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86. How to Return to Running Postpartum · Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast

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This is the eat more Carbs podcast.
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Hello and welcome to the eat more carbs podcast.
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My name is Jenna Fischer and I'm joined by my Co host Riley
0:44
Beatty. We're both dietitians and each
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Tuesday we are sharing all of our easy and simple sports
0:49
nutrition tips to help you level up your performance as an
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athlete. If you're loving the eat more
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Carbs podcast, subscribing rating and reviewing the podcast
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really helps other athletes like yourself find us so that they
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can Start learning about fueling for performance.
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We know there's a lot of nutrition advice out there and
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as your go to podcast for sports nutrition, it can help spread
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the knowledge of what we're sharing on today's episode to
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help other athletes avoid nonsense nutrition advice.
1:10
We hope you enjoy today's episode.
1:12
Today we have dietitian and runner Holly Samuel on the
1:15
podcast to talk all about postpartum nutrition for
1:17
runners. Rarely.
1:18
What's your high and low I'm. Going to start with my low this
1:20
week because my low turns into my high.
1:22
I am currently on the move and I mean that like figuratively and
1:26
literally because we're currently in the process of
1:29
moving from South South Carolina to North Carolina and every
1:32
single week for the past couple of weeks, I've been in a
1:34
different location. In the last, you know, 9 days
1:37
I've been in Charleston, SC of Charlotte, NC, Raleigh, NC, and
1:41
now I'm currently in Winston Salem, NC, which we will be
1:44
moving to eventually. My low is related to this.
1:48
I'm constantly on the move and I'm constantly repacking and
1:51
packing my bag. I take a lot of pride in my
1:53
packing style because I like to be very organized with my
1:56
packing. I use my packing cubes.
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I'm very meticulous about it. Charlie has definitely thrown a
2:01
wrench into that plan because now I have one bag and she has
2:03
seven, and I'm not even exaggerating.
2:05
But that's not what the low is. The low is because I've been on
2:10
the move. I've had to pack for multiple
2:11
weeks, so I have a ton of stuff with me.
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I had enough packing cubes for all of kind of my essentials
2:18
except for my bras. My bras had to go in a separate
2:21
section because I just didn't have a packing cube.
2:23
I just didn't fit with the amount of bras that I needed,
2:27
Breastfeeding, running all the bras I need.
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So in the process of transitioning from Raleigh, NC
2:35
to Winston Salem, NC, I accidentally left all of my bras
2:40
in Raleigh with my parents. I left like 11 bras with them.
2:45
So I opened my suitcase this past Sunday and I realized that
2:50
I didn't have any bras. Which is kind of funny because
2:53
when I was packing to go from Raleigh to Winston, I was really
2:56
proud of myself because I had more room in my luggage.
2:58
So I thought I was doing really good at my packing.
3:00
But actually what happened is I just left all my bras and wanted
3:03
the drawers. This is a problem because I'm
3:07
training for 1/2 marathon. Also, I'm a human and I need to
3:10
have some bras. So that is my low.
3:13
I'm just going to transition into my high because I went
3:17
shopping to try to find some bras.
3:19
I went grocery shopping first. I went to our local Trader Joe's
3:21
in Winston and next to it was a It's a Champion store.
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I don't know if you've heard of that brand.
3:27
Like champion, like the the sweatpants champion that used to
3:29
be like it wasn't cool back in the day, but like now it's cool
3:32
kind of thing. It's cool now.
3:33
It's cool now. Yeah.
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Yeah. They used to be owned by Hanes
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brand new. What?
3:37
Hanes is right? Yeah.
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Yeah, Hanes is based out of Winston Salem.
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Oh shoot, I didn't know that. Fun fact, yes, they have a
3:44
Champion store because it's like a local brand, right?
3:49
I've never seen a Champion store or heard of a Champion store or
3:51
anything like that. I just know the Champion brand
3:53
because they used to be sold at Target.
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So I go to my Trader Joe's and then I was like, well, maybe
3:58
Champion, like hash keeper bras or something like that.
4:01
I go into the Champion store, everything is $5 and they have
4:05
all of these sports bras and they have all of these bras.
4:09
I got 8 bras for $68. That's like one sports bra,
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Lululemon. I know because I was gonna go.
4:16
I was wasting time in Champion because Lulu was next door.
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And I was like, I'm just gonna wait.
