the years after having a baby in the hands of the providers. So, yes, I'm going to still have my book that's on autopilot. There's still like a multitude of resources that come with that. If you've ever gotten the book and actually gone to the link that's provided, like you know, 20 plus times in the book you get so many resources. All of that's going to remain for moms and what we're going to do is actually move the postpartum nutrition plan over to providers. So it's actually not going anywhere.

Speaker 1:

What's happening is that those who are certified will have an option to be licensed, and when you have a license to distribute the postpartum nutrition plan, you can work with it however you want within your practice and provide this. So at the end of 2024, you will never be able to get the postpartum nutrition plan from myself unless you are certified. It comes with being certified, and then you'll only be able to get it through a licensed provider, through postpartum university, and that's super exciting because one we're going to be offering a whole nother level of care and attention. You know, having the postpartum nutrition plan alongside a provider who can walk you through you know how to implement, who's specifically trained in postpartum nutrition, it's absolutely going to be like mind-blowing, incredible, and it already is. We already see what work it's doing and it's already making such a huge impact. In that way and, by being able to kind of focus my time and energy and attention to providers and making sure that they have all of the essential tools that they need, it's just going to blow it out of the water. So there's that secret, which is not so much a secret but, I guess, more of an explanation of what in the world is Miranda doing, and I want to bring this podcast conversation to life here and give you what I know and like how this plan was created.

Speaker 1:

So first off, let's talk about nutrition for those of you who might be new to this podcast, and why it's so critical and, frankly, so overlooked. We have a healthcare system that focuses heavily on just surviving and postpartum instead of truly supporting the full, whole body recovery that moms need. So many mothers are left struggling with fatigue and mom brain and lingering pain and even postpartum depression, because no one talks about the nutritional needs that are so unique to postpartum. And in my journey as a mom of four, I experienced firsthand the difference that targeted nutrition can mean, and that's a very key word here, targeted nutrition Because I wasn't just eating to be full, I wasn't just eating for calories, I wasn't just eating healthy, because that's what I am supposed to do.

Speaker 1:

I made sure that I was eating foods that were so beneficial to my body and repleting my nutrient stores so that my thyroid could function fully, that my body can detox safely and healthily through its normal detoxification pathways, so that my body can function optimally, so that my brain didn't experience additional fog or that my nervous system could regulate. If I allowed myself to be in a state of non-stress. And here's the key, and I'll tell you, even if you do everything you can to be in a state of no stress and chill and like you're just vibing really well, if you are depleted, your body will always be in a state of fight or flight Always. It always comes down to nutrition, right? So it wasn't until I honed in on nutrition that I felt, I fully felt that I could thrive and not just survive.

Speaker 1:

And when I started experimenting and I tell you, it took about three children to fully understand what it meant to have targeted nutrition, to really understand what it meant, to put all of the pieces together Because, frankly, there's not a lot of science out there regarding postpartum and the physiological changes that occur in the body. There's so many nutritionists and dieticians out there preaching healthy food and, yeah, those salads and smoothies, they might have really high nutrient contents, but what they're missing is that a lot of those things are not digestible in a postpartum body because our bodies are physiologically different. They changed and we know this, like we. We know our bodies are changing during this time, but we are never taught why or what, and so when I took what information existed in the science world and combined it with cultural practices around the world and experience from hundreds of women who are going through my programs in my own journey, it was very, very clear like this was the missing piece and this is how it's done.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so let's dive into the core of this plan, and I want to say first that this is not a diet. It's a way to restore and nourish the body in exactly the way it needs after birth and beyond. This plan doesn't just fill your plate with healthy foods. I already mentioned that. It's very focused on nutrient dense choices that your body craves in postpartum that are easy to digest. So I'm going to give you my four pillars of the postpartum nutrition plan. First is nutrient density and not caloric intake. So in postpartum, calories are not the focus. And let me tell you, in real life and all life beyond, postpartum calories should never be the measurement that we are going for. That is a very outdated way of calculating health. Actually, it doesn't speak to any health thing at all. It's not a measure of health whatsoever. It's not a focus In postpartum.

