By Krista Maas de Villiers, BSc Dietetics, Founder of Nunona
Pregnancy and postpartum are some of the most physically demanding phases of a woman’s life. And yet, for too long, the conversation around maternal nutrition has centered on what to avoid and what deficiencies to prevent rather than what it actually takes to fuel a body doing extraordinary things.
It’s time to change that framing entirely.
Motherhood Is High-Performance Biology
Think about what the body is actually doing during pregnancy: building a cardiovascular system, a brain, a set of lungs while also sustaining itself. Cardiac output increases by up to 50%.¹ Caloric demands climb. Micronutrient needs rise significantly and, for many nutrients, stay elevated through breastfeeding and beyond.²
Postpartum compounds this further. The body is recovering from birth, producing milk, regulating hormones in freefall, and running on fragmented sleep, often all at once. Choline requirements during lactation are higher than at any other point in a woman’s life.³ The demand for DHA, iron, iodine, and folate doesn’t pause when the baby arrives.
This is metabolic and neurological output at its most sustained. Motherhood isn’t just emotionally demanding. It’s deeply, measurably physical.
Why Macros Matter as Much as Micros
Here’s what the traditional prenatal conversation often misses: micronutrients need macronutrients to do their job. Fat-soluble vitamins like D, E, K, and A require dietary fat for absorption. Fiber supports gut health and enhances nutrient absorption, ensuring what you take in is actually being used. Protein and fat work together to stabilize blood sugar, keeping energy steady rather than spiking and crashing through the day. And staying consistently nourished at a micronutrient level plays a direct role in hormonal regulation, giving the body what it needs to maintain balance during one of its most hormonally demanding seasons.⁴
A pill, however well-formulated, can’t provide any of that. It can’t stabilize blood sugar. It can’t support absorption the way whole food can. And research consistently shows that dietary quality during pregnancy and postpartum is associated with better energy regulation, reduced risk of maternal depression, and improved infant outcomes.⁵ What you eat and how consistently matters in ways that go far beyond avoiding deficiency.
What Real-Food Prenatal Nutrition Actually Looks Like
This is where Nunona Mama Bites come in. Nunona is an organic, real-food prenatal that delivers 27 essential micronutrients at approximately 100% of the recommended daily intake, alongside a balanced profile of protein, healthy fats, fiber, and complex carbohydrates. It also contains 200mg of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid with strong evidence for supporting fetal brain development and reducing the risk of postnatal depression.⁶ Everything, working together, to absorb those nutrients properly and to do the things a pill simply cannot: regulate hormones, stabilize blood sugar, supply real sustained energy, and support recovery from the inside out.
Designed to be eaten daily, in real life, because consistency is what makes nutrition work.
Fueling Motherhood Differently
Athletes don’t train on micronutrients alone. They fuel with food, real, balanced, consistent food, because performance requires it. Motherhood is no different.
Nutrition in this season of life isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s necessary to function and to build happy and healthy cells in the next generation. When it comes in a form that provides nourishment your body can actually absorb and use, every single day, that’s when the magic happens.
Start fueling your motherhood differently. →
About the Author
Krista Maas de Villiers, BSc Dietetics, is the Founder & CEO of Nunona, a modern nutrition platform supporting maternal and infant health across the first 1,000 days—from preconception through postpartum and baby’s first foods.
Nunona launched with a first-of-its-kind real-food pre+postnatal vitamin designed to improve absorption, reduce nausea, and deliver meaningful outcomes for both moms and babies.
Backed by experts in science, nutrition, and consumer health, Nunona aims to bridge the gap between research and real life—translating complex nutritional science into accessible, effective solutions for modern families.
References
1. Sanghavi M, Rutherford JD. Cardiovascular physiology of pregnancy. Circulation. 2014;130(12):1003-1008. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.009029
2. Picciano MF. Pregnancy and lactation: physiological adjustments, nutritional requirements and the role of dietary supplements. J Nutr. 2003;133(6):1997S-2002S. doi:10.1093/jn/133.6.1997S
3. Caudill MA, Strupp BJ, Muscalu L, Nevins JEH, Canfield RL. Maternal choline supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy improves infant information processing speed. FASEB J. 2018;32(4):2172-2180. doi:10.1096/fj.201700692RR
4. Muhlhausler BS, Ailhaud GP. Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the early origins of obesity. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2013;20(1):56-61. doi:10.1097/MED.0b013e32835b952d
5. Baskin R, Hill B, Jacka FN, O’Neil A, Skouteris H. The association between diet quality and mental health during the perinatal period. Appetite. 2015;91:41-47. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.017
6. Hibbeln JR. Seafood consumption, the DHA content of mothers’ milk and prevalence rates of postpartum depression: a cross-national, ecological analysis. J Affect Disord. 2002;69(1-3):15-29. doi:10.1016/S0165-0327(01)00374-3
