Before having our baby we’re given fair warning about the sleepless nights, the need for a good baby carrier and a steady stream of caffeine.
What people don’t talk about is how you will literally have no motivation and energy to get in the kitchen to cook a healthy meal.
You’d rather be snuggling your baby. Or having a shower.
After having a very sick pregnancy I thought I’d be over the moon to get back into healthy eating, until I realised that my version of healthy eating pre-kids was time consuming and honestly, not that appealing. I was a breastfeeding Mum that wanted carbs not just kale, so my old approach to eating wasn’t going to cut it.
As a Nutritionist I knew what I should be eating, it was the how-to-make-it-happen that I was struggling with.
By the time my baby was a couple months old, my energy levels continued to plummet and I started to feel burnt out and run down. I knew I needed to find a way to get healthy food into my body so I didn’t fall in a heap.
I googled and Pinterest-ed, scouring the web for healthy recipes that were quick and simple but most were basically held together by cheese (which I was avoiding). And the healthy options were way too time consuming or complicated for this tired mama.
So I started trialling every shortcut I could to make meals quicker but still be healthy and taste good. And it was life changing.
Focusing on making all my healthy meals quick and easy helped me re-claim my health after pregnancy and support my recovery postpartum because I could actually do it. This made the healthy option, the easy option!
This is the best approach new mothers can take towards healthy eating – making it enjoyable, balanced, quick and easy so we can (and want to) do it consistently.
These are 3 of my favourite dinner recipes that are a lifesaver on those hard afternoons when you can’t be bothered even thinking about dinner let alone cooking.
They’re healthy, delicious, take less than 10minutes hands on time and easy enough to make in a sleep deprived state. Enjoy!
