Postpartum University® Podcast

The Warming Foods Principle - Ancient Wisdom Modern Science Finally Proves EP 248

• Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

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The truth is out: If your clients are struggling with slow healing, relentless fatigue, or impaired milk production, the cold food in their diet is the root cause. For generations, reductionist nutrition dismissed the ancient, global wisdom of warming foods as mere cultural folklore. They were wrong. This episode is your urgent intervention, proving with hard science that ice water and cold cereal actively deplete the new mother's energy reserves, fueling everything from anxiety to postpartum depression.

Maranda dives into the non-negotiable physiology—from digestive enzyme function to nervous system regulation—that proves traditional postpartum care systems (like TCM and Ayurveda) understood holistic health far better than modern medicine. Discover the concrete, scientific mechanisms that validate the Warming Foods Principle and learn how to integrate this critical postpartum nutrition strategy immediately, giving your clients the rapid, foundational recovery they deserve. It's time to stop letting modern convenience trump functional healing!

Check out the episode on the blog HERE. 

Key time stamps: 

  • 00:30: The universal consensus: Traditional postpartum care systems across the globe mandate warm foods.
  • 04:15: Examples from TCM, Ayurveda, Latin American, African, and European traditions.
  • 11:47: Why modern medicine dismissed this ancient wisdom as superstition (reductionism, male-dominated science).
  • 19:50: Physiological mechanism 1: Cold food impairs digestive enzyme function at 98.6°F.
  • 21:20: Physiological mechanism 2: Cold causes vasoconstriction, impairing blood flow and nutrient absorption.
  • 23:45: Physiological mechanism 3: Cold forces metabolic energy expenditure (thermogenesis) the mother can't afford.
  • 26:38: Physiological mechanism 4: Cold activates sympathetic "fight or flight," warm supports parasympathetic "rest and digest."
  • 29:10: The role of warming spices (ginger, cinnamon, turmeric) in promoting gastric secretions.
  • 31:45: The link between warm foods, optimal blood flow, and robust milk production.
  • 34:23: Addressing objections: Hot climates and the difference between "refreshing" and "beneficial."
  • 36:50: The power of the Three Pillars of Knowledge (Science, Stories, Practice) for optimal perinatal health education.

NEXT STEPS:

SPEAKER_00:

The postpartum care system is failing, leaving countless mothers struggling with depression, anxiety, and autoimmune conditions. I'm Miranda Power, and I've helped thousands of providers use holistic care practices to heal their clients at the root. Subscribe now and join us in addressing what modern medicine overlooks so that you can give your clients real lasting solutions for lifelong well-being. Welcome back to the Postpartum University Podcast. I'm Miranda Bauer, and today we're exploring one of the most universal principles in traditional postpartum care, and that is warming foods. Across every continent spanning thousands of years, traditional postpartum care systems have emphasized the same thing: keep the mother warm, warm environment, warm clothing, and most importantly, warm foods. Not cold foods, not room temperature foods, warm foods, hot foods, foods that generate internal heat. And for decades, modern medicine has dismissed this as a cultural supersion. Temperature doesn't matter, they said. A calorie is a calorie regardless of temperature. But traditional cultures insisted cold foods harm postpartum recovery. Warm foods support healing. And now, finally, modern science is catching up and validating what great grandmothers around the world have known forever. So today we are diving into the physiology behind the warm food principle, why it matters so profoundly for postpartum, and how to apply this ancient wisdom into modern practice. Let me start by showing you how universal this principle is, because I think so many providers assume it's just one or two cultures with this belief, but it's not. We've got traditional Chinese medicine. So the postpartum period is considered a time of maximum yin, which represents cold, depleted, vulnerable. And then yang foods is warm, cooked, nourishing, and are essential to restore balance. Cold foods and cold temperatures are strictly avoided for 30 to 40 days minimum. Then Ayurvedic medicine, postpartum is dominated by vata energy, so cold, dry, mobile. The antidote is the warm, moist, grounding foods. Cold foods increase vata imbalance and impair digestion and healing. In Latin American traditions, we have the 40-day postpartum period. It's emphasizing keeping the mother warm at all times. Hot foods, hot drinks, avoiding cold drafts, staying covered, getting massages. Cold is seen as harmful to recovery. African traditions, multiple diverse African cultures, all representing warm foods, warm herbs, keeping the mother physically warm. That's central to postpartum care for them. European folk medicine, historical European postpartum care, emphasized warm broths, warm porridge, warm drinks. I had such a fun time doing an entire training on European medicine very, very recently, specific to the postpartum period. And I will tell you, they truly believe cold foods were seen as dangerous for new mobs. Middle Eastern traditions, warming spices, hot soups, keeping the mother warm and protected from cold are standard postpartum practices. So all across the world, literally, this is not a coincidence. This isn't isolated cultural preference. This is collected human wisdom, recognizing something fundamental about postpartum physiology that works across all genetic backgrounds, all climates, all time periods. And when this many cultures independently arrive at the same practice, we should probably pay attention. So why did modern medicine dismiss the warming food principle as superstition? Several reasons. First, the reductionist approach to nutrition. So modern medicine and or modern nutrition science, they focused on breaking foods down into measurable components. So vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, calories. Temperature wasn't measurable in the same way. So it was dismissed as irrelevant. Then there's a calorie is a calorie. That became a dominant paradigm. It doesn't matter if those calories come from hot soup or cold smoothie, it doesn't matter if it comes from coffee or Skittles or a soup, right? Same energy value is the belief. Wrong. We all know that's wrong, but we'll get to that a little bit more too. Second is the dismissal of traditional knowledge systems. So when modern medicine professionalized in the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was deliberate effort to distance scientific medicine from folk practices. Anything that couldn't be explained by current scientific understanding was labeled superstition. Traditional minwaifree knowledge, the herbal medicine, dietary traditions, all dismissed as primitive and unscientific. Third was the male-dominated medical establishment making decisions about female bodies, the men creating nutritional guidelines and medical protocols that have never experienced postpartum. They didn't have the lived experience to recognize patterns that women had observed for thousands of years. And fourth, the shift toward convenience and processed foods. The food industry wanted to sell cold, shelf-stable, convenient products. Warm, freshly prepared traditional foods that did not fit that business model. So for about a hundred years, we've been telling postpartum moms that temperature doesn't matter. Just eat whatever's convenient. Cold cereal is fine, smoothies are healthy, ice water is hydrating, and mothers have been suffering as a result. Let's talk about what actually happens physiologically when you eat cold versus warm foods, because this is where modern science finally validates traditional wisdom. First is digestive enzyme function. So digestive enzymes work optimally at body temperature. So right around that 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius. This is basic biochemistry. Seriously, basic biochemistry. So when you eat cold food, your body has to expend energy to bring that food up to body temperature before enzymes can work effectively effectively. So this energy expenditure might be minimal for someone with abundant energy reserves, right? But for a postpartum mom who's already depleted, recovering from