We recently celebrated our third child’s first birthday and let me tell ya, pregnancy and postpartum with two older children that have school and activities and all the associated work for parents that comes along with having active children felt like a much heavier load with a newborn added in.
The good news is that by Baby #3 you’ve got most of it down so that things work like second nature!
Our first two children were born without complication, but premature. Our eldest was born at 33 weeks, our middle child at 36 weeks, and with our youngest my husband gave me a shot of progesterone each week for 20 weeks at home to keep him in and we got to 37 weeks and 4 days!
Along with medication, I truly think that a better approach to fitness and my nutrition were instrumental in helping Ben and I make it to full term, giving us the opportunity to have an amazing, couldn’t have been better birth center experience.
Because my doctor and I were concerned about keeping Baby in as
long as possible, diet was definitely something we discussed.
While she knew my history as a competitor, endurance athlete and Coach, she knew I had a solid understanding of good nutrition, but we covered the essentials again, looking to ensure we covered all of the bases that we could in terms of providing my entire body the support it needed for quality sleep, digestion, energy, and even things like making sure my iron levels were high enough without supplementation.
ICON Meals was a downright game changer there. I kept it simple, typically aiming for a lean protein, a veggie and a different carb source each day, but with the buildable feature for custom meals I was able to make sure that my energy needs were being met without going overboard.
Sweet potatoes are a great example of something I would definitely not take the time to prepare for myself, but something that I enjoyed daily thanks to my ICON Meals, offering up Vitamin A and C, manganese and fiber.
You can’t underestimate the importance of fiber when we’re trying to keep pregnant Momma’s regular and satiated without spiking blood glucose levels!
We could dive into the nutritional benefits of not only the different veggies routinely featured and available at ICON Meals, but also the amazing options available as carb and protein sources, but the real game changer was the convenience factor.
When sudden hunger would hit, I knew I had a tasty, consistent, balanced meal available that would make me feel good. Now, at a year postpartum with an active toddler, two busy big kids and both parent’s working and taking our athletic goals seriously, it’s been an absolute gift from the Universe to be able to just have a stock of meals for my husband and I that we can grab on lunch breaks, know that we will enjoy and they help support our consistent effort towards our health and fitness.
Whether you have a special dietary need, you work in an office and have to pack lunch or you’re at home with what feels like a million kids and a more things to do, having nutritious meals on hand that you can enjoy and allow you to take something off of your to-do list is so worth the investment!
I’m a huge believer in the use of systems to make life easy, and my “ICON Meal for Lunch” system makes balancing check ins and client calls with a loud one year old assistant Coach that much easier!
Stay connected with Christina
- Instagram @Christina.Kassel
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