Your Pregnancy Diet: How Did You Do?

Postpartum advice

The "Food Tree" Plan
Ideally, new parents should have a "food tree" in place before the birth of their child. A few weeks before your due date, ask a friend or family member to enlist several people to provide your family with home-cooked evening meals every day during the first postpartum weeks. Have this individual friend emphasize that the food tree is not about socializing – those who bring the meal should stay for only a few minutes, and then quietly slip off so that you and your partner don't feel obliged to entertain them. Also, let your friend or relative know what kinds of food you want to eat in those first postpartum weeks – or give him or her a copy of this book with the diet guidelines marked! Then the food tree participants will be more likely to bring you the foods your body really needs to replenish itself.

Immediately Postpartum
From what we have heard, there is very little to compare to the first meal that comes after a long, hard labor and birth. Have whatever you like. Drink plenty of water and (preferably fresh-squeezed) juices to begin replenishing your body. Try to incorporate the fish soup with seaweed that Chinese women use. It is loaded with minerals and vitamins.

One woman we know requested and devoured a huge platter of sushi soon after she gave birth to her daughter. Fresh, raw salmon, mackerel, and yellowtail are excellent sources of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) – a good start for a new mother and her baby! If sushi is the type of meal you choose, make sure to eat the pickled ginger and wasabi horseradish that come with it. They will help to kill any bacteria that the raw fish may contain.