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And what's happening right now is because of my postpartum
4:24
journey, I've been having to wear like multiple sports bras
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when I run because I've needed extra support.
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And I got any bras that I could only wear one, like they're
4:34
super supportive. I just thought it was like the
4:36
perfect high low because we were talking about plus part of
4:39
running today and I was just so excited yesterday when I went
4:41
for my run and only had to wear a red bra.
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And I got it for. $5. That's amazing.
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Yeah, I just. Also know that you love a good
4:47
deal, so I thought you would appreciate that story.
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I do love a good deal. What about you?
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What's your high and your love? OK, my high is that I've signed
4:54
up for another race. So I am now training for the
4:57
Arizona half marathon in January, which I'm super excited
5:00
about. I'm going to run it with my
5:01
husband and I think we've convinced my brother to run it
5:04
too, which is really fun because I love 1/2 marathon.
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I think it's such a fun distance and I'm all about the more the
5:09
merrier and a half marathon just to make it party pace and let's
5:12
go for it. Let's have a good time.
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So that's my, I'm really looking forward to that.
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My LO, it's a very silly story. We got invited to go out with
5:20
some friends over the weekend to kind of like an upscale
5:23
restaurant that's more like what I would call like the IT place
5:26
in Arizona. Like it is packed full of
5:29
people. If you don't know me, I don't
5:30
really love like a super extroverted moment.
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I'm more of an introvert. Like curl up on my couch with a
5:35
book in a snuggly blanket by 9:00 PM.
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It was nice to like be around friends.
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It's just like a lot. There was a lot.
5:42
Happening. So, Jenna, we're living very
5:45
different lives. But it's fun.
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The people that the people that we went out with are super,
5:49
super nice. They're our neighbors.
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Like I'm really glad that we got to know them.
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So like that part of it was good.
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It was just like the whole atmosphere and the environment.
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I was like, it's just too much for me.
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I felt old. Oh, one of those.
6:00
Yeah, one of those where I was like, oh man, I'm like walking
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around and I'm like, OK, I think I'm too old to be here.
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I think that was probably my like my low, truthfully.
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It's like I realized that I'm dated.
6:10
You're not one of those 20 year old TikTok influencers who were
6:13
as blonde and driving a Porsche. Exactly.
6:16
Yeah, that's not me. So walking around, I was like,
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I'm at a place and I'm too old for this.
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So that's my low. I needed to be there at like
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5:00 PM, not 9:00 PM, you know, like.
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A happy hour situation, yes, and then French.
6:29
Yes, yes, with knowing that we're both training for half
6:33
marathons now, we're going to be talking about postpartum
6:35
nutrition for runners with Holly.
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So we hope you enjoyed the podcast.
6:38
Holly, welcome to the podcast. Hi, thank you so much for having
6:41
me on the show. I'm excited to chat.
6:43
We're so excited for you to be here for you to talk about was
6:46
part of running. But before we kind of get into
6:48
some of the questions that we have for you, can you explain
6:49
just a little bit about your background, how you became a
6:51
dietitian and CSSD? Yeah for sure.
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I went to school pre Med not knowing what a dietitian was
6:58
like. I kind of just thought the
6:59
health care system was comprised of doctors and nurses and those
7:02
are like the two things that you could do in health care.
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So I went pre Med and then I decided pretty quickly and just
7:07
realized pretty quickly in my major that like I didn't really
7:10
actually want to be a doctor. That like learning about
7:13
medicine and like medical interventions like that type of
7:16
thing. Pharmacy just wasn't super
7:17
interesting to me. When I expressed this to my
7:20
advisor who was an advisor for the nutrition program, but also
7:23
pre Med because as we know, they're actually quite similar
7:26
degrees. She was like, what you're
7:27
describing sounds like a dietitian.
7:29
I think you should, you know, do dietetics.
7:31
So she's really kind of the one of the reasons why I pivoted and
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ended up declaring dietetics instead.
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So yeah, I, I didn't know what a dietitian was, but learned
7:39
pretty quickly. And then around the same time I
7:42
was figuring all of that out. I also, that's when I started to
7:46
run. I wasn't like a runner before
7:49
college. I I competed horses.
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That was my main sport. And I did that actually semi
7:53
professionally for a little bit at a pretty high level and
7:56
thought I was gonna keep like would be so like my younger self
7:59
be so surprised that I'm not doing that anymore and that I'm
8:01
running instead. But I started running and I got
8:03
really into sports and like the fueling side of things from a
8:06
nutrition perspective. So that's kind of what brought
8:09
it all together for me eventually and made me want to
8:12
want to become a sports dietitian.
