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Eating Healthy While Breastfeeding

Eating Healthy While Breastfeeding
By:
Axia College
SCI 241
Alyssa Kunz
March 22, 2009

Eating Healthy and Weight Loss While Breastfeeding
Since giving birth 3 months ago, I have been breastfeed and plan to continue for the next year. It is important for me to eat a healthy diet and to lose my extra baby weight.
While preparing to lose the extra weight, I have made some discoveries. I should not greatly reduce my calorie intake too quickly because it could negatively affect my milk supply, and it is important to eat a healthy diet for me and my new baby.
After Having the Baby
After giving birth, I would have loved to leave the hospital wearing the clothes that I wore before pregnancy. This however was not a reality me, I still had an extra forty pounds on my body. I lost about ten more pounds after returning home but still had a long way to go.
I have learned that a good diet is not only important for me to lose weight but it also helps to produce a better milk supply and give me more energy to take care of my new baby. “After you give birth, good nutrition is even more important than during your pregnancy. It can make a difference in the quality of your breast milk and affect how quickly your body rebounds from childbirth” (Bouchez, 2004).
Diet
According to The Health Care Center (2009), a woman should wait until her baby is two months old, before beginning a diet; this will give her body enough time to establish a good supply of breast-milk.
A healthy diet is important, being 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, I should eat the following in a day’s time:
• 8 ounces of grains (at least 4 ounces from whole grains)
• 3 cups of vegetables
• 2 cups of fruit
• 3 cups of dairy
• 6 ½ ounces of meat and beans
(USDA, 2009)
It is important for me to limit the amount of simple carbohydrates (such as sweets) that I eat and consume a variety of complex carbohydrates like: broccoli, bell peppers, squash, plums,...