028 | The Secrets to a Nourishing Postpartum with Ayurvedic Treatment

A Board-Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, AyurDoula, and CMT shares her insight on what a profoundly nourishing and healing postpartum period looks like from an Ayurvedic standpoint. You may be surprised to learn it's more than your food.     Ameya Duprey of Shakti Care

Ameya Duprey is a Board Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, AyurDoula, CMT & Course Creator. She helps postpartum mamas fully heal from birth so you can stop feeling exhausted all the time!

She offers individualized care based on your unique constitution and needs. She can help you achieve proper health and balance through simple methods such as a specialized Ayurvedic diet, lifestyle, massage, herbs, and more.

A closer look at postpartum Ayurvedic treatment

Ayurvedic is defined as the science of life. Pulled from centuries of Indian tradition, it's a practice that focuses on the five elements of the body; space, air, fire, water, and earth.

These elements are known as doshas. They play a natural role that centers on a person's natural environment.

Understanding the ayurvedic way of living in the world, depending on your dosha, helps one maintain the body's balance, health, and recovery during postpartum and beyond.

Which dosha is high during postpartum?

Because giving birth is such a taxing and trying experience, it drains the body of many of its natural fluids, leaving the body dry and undernourished. This experience is known as an imbalance of the Vata (air and ether), and all moms, no matter how they deliver, experience this imbalance after giving birth.

The body also uses a lot of heat during birth, leaving the body in a cold state during postpartum—a mother in postpartum benefits from finding ways to rejuvenate and revitalize her bodies life force.

The aim of Ayurvedic postpartum treatment

Through ayurvedic treatment in postpartum, the aim is to understand and nourish the changes that your body has experienced. Becoming a mother hits the reset button on our lives and our bodies. Knowing your life will never be the same after birth can be hard to process for many of us.

But looking at it from a different angle, the first 45 days could determine the next 45 years of your life. Ayurvedic looks at postpartum as an opportunity to start fresh, to come to the crossroads, and practice new ways to support your new self and, more importantly, your new life.

  In general, most people share the same imbalances after birth. So the same basics apply to those in postpartum recovery.   Ayurvedic-friendly postpartum recovery foods

The types of food that benefit mothers in postpartum focus on rejuvenation. There are five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent.

The "S tastes" - sweet, sour, and salty - are the ones that will benefit recovering mothers most in postpartum by rebuilding tissue and rejuvenating the body, and oily foods, such as soups, help level your digestion. You also want to focus on foods that warm the body. Well-cooked and seasoned help replenish the heat lost from childbirth.

And lastly, according to Ayurvedic practices, avoid eating frozen or canned foods. These foods are stripped of their freshness and depleted of their natural life force. The food becomes you after it is eaten, so the fresher the food, the more your body will benefit from all it offers.

    Topics covered

What is Ayurvedic | 1:50
How to practice ayurvedic healing in postpartum | 5:57
Supporting your diet | 8:19
Other ways to support postpartum recovery | 15:58
Mama's Menu cookbook | 32:57
The final question | 37:58

    Additional resources

Want to learn more from Ameya about Ayurvedic postpartum healing?

Watch her free masterclass: How To Fully Heal From Birth Naturally, Without Feeling Stressed and Exhausted

Explore Amey's cookbook Mama's Menu: Ayurvedic Recipes for Postpartum Healing

Other postpartum resources you might enjoy Mama's Mung Soup: Ayurvedic Postpartum Recipe for Lactation The 8 Best Postpartum Teas for Healing and Recovery An Introduction to Postpartum Ayurvedic Care