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Healthy Diet after Pregnancy
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Why is a healthy diet important?
You’ve already looked at what makes a healthy diet during pregnancy. This part of the session will help you to look at how we use those principles to support weight loss – in particular, supporting our clients after their pregnancies. There are many benefits to them of losing weight. A healthy diet also helps keep mum healthy and well and builds good habits for when the baby is old enough to eat with the family.
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Key messages• Regular eating – this remains important after pregnancy
because it keeps blood sugar at a steady level and avoids cravings for quick fixes such as high fat/sugar snacks. It is particularly important with a new baby because it is easy to grab quick things on the go – but will result in lapses and not help energy levels which are already low due to less sleep!
• Keeping a food diary and menu planning. These tools remain important in helping clients to monitor what they are eating – and support them in eating healthily. Meal planning can be even more helpful as the family will have less time/energy to think about this on a daily basis and could even cook ahead to ensure they still eat eating healthy meals
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Key messages• Diets – dieting are rarely successful in the long term and usually result
in the person putting the weight lost back on again. This is because they are not adapting sustainable eating habits. We all know we can only go without the foods we like for so long. It is much better to adopt a healthy attitude to what we eat, eat a balance of foods and eat high fat/sugar foods in moderation.
• After pregnancy, it is the opportunity to motivate your client to make small but meaningful changes which will result, in the long term, in a healthy lifestyle that is easy to maintain.
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Key messages• Meals rather than snacks
In order to build good eating habits, it is important to eat healthy meals during the day, with healthy snacks in between. Lots of snacks are not good for us as they are eaten and forgotten quickly, digested more quickly and can leave us still feeling hungry so we are likely to eat more. A balanced meal will take longer to be digested and keep our energy levels at the right place for longer.
• Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day – it will set you up for the day ahead and, importantly, give you the energy you need after fasting all night whilst you slept.
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Review learningYou should already have studied the components of a healthy diet and become familiar with the eat well plate. This will be a key tool for you to use with clients in bringing to life what a healthy meal looks like. In the pregnancy session, we talked about the role of each component of the eat well plate and how much of a person’s diet eat part should be.
Complete the activity ‘Foods and what they do’.
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Fruit and VegetablesClients should be encouraged to eat at least 5 portions a day
Use fruit as ‘treats’ and healthy snacks
Suggest trying new fruits and vegetables or experimenting in cooking – grated carrots disappear when cooked
Build a portion of fruit or vegetables into every meal
Encourage clients to eat a variety of different fruits/vegetables
Remember that some clients may currently eat none at all
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Starchy FoodsThese should continue to be the main part of every meal but should be swopped for whole grains – or even mixed 50/50
Portions should be monitored so a client knows how much they are having
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Meat, Fish and AlternativesLean meat, fish, and pulses/beans should be eaten every day. Encourage clients to eat 2 portions of fish a week – this is a great alternative to meat as it is much lower in fat (particularly white fish) or contains ‘good fats’. For some of your clients it may be a big jump from no fish to at least 2 portions a week – but frozen fish can be as cheap as meat, sometimes cheaper – or suggest checking out offers at the supermarket fish counter.
Meat should be lean, or grilled and fat drained and cut off.
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Meat, Fish and AlternativesEncourage clients to avoid ‘meat products’ or limit how many they have each week– such as burgers, pies, sausages, chicken nuggets, corned beef etc.
Support clients to consider ‘meat-free’ days once a week and to try meat-free alternatives such as Quorn mince which can be used in traditionally meaty dishes such as spaghetti bolognaise, chilli con carne or shepherds pie.
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Milk and Dairy FoodsThese are an important part of a healthy diet but when eating to lose weight, clients should choose low-fat varieties wherever possible; semi-skimmed/skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt and use less butter/margerine and cheese. Buying mature cheese for using in foods gives a stronger taste when using less.
Some dairy products can also be high in salt or sugar which should be avoided – for example, ready prepared milkshakes
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Fats and Sugary Food
Sugar contains ‘empty calories’ so for clients trying to lose weight, they should limit the amount of sugary foods they eat.
These foods contribute to weight gain and obesity
Fat is very high in calories so should also be eaten in limited amounts. Some fat is needed in the diet – but this should be from foods such as meat and dairy foods rather than high fat fried foods or saturated fats.
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AlcoholAlcohol is very high in calories and, like sugar, these are empty calories, with no nutritional value, so drinking alcohol can contribute to weight gain as well as other health problems.
Did you know that a glass of wine has the same calories as a slice of cake? Or that a pint of beer has the same calories as a burger?
In addition, because the body cannot use alcohol, it burns those calories first – rather than calories from the food that we eat so contributes to weight gain that way.
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AlcoholClients don’t have to stop drinking altogether in order to lose weight, but as with high fat and high sugar foods, alcohol should be limited.•Clients should stick within limits (no more than 2-3 units per day) or use it as an occasional indulgence•Don’t binge drink•Stick with low calorie options such as clear spirits with low calorie tonics/mixers•Avoid cream based liqueurs and beers
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Eating to lose weight Similar messages to during pregnancy Eat well plate Fruit and vegetables Reduce fatty foods/sugary foods Be aware of portions Healthy snacks Food swaps
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PortionsControlling the size of the portions of food that are eating is one way to reduce the amount of food a client is eating. Often they will have larger plates than they need and not realise that a ‘portion’ of meat is one of two slices, rather than 3 or 4. This actually makes it easier to make changes as there are often lots of areas that can be changed quickly to make a big difference. Suggesting that client’s reduce the size of the plate they use, or develop a way of measuring portions is an easy way for them to keep an eye on the portions of food they are eating. Those tools – working alongside food diaries and goals will support them in losing weight.
Familiarise yourself with the Portion size documents in the resources folder.
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PortionsIt will be important for you to be familiar with common foods and what constitutes a ‘portion’ in order to effectively support your clients to eat appropriately.
Review the document “What is a Portion?” and the portion balance guide.
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Healthy Snacks Sandwiches, pitta breads Salad vegetables Low-fat yoghurt or fromage frais Hummus and bread or vegetable sticks Apricots/figs/prunes Vegetable and bean soups Unsweetened breakfast cereals or porridge and milk Milky drinks or unsweetened fruit juices Fresh fruit Baked beans on toast or baked potato
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Healthy Snacks Salad vegetables Low-fat yoghurt or fromage frais Hummus and bread or vegetable sticks Apricots/figs/prunes Vegetable and bean soups Unsweetened breakfast cereals or porridge and milk Milky drinks or unsweetened fruit juices Fresh fruit Baked beans on toast or baked potato Water biscuits/Crackers and low fat cheese/cottage
cheese
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MealtimesWhilst working with clients to build healthier foods into their diet, you should also encourage healthier eating patterns.
Think about:Eating at a table or at least away from the television – if we eat whilst we are distracted, our brains don’t concentrate on what we have eaten. It takes a while for it to register and you might eat more than you need to before your brain says you are full.Eating at regular intervals – not letting themselves get so hungry that they eat whatever they can get their hands on
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Mealtimes Eating more slowly and learning to leave food on the
plate – rather than having to finish it all Leaving a gap between a main meal and ‘dessert’ – it
takes over 20 minutes for the message from our stomach to reach our brains. Encourage clients to wait 20 minutes and then see if they’re still hungry.
Encourage clients to still enjoy food – but ensuring that those high in fat or sugar are eaten in moderation.
These are all good habits to build before the baby is old enough to share mealtimes so they can build good habits from the start.