childbirth, possibly producing milk, sleep-deprived, hormonally recalibrating, right? That additional energy demand is significant. So warm foods arrive at or near optimal temperature for enzyme activity. Digestion can proceed effectively with minimal additional energy expenditure. Second is blood flow and circulation. When you consume cold foods or drinks, blood vessels in the digestive tract constrict. This is a protective response. The body is trying to maintain core temperature. So reduced blood flow to the digestive tract means less efficient digestion, reduced nutrient absorption, slow transient time, less oxygen to digestive tissues, impaired healing of the digestive tract. Warming foods and drinks promote vasodilation. So blood vessels expand. This increases blood flow to the digestive tract, and it supports efficient digestion, optimal nutrient absorption, appropriate transit time, better oxygenation of tissues, and faster healing. So for a postpartum body trying to heal tissues throughout the body while maintaining all other functions, optimal blood flow to the digestive system matters considerably. Then we have metabolic energy. The body maintains core temperature around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit through metabolic processes that generate heat. This is called thermogenesis. So when you consume cold foods, you're forcing the body to generate additional heat to bring that food up to body temperature. This requires metabolic energy. So when you consume warm foods, you're supporting that body's thermal regulation with less metabolic energy expenditure. And this might seem trivial, but like postpartum moms are in a state of massive energy demand. We've got healing tissues, producing milk, regulating new hormone patterns, maintaining basic functions on insufficient sleep, which actually costs significantly more energy. So every bit of energy that can be conserved matters. And then we have nervous system regulation. Here's something fascinating that's emerging from recent research. Temperature affects nervous system state. Cold exposure activates the sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight response. This is why cold plunges are energizing, but also stressful. Warm activates the parasympathetic sympathetic nervous system. So that rest and digest response. This is why warm baths are relaxing. The same principle applies to internal temperature from food and drink. Postpartum moms need to be in a parasympathetic dominance for optimal healing, hormone regulation, and milk production. So cold foods push them towards sympathetic activation, which impairs all of these processes. So food that are warm supports parasympathetic dominance and it facilitates healing and recovery. Let's dive deeper into the digestive piece because this is where the warming principle becomes really critical. Postpartum digestion is already compromised. We talked about this in so many episodes, even recent ones, the body has reduced digestive capacity during the healing phase. Traditional systems recognize this and emphasized foods that support rather than challenge digestion. So gastric secretions, digestive juices, stomach, acid, bile, pancreatic enzymes, they flow more readily when the digestive system is warm. Cold foods and drinks can temporarily suppress gastric secretion. So this is this is basic physiology that any gastroentinologist will confirm. Reduced gastric secretions means proteins aren't properly broken down, fats aren't properly emulsified, minerals aren't properly released from food, overall nutrient absorption is impaired. So for a postpartum mother who needs maximum nutrient absorption from every bite, this is disastrous. Warm foods promote optimal gastric secretion. It supports complex digestion and maximum nutrient absorption. Let's talk about gut motility because cold foods can slow gutility. The wave-like muscle contractions that move through uh food through your digestive tract slows motility. So food sits in the stomach longer. That causes discomfort. That transient time through intestine increases and constipation worsenes. It causes fermentation and gas production that increases. And many women are struggling with constipation. Adding cold foods that further slow motility makes the problem worse. Warm foods support healthy gut motility, helping food move through that digestive tract at an appropriate pace. And of course, of course, digestive comfort. Think about your own experience. When you're unwell, what sounds appealing? Hot soup or a cold salad, warm tea or ice water? Some people instinctively reach for warm, comforting foods when they're not feeling well. This isn't just the psychological comfort. It's your body telling you what it needs. So warm foods are literally more comfortable for the digestive system to process. Traditional warming foods aren't just warm in temperature. They often include warming spices. I want to talk about this too and why this matters. We've got ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, fennel. These show up repeatedly in traditional postpartum foods across cultures. Modern science is now validating what traditional systems do. These are stimulate digestive enzyme production. They can reduce nausea, like ginger, for example. Cinnamon reduces blood sugar, is anti-inflammatory, it promotes circulation. Black pepper increases nutrient absorption. It stimulates digestive secretions. We can go on and on and on. These aren't just flavor enhancers, they're functional foods that support digestion, reduce inflammation, and promote healing. Traditional systems didn't have the biochemistry to explain why these vices worked, but thousands of years of observation showed them that they did work. And here's something fascinating. Many traditional cultures specifically linked warm foods to milk production. Is there science behind this? Yes, indeed. Milk production requires adequate calorie intake, sufficient proteins, specific micronutrients, optimal hydration, proper blood flow to breast