Speaker 1:

Nutrient density and absorbability are so every meal has the potential to restore key nutrients that pregnancy and childbirth deplete Nutrients like iron, magnesium, zinc, b vitamins. They are so critical. That's what our bodies need to heal tissues, to restore energy and, most importantly, support mental health. So we talk about prioritizing foods like grass-fed meats for bioavailable iron and B vitamins, and we talk about bone broth for collagen and minerals and gut health properties, and we talk about specific types of foods to eat, things like soups and stews and broths, because they're so rich of magnesium and zinc and fiber and all of the things for stabilizing blood sugar and energy. And these are real foods, real foods, not supplements, but nutrient rich options, and they can easily be incorporated into all sorts of meals. And here's the secret by focusing on nutrient density and absorbability okay, which is so often forgotten. You can get the maximum benefit of every single bite that you take. Every single bite, okay, and that's the key here. When you are filling up your body, often right, with nutrient-dense foods that your body can easily absorb, that it doesn't have to work extra hard to digest, because the digestive tract changes significantly after giving birth, then you know you've got a recipe for the best healing, and doing so in a way that feels really good for your body. Okay, here's the other one. Here's second amazingness here Fats, good, high quality fats.

Speaker 1:

This is so huge. We have been sold the idea that fats are the enemy, but nothing can be further from the truth, especially for women, especially in postpartum. Quality fats are foundational to hormonal health, to mental clarity, to steady energy levels. Hormones hormones cannot be regulated without healthy fats. It is impossible. So if you're missing a fair amount of fats in your diet, you're going to be hormonally imbalanced, guaranteed. You must have high quality fats in your diet and you have to have a lot on a daily basis, okay. So what does that mean for postpartum moms? Okay, we add avocado oil, which is so rich in monosaturated fats, and grass fed ghee right, ghee is so good.

Speaker 1:

For those of you who don't know, ghee is clarified butter, so basically it lacks the protein of dairy and it's been very healthily refined. It's actually something that many cultures across the world use. It is such a beautiful thing, especially in postpartum. Ghee is a top food in postpartum in multiple countries and cultures and I love it. I mean, it's actually fairly easy to find. You can get it in your local grocery store. I have it. That's what I use all the time. I don't use butter because myself and my family all have a dairy allergy, like every one of my kids and me. It's like the one thing that I have never been able to heal from. If you guys know my story, I at one point was allergic to 52 different foods. Gluten, dairy and coconut are ones that I have never been able to heal from. Anyway, that's the side story Moving back over here.

Speaker 1:

So we have fat from avocados, from ghee and from animals. Okay, I will tell you these animals, even salmon. Tell you these animals, even salmon. High in omega-3s, high in anti-inflammatory agencies. They're just so good and they're so necessary, again, for brain health, for hormones, for tissue repair, for the creation of breast milk. They are're so foundational. So you know, that's one of the reasons why soups and stews and broths are so incredibly important, especially things like bone broths, because it's it's made with fats, it's just like part of it, right, it's just so beneficial, it's so, so yummy, it's so good, so amazing.

Speaker 1:

And I will tell you like, once you start getting this into your diet, you will actually start craving it, and many of you probably already do. Like, if you crave high fatty foods, um, there's a good chance that you are really deficient of the good, high quality versions of that, and so your body just craves, uh, fats and, um, if you give it what it really wants, like the good quality fats, you'll find that craving won't, um, won't, take over, right? You won't mindlessly go eat a bunch of high fat content you know unhealthy fat foods and then wonder what in the world did you do, right, um? So, anyway, that is key. Now here's the other one blood sugar balance. So let's talk about blood sugar balance.

Speaker 1:

In the chaos of postpartum life, like reaching for a quick snack to keep you going is common. Or eating the remaining veggie sticks or mac and cheese or chicken nuggets that your kids left behind, that your toddler didn't finish Like, that is very, very common, but it can also cause blood sugar spikes and crashes, and that leads to irritability, mood swings and anxiety, and it does so very, very quickly without you being so aware that it is happening, because oftentimes in postpartum, you're not paying attention to yourself. You're paying attention to your baby. So I highly recommend that you pay very close attention to how often that you're eating and that you're eating the right things when you are eating often. So, instead of balancing your meals with your kids' leftover foods or whatever snack that you have in the pantry, that's just like the easy go-to. I'm just going to shove it in my mouth while I can. While I have this like 30 second break, let me tell you there's so much better. Second break let me tell you there's so much better Balance your meals with protein fats. That gives you steady energy and it helps you avoid those massive crashes which nobody loves, right? Absolutely nobody loves, and this is where preparing for meals in advance is extremely necessary.

