This weekend I had the amazing privilege of attending a women’s health conference, called Female Chain Reaction. It was taught by my friend, Tina Christie PT, CCE, FAFS, FMR, creator of The Pelvicore ball and founder of Pelvic Solutions.
I feel so honored to be a part of the movement towards true solutions for women’s health. Obviously, I am a bit biased to the importance of women’s health education. Without this education, I am confident that I could not fully embrace motherhood as I have.
Remember, I had two twin pregnancies which causes significant trauma to the abdominal wall. Without the proper inputs through nutrition and movement, your body cannot heal. Ladies, I encourage you to be proactive and seek out help if something does not feel right. Use this link to find a women’s health PT near you.
If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, something is not ok and you need to seek help from a women’s health PT:
incontinence
pelvic pain/pressure
pain with intercourse
diastasis
lower back pain
constipation
Do not accept the statement, “Well, you have had a baby and that is normal.” NO! NO, it is not normal! No amount of incontinence or pain is normal!
I wrote extensively about my postpartum journey, including my nutrition strategies and movement techniques.
Postpartum Recovery Protocol Here, I wrote about my nutrition and movement strategies to improve my gut health and encourage healing in the early postpartum period. Here is a sample from the post:
100% real food diet excluding all packaged convenience foods. The exception is convenience foods such as coconut milk, sardines, tuna and salmon.
Low sugar diet to prevent feeding any bad bacteria that may be trying to establish itself after the antibiotics swept my gut clean. This includes fresh fruit and home dried fruit.
Fermented foods with every meal. Including sauerkraut, kavas, Kombucha and raw milk yogurt. This will help to reseed my gut.
Two to three servings of coconut per day for its antimicrobial and energy properties. Includes coconut oil, coconut butter/manna, coconut chips or coconut milk.
Plenty of omega 3 rich foods such as lean grass fed beef and fatty fish. This is to reduce inflammation and improve fatty acid ratio.
Lots (12+ servings) of non starchy vegetables per day. This offers a huge amount of fiber and important minerals.
1-3 servings per day of resistant starch in the form of soaked and sprouted beans, green plantains and cooked cooled potatoes. Resistant starch helps maintain blood sugar and feeds good bacteria.
One half pound per week of organ meats such as heart, liver and kidney because I like them and they are hugely good for you.
Of course…gelatin from meat on the bone, bone broth and gelatin supplement. All help in the rebuilding of connective tissue as well as soothing the gut.
I also supplement with a prenatal vitamin, DHA, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium/magnesium, adrenal support and methylation support.
Diastasis recovery and postpartum care (Month One) Here I talk about my journey during the first month postpartum. I started experiencing symptoms of food intolerance. In hindsight, probably due to lack of sleep and the time pressures of a new mom. Check out my strategies to attack, not accept these problems. I also shared some of my movement sequences that I learned to help encourage core reintegration.
Twin pregnancy pregnancy recovery and schedule (month two) Here I share my story of recovery in month two after the girls were born. I received my first evaluation of my abdominal wall by my women’s health PT. I also share my cooking, nursing and exercise schedule as a mom of two sets of twins.
Postpartum training, recovery and nutrition: what am I eating and how am I moving? Here I share lots of pictures using movement strategies to reintegrate my body as a whole. One of the most important pieces to postpartum recovery and care is whole body movement and breath. The beauty of it is that it works universally well, if you dedicate yourself to it. Isn’t that encouraging! You should feel empowered by this knowledge that all you need is the courage to try and the discipline to apply! I also offer my daily nutrition schedule for recovery!
Remember, if you are not nourishing your body, you cannot rebuild it!
I have more from those early days. But, we will start with those three. My purpose in sharing is to offer encouragement through my journey. Ladies, you owe it to yourself and your new baby (or babies) to take awesome care of yourself. Yes, it takes work and dedication. You must be willing to say no to unhealthy inputs and know that’s ok. Remember, your choices determine your outcome.
Please share your thoughts with me here or on our Facebook community at moms4health.