tissue, parasympathetic nervous system dominance, and warming foods supports all of these. Cold foods impair this. Many mothers notice that their milk supply drops when they consume a lot of cold foods and improve when they return to warm foods. This isn't mysticism, it's physiology. And let me address common objections I hear. But I live in a hot climate. I get it. That probably doesn't feel very good. Traditional practices in hot climates still emphasized warm foods, though. It's not about external temperature, it's about internal body temperature and digestive function. So even in tropical climates, traditional postpartum foods are warm. They might not be hot, they might not be boiling, but the mother might be less covered and she's still eating foods that are warm, not cold. But cold foods is more refreshing. This is something I also hear. Refreshing is not the same as beneficial. Cold food might feel good initially, but it impairs digestion and requires energy to bring up the body temperature that's not going to feel good later. So it might feel good in the moment, like eating a piece of, you know, Halloween candy, right? That that does, it might feel good for this brief moment, uh, but it might not feel good later. It seems so restrictive. I hear this all the time too. It's not restriction, right? It is strategic support for a temporary healing period. And you know what? If we're gonna do good in this world in terms of helping our bodies heal, we are going to have to restrict ourselves. This is not the same as some dietary plan or something that's trending on TikTok. This is, again, very, very strategic. After two to three months, most mothers can eat a more varied diet. It's short-term focus on optimal healing. So, modern research, it's finally catching up. It's starting to validate what traditional systems have always known. Studies on thermogenesis showed that food temperatures affect metabolic energy expenditure. Research on digestive enzyme function confirms optimal temperature ranges for activity. Studies on blood flow and circulation validate that cold causes vasoconstriction while warmth promotes vasodilation. Research on the nervous system shows that temperature affects the autonomic state. All of this was dismissed as superstition for decades. And now we have the science to explain the mechanisms. But here's the thing: traditional cultures didn't need to understand the mechanisms. They observed outcomes over thousands of years and refined their practices based on what actually worked. This is the power of experiential knowledge passed down through generations of women supporting other women through postpartum. And you know what? Our scientific method says that's not acceptable. And I am here to tell you that's a load of crap. This is a perfect example of why at postpartum university we follow the three pillars of knowledge approach. Science, because we love science. So science tells us about enzyme function and blood flow and thermogenesis and nervous system regulation. I love, love, love diving into those things. But we also have women's stories that tell us that warm foods make them feel better, that it supports milk production, that it aids their recovery. And then we also have traditional practices. It shows us the application, what foods, what temperatures, what timing. And when we integrate all three science, women's stories, traditional practices, we get a comprehensive understanding that serves mothers better than any single approach alone. Modern nutrition science alone would say temperature doesn't matter. Women's experience alone might not understand why warm foods help, that they just do. And traditional practices alone might not be able to counter modern scientific skepticism. But together, we can explain both the why and the what and ways that serve mothers optimally. The warm food principles isn't superstition. It is sophisticated understanding of postpartum physiology that's been validated by generations of women and is now being confirmed by modern science. Warm foods support optimal digestion, nutrient absorption, blood flow, healing, and milk production. Cold foods impair these processes at a time when mothers can't afford any impediment to recovery. And this isn't forever. This is strategic support during a critical healing window. Traditional cultures understood this modern medicine is finally catching up, and mothers deserve providers who understand and support this principle. And our postpartum. Nutrition certification program, we teach the complete framework of traditional postpartum nutrition principles validated by modern science, and then some, and really how to apply these principles practically, how to educate mothers effectively, how to integrate this wisdom into contemporary practice. Because mothers deserve the best of both ancient wisdom and modern understanding. Thank you so much for listening to this series on postpartum nutrition. I've been going through this for the last few weeks. I hope this as this episode resonated with you. Please share them with other providers who need to hear this message. And of course, visit postpartum you the letterU.com to learn more about our comprehensive training programs. And remember, when we properly nourish mothers with foods, we truly support healing. And when we heal the mothers, we heal the world. Thanks so much for being a part of this crucial conversation. I know you're dedicated to advancing postpartum care. And if you're ready to dig deeper, come join us on our newsletter where I share exclusive insights, resources, and the latest tools to help you make a lasting impact on postpartum health. Sign up at postpartum you the letterou.com, which is in the show notes. And if you found today's episode valuable, please leave a review to help us reach more providers like you. Together, we're building a future where mothers are fully supported and thriving.

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Maranda Bower

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