6 simple diet tips for young mothers (but really, for everybody)

You’re looking after everybody else, it’s time to pay attention to yourself too

You’re having masala oats for the 17th day in a row as you carry the baby with one hip while Googling diet tips for young mothers with the other. You’re probably going to order in for dinner, unless the husband feels like cooking. Your gym instructor hasn’t seen you in years and you have no plans of showing him your face either.

Yes, maternity leave was over a year ago and the incredible support system of parents, grand-parents, friendly neighbourhood maasis who fussed over you through your pregnancy has slowly diminished as they’ve gone back to their own lives. Between going back to work full-time and taking care of your cihld, your own self-care rituals and healthy habits have flown out of the damn window. And no, spooning up the remainder of the matar purée your toddler rejected doesn’t count as clean eating.   

Understanding the predicament women often find themselves in, TV host and gourmet chef Shilarna Vaze (Chef Chinu) — a young mother herself — thought to share her diet tips for young mothers with her army of 100K Instagram followers. “I was surprised when my yoga teacher told me to start eating besan and gond (dink in Marathi, gum in English) laddoos!,” she wrote. “I was like ‘Wasn’t that for postpartum and lactation?’ He told me it was to nourish my bone marrow and that my bones were too brittle for my age, which was a one-way ticket to arthritis.”

Read on for the dietary tweaks that are helping her eat healthy without too much effort. 

Diet tips for young mothers that could work for you too

Detox green juice: “My skin is going cray in this heat + sweaty yoga, so this is the best. Beware its slightly diuretic effects if you are just starting.” 

Besan and gond laddoos: “It nourishes your bone marrow and protects you against arthritis.” 

Ghee: “It’s a no brainer. Everybody loves ghee and ghee loves you back equally. It helps build immunity and helps cure backaches.”

Dry fruits: “Add a couple of dates, walnuts and soaked almonds every morning to your existing breakfast spread.”

Multi-vitamins: “Young mothers need easy stuff. I’m taking the @gnc_india MEGA active because I’m exercising, except I lost the bottle in my kitchen somewhere so now I have to find it.”

Probiotics: “Buttermilk, dahi, kombucha anything that gets that good guy bacteria going.”

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