8:13
Riley, that sounds really. Similar to the path that kind of
8:16
led you as far as being that pre Med route and then moving into
8:19
nutrition. I was.
8:21
Shaking my head like, yes, yes, yes, because I was the same even
8:25
with the MCAT, like interviewed at a lot of different like
8:28
medical schools because I thought, and that was kind of
8:30
funny thinking about it, but I was like, I'll just be a doctor
8:32
and I'll just like, you know, corporate nutrition into that.
8:34
And I didn't even know that there's this whole other space
8:37
out there where you could, you know, work on nutrition
8:40
specifically and then also with athletes, which is just so fun.
8:44
Yeah, it's jokes on us, right? Because you changed your major,
8:46
but like nothing really changes about your classes.
8:50
But the outcome changed quite a bit, so that was good.
8:53
I always joke too, that I probably would have still been
8:55
private practice or still gone the entrepreneurial route.
8:59
I just would have for sure medicine versus nutrition.
9:01
Yeah. Oh, for sure.
9:02
Same. It was meant to be.
9:04
So kind of jumping into some of what we're going to be talking
9:07
about today, you are a runner yourself and you are also a new
9:12
mom. So we're really excited to kind
9:14
of hear a little bit about your personal experience, you know,
9:17
with this postpartum phase and running, but then also the work
9:20
that you're doing with your clients.
9:21
So kind of just starting off at the beginning, but what are some
9:24
of the key nutritional needs for women in this postpartum phase?
9:28
Yeah, I know it's something that like I learned a lot about
9:31
obviously just in my training and and understood and helped
9:34
people with, but then going through it for the first time
9:36
myself, I'm like, oh, OK, you know, I think it becomes a
9:39
little bit more applicable. So yeah, some key nutrients
9:42
postpartum. I mean, I have so many like
9:45
opinions just about women and pregnancy and like how kind of
9:49
like our healthcare system sets that up to all go.
9:53
So I think a lot of women just like start their fertility
9:55
journey a bit depleted, especially if they're athletic
9:57
women and they've never considered, you know, learning
10:00
about fueling before. And then as I'm sure you know,
10:02
Riley, because I think you were pregnant the same time I was,
10:04
pregnancy also super depleting and then birth super depleting.
10:09
Postpartum, very depleting. So it's pretty much like all
10:13
nutrients are important postpartum.
10:15
But to kind of focus in on the few that I want to talk about
10:19
prioritizing the most. I mean, for sure iron, no matter
10:22
how the baby gets out of you, there's going to be blood loss.
10:24
I know, you know, iron deficiency and anemia are also
10:28
big concerns for during pregnancy.
10:30
I definitely dealt with that pre pregnancy and then also during
10:33
pregnancy. So that blood loss definitely
10:35
doesn't help postpartum. So restoring iron and all the
10:38
other blood building nutrients like vitamin, you know, B12 and
10:41
copper and vitamin A are all super important.
10:44
Also prioritizing protein, especially if you're choosing
10:48
to, to breastfeed and if you're able to do that is really
10:51
important. Protein just from like a
10:52
recovery standpoint from pregnancy, growing a new human,
10:56
birthing the human, having tissues to repair and then
10:59
obviously breast milk to create. If you are breastfeeding,
11:02
protein needs definitely go up quite a bit and just total
11:04
calories in general. I mean, I have trained for many
11:07
marathons and very big athletic events.
11:09
I have never been more hungry though that I was postpartum.
11:12
So energy needs definitely increase too.
11:15
So those are probably be like the biggest ones that I can
11:18
think of. But really the answer is like
11:20
everything just kind of increases postpartum.
11:23
I was actually very surprised and I know everybody's
11:25
different, but I was very surprised how much hungrier I
11:28
was postpartum than I when I was when I was pregnant.
11:32
I was actually really shocked by that.
