Postnatal Fat Loss – Nourishing Snacks!

Somebody once reminded me of the saying, “You can't out-train a bad diet” and how true it is. What you eat will ultimately have the greatest effect on your postnatal weight loss goals.

Snacking is not the enemy, rather it's what we choose to snack on that make the difference. Also if you are still breastfeeding snacking may be necessary and you should be focused on eating healthily rather than restricting for serious weight loss. Often by just reducing the high-sugar/highly processed foods and getting back to basics we will see a shift in our weight loss without the need to reduce the amount of foods consumed as we switch highly calorific foods for less calorific foods.

Below are several super healthy snack ideas to aid weight loss and also help to heal

a postnatal body too!

Super Healthy Snack Ideas:

1. 2 tablespoons of hummus & unlimited raw veggies

2. 3 sticks of celery & 1 tablespoon of hummus & 5 cherry tomatoes

3. 1 handful of blueberries & 1 handful of mixed nuts/seeds

4. 1 mug of ‘Super Soup’ (see recipe below)

5. 1 Small bowl of ‘Super Salad’ (see recipe below)

6. 1 Hardboiled egg, a small apple or pear, few almonds/brazil nuts/walnuts

7. 2 tablespoons of probiotic organic natural yoghurt, handful of mixed nuts, handful of blueberries

8. Small tin of Sardines or Mackerel Fillets

Orange and Green ‘Super Soup’ Recipe 

 Chop and place all the following in a large pan with enough water to cover completely: Kale, spinach, red lentils, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, a 2 inch piece of ginger, chicken or vegetable stock, 1 small sweet potato - chopped, ½ teacup of coconut milk, chilli flakes (optional). Bring to the boil and then simmer until the carrots and sweet potato pieces are all cooked – then SIMPLY ADD A PORTION OF COOKED LEAN PROTEIN (chicken, turkey, fish). Sometimes, I omit the sweet potato and add a palmful of Quinoa instead.

 Beetroot & Avocado Super Salad 

Mix together cooked and chopped beetroot, spring onions, red peppers, ½ avocado, tomatoes – add the salad dressing as described below. Boom!

Salad Dressing

Add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or juice of half a lemon, Himalayan or sea salt and freshly ground pepper , 1 clove of garlic crushed and a few chilli flakes. Use to dress your salad or over steamed veggies for a healthy, clean and tasty dressing.

Recipe author: Jenny Burrell BSc (Hons), Founder of Burrell Education For the Pre & Post Partum/Natal Fitness Specialist