Congratulations! You have a new baby! Between taking care of your bundle of joy, keeping your house passably clean, perhaps taking care of other kids (and don’t forget the husband!) and various other duties, you barely find time to shower at the end of the day. So how is one expected to cook healthy, balanced meals and find time to exercise as well??
Nutritional therapist Kate Cook and postnatal fitness instructor Lucy Wyndham-Read have written a new book called An Unfit Mother: How to get your Health, Shape and Sanity back after childbirth. “New mothers need a no-fuss plan to take control, without beating themselves up about slip-ups along the way.” Sounds good, doesn’t it?
So how do you prevent yourself from feeling knackered (they’re British chicks. They use funny words)? Here are a few helpful tips, courtesy of Keep the Doctor Away:
- Get motivated! Start making really small changes rather than trying to tackle a huge health program. You can easily feel overwhelmed at this time, and are much more likely to stick to the small changes and get bigger results.
- Eat right! Don’t fall into the trap of snacking on junk because you don’t have time to prepare food. Instead, snack on “superfoods” such as nuts and seeds. They’re “full of zinc, a great food to balance the blood sugar and to ward off the blues.”
- Forget the gym; exercise at home! You can tone your body with simple exercises such as this one: Start knitting the abdominals back to their pre-pregnancy state by simply pulling your belly button in tight towards your spine and holding for up to 10 seconds, then release. Do this several times a day. Not only does it tone your deepest abdominal muscle, but it will also help strengthen your lower back and improve your posture. You can start right now, as you read this!