11:33
And that's because I was like lactating and, you know,
11:36
breastfeeding. But I just was shocked by that
11:39
because I feel like we don't ever really talk a lot about
11:41
this postpartum period. Our focus mainly as a society
11:44
seems to be like weight loss during this period of time, not
11:47
necessarily like growth and nourishing the body, even though
11:51
we've gone through a pretty traumatic event when it comes to
11:53
birth. Yeah, I kind of describe it
11:55
because again, I'm like, you guys, I'm working with an
11:57
athletic population. Like I kind of describe it as
12:00
like, OK, pregnancy is like a marathon and then birth is like
12:03
an ultra marathon and then postpartum is like an Iron Man.
12:06
But you don't get any recovery between the three, Like, and you
12:09
don't know when 1's gonna start and one's gonna finish.
12:11
So it's like, I can't imagine going into that with the mindset
12:15
of I'm going to restrict myself on purpose because you're just,
12:20
you're already behind, even if you're doing great, like you're
12:22
already a little behind. And from a depletion standpoint.
12:25
And yeah, there is just a huge focus on weight loss and
12:28
bouncing back and getting your body back postpartum.
12:31
And I think it just leaves so much potential on the table.
12:34
I feel like when I'm talking to mothers now as clients, I feel
12:38
like sometimes it's just like, oh, even years after giving
12:40
birth, they just never recovered, like from that
12:43
experience, you know, and we're trying to kind of dig them out
12:45
of a hole. So some of the messaging around
12:48
postpartum is super problematic for sure.
12:51
I think it's so interesting that you compared giving birth to
12:54
like running a marathon. I don't know if you did this or
12:57
if you've read any of of this literature, but you can kind of
12:59
carb load before giving birth. And around my due date, I
13:03
remember I was like super adamant about like we had
13:06
spaghetti for like 4 nights in a row because I didn't know when I
13:09
was going to give birth. And I was like, I don't know,
13:11
like what's going to happen? I'm not going to be able to, you
13:13
know, eat once I, you know, start going through that labor
13:15
process and I want to carb load during that.
13:18
We don't ever compare it pregnancy itself and birth and
13:21
then that post pregnant period as a separate that I commit.
13:24
Oh for sure, I took and passed my CSS D exam for the first time
13:28
while I was pregnant. So that particular piece of the
13:31
of the literature, I was like, Oh my God, yes, I've been
13:34
training my whole life for this. I know exactly how the car blown
13:36
because they were talking about it for pregnancy.
13:38
Like in my head I thought I was just going to go late because
13:40
you hear first time moms always, you know, end up giving birth
13:43
after their due date. That's like the most common time
13:46
frame. And I my water broke actually
13:48
like a week early. So I remember as soon as that
13:51
happened, I was like, I need a PB and J, I need Graham
13:53
crackers. Like I need to eat carbs.
13:55
I haven't been on top of this. I thought I was like going, you
13:57
know, a week later. So yeah, I totally can
13:59
appreciate that mindset. So you talked about, you know,
14:03
nutrients to focus on in that postpartum phase.
14:05
Is there any difference for specifically those who might be
14:09
returning to running or is it kind of like what you mentioned
14:11
where everything is just kind of increased?
14:13
I think everything's pretty much increased.
14:15
I think if you are returning to running especially and you're
14:19
also continuing to breastfeed like that particular population,
14:23
there's more people starting to talk about that experience and
14:27
doing that successfully, like from elite athletes down to
14:30
recreational ones. But there's just like not a ton.
14:32
There's not a ton out there and there's obviously less, you
14:35
know, research out there on that population.
14:37
But I would say, like, the key things I tend to find people
14:40
need to focus on are just eating like a champ, like eating enough
14:43
food. You know, we've equated
14:45
breastfeeding to the same stress on the body metabolically, the
14:49
same energy production as a marathon training.
14:52
You know, I've seen or arranged studies and stuff comparing it
14:55
to like running an extra, you know, 4 to 8 miles per day.
14:59
But that I also have, you know, my clients who are also running
15:01
an extra 4 to 8 miles per day on top of that and just who don't
15:05
have a great understanding of what that increase in energy
15:08
actually looks like in terms of food and how to prioritize the
15:11
energy dense food S again, total energy is going to help meet all
15:15
of your other micronutrient needs.
15:16
But I also think iron is really important from a running
15:19
perspective. We have the foot strike
15:20
hemolysis. If you have gotten your cycle
15:23
back too, that can kind of steal iron from you as runner.
