A few years ago, my husband and I decided to try and be vegetarian, and possibly practice some vegan eating habits, as well. During this process, we read countless vegetarian and vegan books, we watched many hours of documentaries, and we really embraced the vegetarian lifestyle. We even had two Thanksgivings completely vegetarian, and it was delicious!
It was going so well, I managed to be vegetarian my entire pregnancy with my son. I felt amazing and I had no cravings. My midwife and OB both said (at completely different practices) my levels and vitamins were good so that’s probably why I never had any cravings. I was so healthy and getting the right vitamins and nutrients because I was vegetarian.
Another thing about being vegetarian is there are different ways to practice this lifestyle. One method is Ayurveda. One night my husband brought home this cookbook on Ayurvedic diet and it’s healing traditions from India dating back 5,000 years. My husband has always been very interested and intrigued by the culinary industry, and his parents have owned restaurants his whole life. Because of this, he knew what he was doing and dug deep into all avenues of vegetarian and vegan diets once we switched.
There’s a lot to the history of Ayurveda, so I’m not going to go in to all of it; however, I will share the benefits of practicing an Ayurvedic diet when it comes to motherhood.
Many benefits to practicing Ayurvedic diet traditions have been linked and proven to improve or heal many stages of motherhood for women. The first is that it has been known to help with fertility; second, it can provide the appropriate nutrients and vitamins to sustain a very healthy pregnancy; third, it helps the postpartum healing and helps minimize negative postpartum effects; and fourth, it boosts your milk production with breastfeeding!
There are important things to consider when practicing an Ayurvedic diet to make sure you are truly getting the right concept and balance of Ayurvedic food to truly benefit your body. You can get a cookbook and follow an Ayurveda, vegetarian diet within your home, but when it comes to getting all the other benefits it’s best to reach out to families or professionals who traditionally know Ayurveda tradition. Specifically speaking, for example, eating the right foods and treats to help boost milk production while breastfeeding. Now, I tried a few in the beginning with my son, consisting of little homeopathic traditions with a some Ayurvedic herbs, but nothing seemed to work, so we naturally did what we had to do to increase my milk. I only wish I knew about companies that know the tradition, practice it, and have grown up with it to specifically help mothers with milk production; One being Mrs. Patel’s.
Mrs. Patel’s was born after the founder had her own son and was struggling after going back to work 7 months postpartum to keep her supply up while pumping. Her mother had already made her a batch of Ayurvedic treats when she gave birth, following her families Indian tradition; however, she didn’t think twice about how important it was to continue eating the family treats until she was faced with such a breastfeeding challenge. So, she followed her family recipe and turned it in to a successful company, named after her mother.
Mrs. Patel’s has a wide variety of treats that are so delicious (seriously, I’m not joking!) that you forget you’re only eating them to help with your milk production. If you haven’t already tried an Ayurvedic diet or Ayurvedic Breastfeeding, go do it now because you’re missing out!
NOTE: Taking Mrs. Patel’s products, and other like it, when pregnant is not suggested. These products are specifically designed for postpartum and lactations purposes only. The herbs are too potent to digest while pregnant.
DISCLAIMER: Breastfeeding World is not receiving any monetary compensation from any brand. The recommendations of product that we have done is our writer’s personal experience with it.
We would love to hear from you, have you ever tried the Ayurvedic Diet?
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I am a 27-year-old WAHM to two intelligent and amazing toddlers (3 and 1.5 years), and two stepdaughters (12.5 and 8.5 years). I am a very active and passionate birth advocate working to change regulations, laws and cultural norms in the U.S. to provide parents to be educated and empowered to know all birth rights and options. I am a proud emergency, unplanned c-section, turned all natural, non-medicated VBAC experienced mama! I am a modern-hippie mama practicing attachment parenting, who loves babywearing and toddlerwearing, and of course breastfeeding! I love to laugh with my amazing husband/best friend and to travel to new places with our beautiful family.
For more of my lifestyle and mommy blogging updates, check out my Instagram page @PRbabywearingMama.