There is a new diet out there all the pregnant/nursing women are raving about. It’s call the Trim Healthy Mama plan. I’m sure many of you already know about it and many of you may already be following it. This diet is high in protein, healthy fats, and healthy grains. There is a little bit of a learning curve to it but most say it is worth it. I’ve only been following it for a short time but have read many success stories.
Nutrition and exercise are the two most important aspects of growing a baby. People think that because I’ve had 12 children (and am still fertile) that my body is super human and somehow made to have babies more than the average woman. This is a fallacy. If a mother eats whatever and lays around doing nothing her body is going to suffer and so will her fertility and recuperation. However, if a woman gives up junk food (all processed foods mainly) and does SOME form of exercise (walking, gardening, light weights, even exercise videos occasionally) her body will be immensely grateful and her weight will not get out of control. Also, if you see a problem with your health do something to fix it NOW. Don’t wait or give in to excuses to why you can’t fix it. I have lots of resources for whatever problems you may be having. Also, I may have experienced them myself and can offer you personal experience as well.
With losing postpartum weight and not gaining as much pregnancy weight I can give you some help with what I do. My body is stubborn. It doesn’t matter if I ‘diet’ or not. I am going to gain 30-50 pounds with each baby. I’ve had pregnancies where I did no form of diet, just ate, and others where I journal my meals. Doesn’t matter. I gain the same and lose the same right after birth, a measly 10-13 pounds. The rest I have to work to lose. And that is exactly what I do too. With my first I gained 35 pounds. After the birth I lost 10 pounds. Surely, everyone says you will lose the baby weight nursing your little one. So, when my daughter was a year old I became pregnant with my son, and had only lost that same 10 pounds. The scale NEVER moved. I was young and naive and was starting my second pregnancy 25 pounds heavier. That woke me up. I learned that unless I wanted to keep adding on to the size of my body I had better do something about it now. After my son was born I started learning about weight loss and walking daily. I lost that weight quickly and have been learning ever since. Losing weight has gotten harder with each one, probably due to my age, but it isn’t impossible.
With my limited experience with this plan I can tell you that I’ve already lost 8 postpartum pounds and I feel much better (my daughter is 9 weeks old). I don’t get huge bouts of hunger when I haven’t eaten for a few hours and I don’t get shaky. The way this plan is structured allows for whole grains, all kinds of meat, and healthy fats from coconut oil, avocados, olive oil, etc. There is a little bit of a learning curve though but it is well laid out in the new book Trim Healthy Mama Plan, written by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison. I’ll talk about that plan in a different post though.
This post will be about their other new book, Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook. I speak of this book because I’ve been using it daily and thought others would appreciate a little insight before they spent their money on a book of their own. I also appreciate the fact that I have a well written book(s) I can recommend to my clients without being worried that it is incomplete or incompatible with growing and feeding a healthy baby.
Their cookbook is 512 pages filled with thick pages and glossy beautiful pictures. This book has a nice feel to it and is filled with so many recipes. There are a lot of recipes on Pinterest (this is where I have found most of my recipes) but the recipes in this book are all personally tested by the authors with most of them being made by them personally. So far, I have not found even one recipe I haven’t enjoyed. For breakfast this morning I had a Strawberry Cheesecake Shake. Not only was it delicious but it was very filling. I drink daily the Shrinker (as does my 12 year old daughter) and I love their fat-stripping frappe! I recommend this book to anyone. Even my husband likes the food I make him from this book, and that says a lot!!
I do have a suggestion for the publisher though. I would have loved to see it spiral bound with a protective cover over the front cover. When I cook I like to be able to have the book sitting open on my counter. I’ve heard other women have taken their books to Staples or OfficeMax and had this service done. I plan on calling them in the morning and asking them about this service. I think it’s only about $5 or so. I think other women would appreciate this feature as well, and would be willing to pay the slight additional expense for it.
One of the reasons I started looking at this ‘diet’ is that the women (they’re sisters) each have large families and are thin and healthy. Very lovely! They’ve obviously found something that worked and decided to market it. I am listening! Every two years I’m working to lose weight and if they can help me lose it just a little faster, I’m listening. If you’re interested in trying new recipes that have no processed carbs this cookbook is full of them. There are crockpot meals, casseroles, breakfast ideas, shakes, and sippers. Lots of options to choose from. You can even freeze a lot of these meals for after your baby is born and you don’t have the energy to cook.
I’m required to tell everyone that I received my cookbook from Blogging for Books for this review. But, I’m also going to tell you that I would write this post and recommend this book even if they hadn’t asked me too. As with all my book reviews I would not post a positive review (nor do they ask me too) unless I truly liked and recommended the book. I like this book and I do recommend this book to my clients and to all mothers.
Also, this post contains affiliate links to help me pay for my blog. There is no additional costs to you. I just get a little percentage of whatever you spend. Thank you for your support!