15:26
So that tends to be really important, especially if we're
15:29
starting, you know, that whole process a bit depleted still
15:31
from blood loss during birth. And, and also hydration is
15:35
another big one I talk about, especially in like the
15:38
breastfeeding runners, because if you're sweating, I mean, any
15:41
athlete, but if you're, you know, if you're sweating out
15:43
there every day and then you're also trying to produce breast
15:46
milk, you don't just need a lot of extra fluids, but you also
15:49
need a lot of extra electrolytes.
15:51
And I tend to find my population who's even not pregnant
15:55
underestimates how many electrolytes they actually need,
15:58
particularly sodium. So it can be something that goes
16:01
easily missed in that postpartum population.
16:03
Like Riley kind of mentioned the pressure that we have or the
16:07
pressure that is existing around like weight loss in that
16:09
postpartum period. How do you help your running new
16:12
moms like get back into running and meet those energy demands
16:16
while kind of navigating that pressure that's potentially
16:18
there around like returning to a specific look or specific size?
16:23
Yeah, that's $1,000,000 question.
16:24
I think a lot of my clients have described being grateful for
16:28
working on like body image mindset, you know, pre
16:31
pregnancy, you know, continuing to work on it throughout
16:34
pregnancy. Your body's gonna just change by
16:36
the day, you know, when you're pregnant, sometimes by the hour.
16:39
Postpartum's no different. You know, you're kind of still
16:41
trying to navigate uncharted territory.
16:43
So I think just having that work and those tools to use to be
16:46
really gracious with yourself so that maybe you have some of
16:49
those intrusive thoughts, but you're not always like reacting
16:52
to them in a negative way or acting on them by restricting
16:57
and just being able to sit with the discomfort.
16:59
That's a really important skill that I think is really useful in
17:02
that period postpartum. And then also what I really talk
17:05
about with athletes who are postpartum to kind of get back
17:08
to like the nutrient conversation and tying it
17:10
together with getting a certain body composition is if you're
17:14
restricting yourself, you know, if you're not meeting your
17:16
energy needs, you're not meeting your iron needs, your vitamin D
17:19
needs, your calcium needs. Like there is a pretty perfect
17:22
storm, high risk of injury situation with postpartum and
17:26
running because running is such a high impact sport, especially
17:29
if you're breastfeeding, your vitamin D needs, your calcium
17:31
needs are also increased to produce extra breast milk.
17:34
If you're not getting it from adequate food intake or if
17:37
you're like restricting random food groups like dairy for some
17:40
reason because you think it'll help you lose weight or reduce
17:42
inflammation or whatever other BS messaging is out there.
17:45
You're really setting yourself up to maybe get a stress
17:47
fracture or to get injured and then you're not able to keep
17:50
training and do the thing that you love.
17:52
And of course, when we're able to return to training and
17:55
building strength back and healing the pelvic floor and you
17:58
know, building on top of a foundation to get stronger
18:00
again, with that eventually is probably going to come somebody
18:04
composition changes, but not if you can't be consistent because
18:08
you're injured. So it's super important to, you
18:11
know, make sure that we're really focusing on fueling first
18:14
and meeting your needs and you know, your baby's needs too, if
18:17
you're still breastfeeding from that perspective.
18:19
So that we've truly kind of healed from pregnancy, birth,
18:23
postpartum before we can go really ask our body to do more
18:27
things because there's also sleep deprivation.
18:29
You know, nutrition is one of your controllable factors.
18:32
Unfortunately. You know, the other pillar of
18:34
recovery is sleep and postpartum.
18:36
That's just a little bit harder to control.
18:38
You know, at least making sure you're staying ahead from a
18:40
nutrition perspective can be really helpful.
18:42
But it is hard. I mean, it's definitely hard to
18:44
wrap your head around your body changing constantly and just
18:47
feeling like, oh, I really just want to get back to where I was.
18:50
Watching Riley go through her pregnancy, she talked a lot
18:52
about how she did a lot of that work up front as far as making
18:55
sure that she had stores ready to go from like an iron
18:57
perspective, but also did a lot of work around like body
18:59
positivity, that mindset sort of thing.
19:01
So even though the topic of this podcast cast is postpartum, it
19:04
sounds like we're a lot of runners specifically like doing
19:07
a lot of that work upfront. Doing a lot of that work
19:09
beforehand is equally as important as the things that
19:12
we're doing afterwards too, to make sure that we're kind of
19:15
maintaining health and maintaining, make sure that
19:16
we're able to continue running. Absolutely.