Speaker 1:

Oftentimes, we're not getting the support that we need in postpartum, right and we can speak to this a million times over moms do not get the support that they need. They're often handling, you know, toddlers and other children and new babies and they're having to clean the house and do all of the cooking and make sure that their needs are taken care of, but also that these little humans thrive, not just survive at the end of the day, like that's the expectation, and that is insanely difficult to do all by yourself. And so making sure that you're preparing for your meals in advance and that's why we have in the postpartum nutrition plan a whole, entire guide of exactly how you create all of these meals for your freezer, and even even canning instructions, like if you're somebody who loves to can, like we're going to show you exactly how to do that so you can prep all of this in advance and the only thing that you have to do is go to your freezer or, you know, throw them in the fridge for the week or whatever, and then you just warm it up real quick and then you have a solid meal that you can eat rather quickly and feel good about it and actually make sure that your blood sugar stays in balance. So I'm telling you, sometimes it feels really difficult again when we have lots and lots of kids running around and we're trying to juggle motherhood, but it doesn't have to be right, and that's one of the reasons why I created the postpartum nutrition plan.

Speaker 1:

I knew after having my third, that if I was going to do nutrition, it was going to have to be something completely different, because I had done all the things, like I had done meal trains and all the stuff, and everything always fell through Like or I would get meals that were just really crappy Right, honestly, like I it would just was not something that was going to serve me. Maybe it was something that was going to serve my family, like a casserole dish or takeout or something like that, and I was always so grateful when I did get a meal I'm not saying that I'm not, but it didn't always feed me and it didn't always make me feel good. Right, like those heavy casseroles that are rich and you know, at the time I didn't know that I was allergic to dairy, but you know dairy and cheese and like noodles and like all the things. You know it it's very heavy and it's hard to digest and then it would upset my stomach and I see this for so many women. I'm like what's the word? How do I convey the? How many women experience this and maybe don't even recognize it fully in the moment, but it just doesn't feel good, it just sits in your gut forever, and then you have gas and you have bloating, and then you have constipation. And then we tell women, oh, this is a normal part of postpartum, you know, because it's all your hormones. But that's just such a lack of understanding of what's truly transpiring within the gut and how to deeply support it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I'm going to get off my rocker on that. So I'm going to tell you there's so many beneficial things. Herbs are another one that I really highly recommend, like nettle and red raspberry leaf, which support uterine health and replenish iron and help with milk production. And herbs are such a beautiful way to get nutrient-dense food and nutrients into your body without having your body exert extra energy into digesting the foods. And again, it's not just about nutrient replacement, it's about giving your body what it truly needs to function optimally. I can't stress enough how life-changing mineral balance can be and nutrient balance can be, not just for the immediate recovery but for long-term well-being. And so I want to get practical here as well, because one of the questions I always hear is well, how am I supposed to do all of this when I have no time to even shower, or how is my client supposed to make all of this happen and cook all of these meals? Won't they feel overwhelmed? And, believe me, I get it. But that's why this plan is structured the way it is, so that it's sustainable.

Speaker 1:

You don't have to be perfect, you just need to have a bit of consistency, with a few basics and we start with a couple of small steps. Maybe this week you focus on adding more healthy fats in your diet. Next week you could try some nutrient-dense breakfast each morning. I'm gonna lay down a myth here. A lot of the breakfasts that you see in today's society, especially here in the United States the cereals, you know, the donuts and the muffins and the you know oatmeal and all of that they're terrible for you. I haven't had cereal in my house in years. Breakfast is a industry, a created industry, right, we don't need breakfast foods, we just need real foods.

