Ghee has many brilliant benefits for postpartum mums and is highly recommended by many health professionals responsible for their care.
Here's just a few of the many reasons why ghee is often listed as one of the top foods for postpartum nutrition for new mums and their babies.
1. Stops the roller-coaster of sugar spikes and assists with weight-loss.
But ghee is a fat! Who would have thought it, regain your health (and your waistline) by eating more fat.
Not any fat though. Ghee.
If you're eating infrequently and doing the whole grab-and-go lifestyle all while trying to feed your newborn, catch some ZZs and interact like a sane person, you can be sure your sugar levels are going to fluctuate. One of the top benefits for new mums is that eating ghee slows down glucose absorption, stopping the sugar spikes, a major enemy of weight loss.
2. Mood Food.
Oh, the joy of sleep deprivation. (You know they use it as a form of war torture, right?)
Add lack of sleep to your hormone storm and you've got some major brain fog and mood swings going on.
Who hasn't hampered their weight loss goals by grabbing a chocolate or sugary sweet for a quick energy and mood booster?
Another health benefit for the new mum is eating ghee to stimulate the production of oxytocin in the brain. Oxytocin assists with the laying down of the new brain pathways that develop after birth in new mums. Ghee is just one tool in your nutritional toolbox to help provide protection from the baby blues, mood swings and post-natal depression. Ghee helps you feel more grounded and alleviates that strung-out, wired feeling a lot of new mums experience. It helps you suppress the emotional-eating rollercoaster.
3. Boob Food.
Ok, so you've just put your body through baby bootcamp and now it's time to load up on all the good stuff, so you have a wonderful supply of breast milk.
Not only does ghee increase milk supply, it also has great carrying properties. Ghee increases the bioavailability of food and is renowned for transporting and assisting in the assimilation of vitamins and minerals deep into your cells (and breast milk), quickly. That means your newborn and you both have a great ready supply of essential nutrients, and why up to two teaspoons of ghee daily is recommended for postpartum mums.
4. Constipation (as if you haven't pushed enough).
If you want to lose weight, you must have good elimination of your bowels. Ghee contains butyric acid, a fatty acid that's created when the good bacteria in your gut break down dietary fibre.
The butyric acid in ghee assists in healing the intestine by providing food for the good bacteria in your gut, as well as relieving one of the biggest complaints, besides sleep deprivation, new mums have: constipation.
Tip: if you're in need of help getting to sleep or using your bowels, try this nourishing recipe using ghee to kick insomnia and constipation to the curb.
Ghee has a ton of health benefits, one of them increasing the bioavailability of the foods you eat.
What to consider when buying ghee for you and your baby?
Quality — it goes without saying really.
Now is not the time to skimp on our health. It's a time to nourish our bodies with the best possible products while they heal. That means no chemicals and no GMOs. Instead, choose products like OMGhee that are biodynamic, organic ghee made from the butter of grass-fed cows.
Want to go down the rabbit hole and find out more? Click the video below to hear Ayurvedic consultant Jacqueline from Living Ayurveda take us on a deep dive.