19:19
You know, Riley, this is, I'm sure fresh in her memory too,
19:22
from just being pregnant like I was.
19:23
But you know, your your hormones just change like so much.
19:26
They're just rising so rapidly during pregnancy.
19:29
For someone who maybe hasn't experienced this before, I kind
19:32
of equate it to like if, if you think of like your late luteal
19:35
phase and your hormones are high and you're just about to get
19:37
your period and you're like not feeling your best, probably it's
19:41
like that on steroids. You know, when you're pregnant,
19:43
you know, they're just off the charts.
19:44
So sometimes that can come with like increased anxiety or
19:48
increased emotional impact while all of that's kind of happening
19:51
in the background and not super within your control because
19:53
that's what's supposed to happen.
19:54
You know, during pregnancy, your hormones have to rise.
19:57
If you have these different tools mindset wise to really
19:59
kind of help you navigate that, it's super helpful because
20:03
otherwise. It can be really easy to have,
20:05
like, a downward spiral and same thing postpartum just overnight.
20:08
It's one of the most dramatic. I think it's the most dramatic
20:11
hormone change a woman can experience.
20:13
Your hormones crash, you know, from the mountaintop.
20:16
And that also comes with, you know, some emotional impact,
20:19
too, along with sleep deprivation and all this other
20:22
stuff. So yeah, I mean, having the
20:24
tools is really helpful just to help sit through that discomfort
20:27
and get onto the other side. But it does get better.
20:29
It does get better. I can 2nd that.
20:31
It does get better, yeah, I feel like at the moment, but it does
20:34
get better. Holly, what are some common
20:36
myths or misconceptions about postpartum nutrition that you'd
20:40
like to talk about or things that you commonly see with your
20:42
your runners? Yeah, I think some common myths
20:46
postpartum, like I think the first one is just that, you
20:50
know, again, like any type of restriction is acceptable,
20:53
especially like in the the 4th trimester, like that first 12
20:56
weeks postpartum, your body's healing.
20:59
You know, it's just really not that it's not the time, it's not
21:01
the time to be restricting your intake and it is, is the time to
21:04
really make sure you're staying on top of your fueling around
21:06
the clock, you know, especially if you're again, feeding your
21:09
baby around the clock, breastfeeding and whatnot.
21:11
So that's definitely a big piece of it.
21:13
I think the second piece of it I often hear, and it is super
21:17
important, but I often hear like other prenatal nutrition, you
21:20
know, professionals or just nutrition information being
21:24
pushed out by, you know, people who maybe shouldn't be pushing
21:27
nutrition information out. For example, I sat through a
21:29
PowerPoint presentation given to me by my prenatal chiropractor.
21:33
That was fun. You know, there's a lot of
21:34
information out there about, you know, prenatal and post Natal
21:37
nutrition that I think is fine. Like for the general public that
21:40
might be talking about higher fat foods, you know, to support
21:43
hormone production, breast milk production, fat soluble vitamin
21:47
absorption, really high protein diet, again, to support tissue
21:50
healing and all of that sort of thing.
21:52
But where I feel like that fall short is for the athletic
21:55
population, especially when we're talking, yeah, after the
21:58
4th trimester, you're starting to get back into exercise again.
22:01
You need carbs. This is the Eat More Carbs
22:03
podcast, right? So like I really feel like that
22:06
conversation is just lacking, especially from a more like
22:10
athletic perspective. And I tend to see a lot of
22:13
postpartum athletes being like OK, protein and fat, but kind of
22:16
falling short with the carbohydrates.
22:18
Even just generally speaking. And non pregnant athletes, I
22:21
tend to see them falling short of their carbohydrate needs.
22:24
So I do feel like that is a bit of a myth too, is that those
22:28
like aren't important because they are for sure.
22:30
Are there any like top takeaways, like your biggest
22:33
pieces of advice for the postpartum runners on how to
22:35
navigate that time as far as getting in sufficient energy,
22:37
getting insufficient carbohydrate?
22:39
Yeah, I think my kind of like non negotiables I talk about
22:42
with people just in general. But again, you have to kind of
22:45
there's like less room for error postpartum because your body's,
22:48
you know, in this healing, rejuvenating state and a bit
22:51
more prone to injury because you have such higher needs is, you
22:55
know, eating within an hour of waking up, making sure you're
22:57
having balanced meals every two to three hours throughout the
23:00
day, feeling before, during, if it's over an hour and after
23:04
exercise, no exceptions, You know, making sure that that's
23:08
really well fueled and being a bit more liberal with your
23:11
hydration throughout the day. So we kind of talk about, you
23:14
know, how to build meals and what that might look like.
