Breastfeeding snacks

New moms have busy schedules! Not only are you always hungry when breastfeeding but you are time starved too so it's difficult to prepare healthy snacks. Breastfeeding your baby takes time and also means you are often up several times throughout the night and sometimes for several hours. With limited time and sleep deprivation, moms often find it challenging to eat healthy, especially when it comes to snacking. 

Healthy snacking

Whether a snacking habit is healthy, largely depends on what you eat. Eating one or two snacks between meals may contribute to a healthy diet if you snack on nuts, fruit, vegetables and whole grains, for example.1 However, opting for french fries, chocolate, or cookies may just increase your calorie intake without providing you (or baby) with any real benefit. 

Worried about your weight

Healthy snacking may help to keep extreme hunger at bay, so you don’t end up eating an unnecessary large lunch or dinner.  If you eat three big meals, you can reduce the quantity of each meal by eating healthy snacks. This may in turn help you to consume less calories throughout the day, which may help with weight loss or control.2 Snacking may also reduce the potential for digestive and metabolic overload.1

Also keep in mind that breastfeeding requires calories, alot of calories. Breastfeeding moms require an additional 500 calories per day to cope with the additional demand of producing breast milk and taking care of baba (that's more than what you need during pregnancy!).3 Healthy snacks can help you meet the extra energy and nutrient requirements.   

Other benefits of snacking

Your body and brain need energy to function and healthy snacks will provide this. Snacking may help you feel alert as it may prevent a drop in blood sugar levels.2 Consuming fruit, as opposed to chips was shown to lower anxiety, depression, and emotional distress.4

Smart Snacking

Smart snacking means you choose a healthy food option, you keep the portion size small and you practice mindful eating. Not paying attention to what you eat often leads to overconsumption.

Nunona is here to help you

The main reason why people often do not consume healthy snacks is a lack of energy or motivation to prepare healthy snacks. To help with this, it is recommended to keep a few snacks on hand that require no preparation such as fruit, nuts or Nunona Mama Balls. Nunona Mama Balls are convenient, tasty and packed with nutrients to support you postpartum and help you pass essential nutrients on to baba via your breastmilk. 

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