Speaker 1:

I think oatmeal is great for many people, some not so much High protein, you know I love sausage or chorizo or eggs, or you know even a steak in the morning, even soups and stews Like, get away from the idea of breakfast has to be X, y, z and really just start eating in a way that feels good for your body and it will transform your life. Breakfast is such an important part of the day and it's gotta be high fat, high protein, like that's how, how wonderful. This is just nutrient dense, and I'm telling you, having a good, hearty stew in the morning, it will set your day up so well. You will not have those crashes that come with having, you know, donuts or or muffins or pastries or cereals, right, there's so much more to breakfast than those kinds of foods, right, and it can go beyond eggs too. I mean, eggs can get boring if you're always eating eggs, but you know, having chickens, like eggs are like a thing we have. There's so many eggs in my life. I love eggs, but you have to mix it up sometimes, right? Okay, so how do you do it? Like? What does this look like? I'm gonna tell you crock pot, meals, soups that last a few days, freezing bone broth and ice cube trays. Right, it's about building habits that nourish you without overwhelming you, so there's so many different ways that you can incorporate this stuff in a way that's very helpful.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't live without my crock pot and my instant pot. Those are my kitchen hacks, right, they're so necessary and then batching meals, like, if I have a crock pot, I've got like one of the biggest crock pots they make, I fill it to the brim and then I save half of it for another time and that not only provides my family with a full dinner, it also provides my family with lunch for the next day. So my kids are taking leftover dinner to lunch the next day. My husband has his lunch, I have my lunch and we're good, and I have an extra meal as well. Honestly, I don't know how long that's going to last, because even with the biggest crock pot a family of six they eat a lot. I have an athlete, I have a teenage son oh my word, I was actually just telling my husband this. Like I almost feel like, you know, we can't do like the whole, we'll do the leftover piece and so we'll have an extra meal. Always that's like first and foremost, but maybe they're not getting lunch out of this one just because they're starting to eat so much. Right, those things happen and you'll have to be ready for change and that's completely part. That's part of being a parent, right, the moment you figure something out is the moment that it changes. I'm just being so real with you right now.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so here's I can tell you so many stories, so many stories about how moms, only after a few weeks of prioritizing this kind of nutrition, started to feel radically different. Their energy returned, their anxiety calmed, their mental fog lifted. I remember one mom saying for the first time ever since I gave birth, I feel like myself again. And that is the power of giving your body the right tools it needs to heal. And for me, this journey has been very, very personal and I put a personal touch on everything that I do. It's so incredibly important to me. So, even as I've helped so many women, and some women that I've never even met it's so important to me that I have shared this story, that I share my personal imperfections and what I've done to really hone in on this skill and helping everyone implement these nutritional changes after each birth. And again, it's life-changing. Doing this has allowed me to show up as the mom that I've wanted to be and not just get through the day but thrive as my role as a mother, as a wife, like that, as the beauty of making sure that my body is so well nourished.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so here it is, the postpartum nutrition plan that has the ability to change your life and the lives of those that you support. And it's not a quick fix. It's not, it will never be, but it is the start of a journey toward true, deep rooted healing. And if you're ready to take the step to support a mother in this journey, I really encourage you to get on the wait list for the postpartum nutrition certification. It's coming up in the spring. It comes up in the spring and the fall every single year. That is exactly what you wanna do. If you have not taken this and if you have yet to get the postpartum nutrition plan and you're listening to this and it's before the end of year 2024, this is your shot. This is your only shot to get the postpartum nutrition plan from me. So do that ASAP. This is your chance to go beyond just surviving. This is your chance to thrive, body and soul, in the postpartum period and beyond.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for joining me today. If you found this episode helpful, hit, subscribe, leave a review. It helps us spread this essential information to those who really, really need it. So until next time, remember, remember this nurturing yourself isn't selfish, it's necessary. I'll see you soon on the next episode of the Postpartum University Podcast. I am so grateful you turned into the Postpartum University podcast. We've hoped you enjoyed this episode enough to leave us a quick review and, more importantly, I hope more than ever that you take what you've learned here, applied it to your own life and consider joining us in the Postpartum University membership. It's a private space where mothers and providers learn the real truth and the real tools needed to heal in the years postpartum. You can learn more at wwwpostpartumucom. We'll see you next week. You.

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Maranda Bower

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