23:16
I also talk a lot about making your your liquids count.
23:19
Liquid calories are your friend, you know, especially if you feel
23:22
like you can't fit anymore chewing into your food intake
23:27
and, and looking at what that looks like.
23:29
And I also think too, just helping people understand how to
23:33
meal prep for this can be really helpful because sometimes you're
23:36
overwhelmed, you're trying to navigate maybe a new motherhood
23:39
or a growing family. Maybe there's different tastes
23:41
and preferences in the household.
23:43
But trying to make sure you're meeting your own needs and
23:45
figuring out how the family can help you with that while you're
23:48
trying to help them meet their needs can be really helpful.
23:50
So getting everyone on board with what that looks like can
23:53
also be super helpful. And another kind of tangent to
23:56
that, again, is just lacking in the healthcare system,
23:59
especially for athletes is blood work.
24:02
Get blood work done. It can really help you
24:04
understand where your iron status is at, where your vitamin
24:07
D status is at, You know, how you're doing with your overall
24:10
just red blood cell health and healing postpartum.
24:13
Pretty much we don't get blood work done postpartum unless
24:17
something like went wrong. It's just not something that's
24:19
built into that like six week checkup amongst other things
24:22
like, you know, public floor health and all that stuff.
24:25
So you're able to get, you know, a good micronutrient panel that
24:28
includes like ferritin, iron, a CBC, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
24:32
And a lot of those things that are helpful for athletes.
24:34
Like within that first, like probably want to wait at least 6
24:37
to 8 weeks post birth kind of within that first three to six
24:40
months postpartum. That can help you understand
24:42
like if there's any extra work you need to do.
24:44
And obviously working with sports dietitians to help you
24:47
interpret those values and tell you if you need supplements or
24:50
how to adjust your diet is really valuable.
24:52
Because again, otherwise you're going to see us in five years
24:55
because you're still in a hole and it's a bigger hole now, and
24:58
we would really like to prevent you from being in a hole at all.
25:01
I'm going to echo that because I am shocked that we don't get
25:05
blood work done at our six week appointment.
25:07
So shook. I was like, what?
25:08
You don't want to know? I want to know.
25:10
Yeah, I got blood work done because I ordered it for myself.
25:13
Like, not because my, yeah, my OB office did or midwife did.
25:17
So it's just not built in, which is problematic for any
25:20
postpartum person, but gosh, yeah, especially an athlete.
25:23
If you're postpartum and you're like, you know, at least like
25:27
six months postpartum and you're feeling really bad, you know, or
25:30
not like yourself, don't hesitate to like reach out for
25:33
help, you know, sooner obviously, if you need to as
25:36
well. I think a lot of women
25:38
especially are good at just being like, oh, this is just my
25:40
life now. I'm just going to brush it under
25:41
the rug, you know, no, like it doesn't have to be like that.
25:45
Again, like we've kind of touched on like the general just
25:47
like go to appointments and the health care system in the US
25:50
with how it is now, it just isn't that supportive.
25:52
It's more just to be like, OK, are your, you know, is your
25:55
uterus done shedding? Like are you kind of healed?
25:58
Ish? OK, good.
25:59
Then you know, by, you know, there's so many other ways that
26:02
we can support you to get you one feeling like yourself.
26:05
But again, talking to athletes, we're asking our bodies to
26:08
perform on a much higher level than just like getting through
26:11
your day. So typically, you know, wanting
26:14
to go see pelvic floor PT, maybe seeing a sports dietitian to get
26:18
all of that stuff back in check for you.
26:20
It's just going to be helpful to do it sooner rather than later.
26:23
So you're not continuing to dig yourself into a hole.
26:26
I kind of liken it to like if you had like a tear in a major
26:30
muscle that was like you're, you know, your hamstring or your
26:32
calf, like you're probably, are we going to go to PT for that?
26:35
Maybe you're addressing it from a nutrition perspective.
26:37
Like, but when we have like tears or injuries or, you know,
26:41
C-section scars from birth, it's like we just don't do anything
26:44
about it. Like it's just not expected.
26:45
But it absolutely should be something that we address from
26:49
all angles, especially again, talking to athletes who want the
26:52
most out of their bodies. So that's kind of where I guess
26:55
I'll leave my tangent on that. We love your tangent.
26:59
I think it's just it kind of goes back to like you're
27:01
basically relearning like everything kind of about your
27:04
body because you've just gone through so much strange and so
27:07
much transition over the last, you know, year.
27:09
And then it's like kind of relearning yourself and
27:11
relearning how to treat your body the right way.
27:14
We learning how to be an athlete, we learning how to eat.
27:17
So it's sometimes it's helpful to have guidance on that.
27:19
Yeah, absolutely. Right, Holly, we have some
27:21
ending questions for you. We ask these four questions to
27:24
everybody on the podcast, but the first question is because
27:27
it's eight more podcast, what is your favorite carbohydrate?
27:30
Man like it's hard to pick 1. I feel like I would pick
27:34
oatmeal. I'm boring but like oatmeal with
27:37
all the toppings is like one of my comfort foods.
27:40
Big fan of oatmeal. So like all of the talk on
27:43
social media about how oatmeal is not good for you?
27:45
I just took that super personally, so probably oatmeal.
27:50
The people are out for OAT right now.
27:51
Just. I know it's.
27:53
So sad. What is your favorite pre
27:55
workout fuel? Oatmeal, yeah, I would probably
27:57
say oatmeal or before like a harder effort or like a marathon
28:01
or a race or something harder. I'd probably say like a bagel.
28:03
I'm a big big bagel fan too. What about post workout fuel or
28:06
post run fuel? Post run, I am a fan of like
28:10
kind of getting in that protein hit first because I'm not
28:13
usually the hungriest post run. So like the chocolate milk, the
28:16
protein supplements, all of that liquid nutrition is helpful.
28:19
And then I love of like if I could have the time every day to
28:22
do it to do like a big sit down like pancake type breakfast, I
28:26
yeah, I would totally go for that.
28:27
Plus definitely iced coffee is in there too.
28:29
What's your iced coffee order? I gotta know.
28:32
Yeah, if we're talking like Starbucks, it's a vanilla sweet
28:35
cream cold brew or like I basically just try to mimic
28:38
that. Or an oatmeal latte.
28:40
Like those are kind of the two go TOS wherever I go.
28:43
And it's it's always iced, even in the winter when it's cold.
28:46
And I kind of hate myself a little bit for it, but it's so
28:48
good. So good.
28:51
And then our last question has nothing to do with nutrition,
28:53
but we need the inside scoop from you because you are a
28:56
serious runner. But what is your favorite pair
28:58
of kicks or running shoes? Yeah, I really love, I really
29:01
love a couple different shoes. I love Brooke's glycerines.
29:05
Every time I like go away from them, I end up coming back to
29:07
them. I've had like over 20 pairs of
29:10
them. So that's probably like my my
29:11
biggest go to shoe. I have also been dabbling in
29:15
like the carbon plated world for speedier sessions and braces.
29:19
So Brooke makes their Hypernian, I think it's Hypernian Elite,
29:23
their carbon plated shoe. And I am, I'm a big fan of that
29:26
too. I I do feel speedy in them.
29:28
So I'm a Brooks Girl. I've tried to deviate and I
29:31
always end up going back to Brooks.
29:33
When you know what you like, you stick to it.
29:35
Exactly. Holly, thank you so much for
29:37
being on this episode of the Eat More Carbs podcast.
29:39
We so appreciate everything that you've shared.
29:42
I'm sure our listeners probably still have plenty of questions
29:45
to ask you, So what is the best way for them to find you, follow
29:47
you, reach out to you? Yeah.
29:49
Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, you guys can find me.
29:52
I'm Holly Field Nutrition everywhere.
29:54
So on Instagram, my websiteshollyfieldnutrition.com,
29:58
my podcast is the Holly Field Nutrition podcast, and Holly is
30:01
Holley. There's a silent E in there that
30:04
gets people, but that's where you can find me.
30:06
We're going to leave all of Holly's information in the
30:09
podcast show notes. If you have questions for Riley
30:11
and I, you can always reach out to us.
30:13
You can find Riley at easy dot sports dot nutrition and you can
30:16
find me at Jenna dot Fisher dot nutrition.
30:18
Thanks so much for listening to episode.
30:20
Please make sure you rate, subscribe and review.
30:23
And as always, remember to eat more carbs.