In Today's Issue:
- The postpartum gut changes nobody warns you about
- Why "eat whatever you want" creates the inflammation that shouldn't exist
- How to support compromised digestion instead of overwhelming it
- Postpartum snack guide at the end!
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Your client ate everything without issue her entire life. Now postpartum, she's experiencing digestive distress, mood swings, and exhaustion after eating foods she's always eaten.
She thinks something is wrong with her. That her body is broken.
But here's what's actually happening: the postpartum gut's digestive capacity is compromised. And many people are telling her to "eat whatever you want," which creates the inflammation that leads to food intolerances that shouldn't exist.
The Gut After Birth
The gut after birth operates differently. Not pathologically, but as biological necessity. The body is brilliantly prioritizing healing tissues, rebuilding blood volume, producing milk, and recalibrating hormones. Digestion gets fewer resources because other processes are more critical for immediate survival.
This means digestive enzyme production is suppressed, blood flow is redirected away from digestion, and gut motility slows to maximize nutrient extraction. The microbiome that shifted in late pregnancy to harvest more energy for baby now needs to rebalance.
None of this is broken. It's strategic resource allocation while the body heals.
Here's the massive disconnect: compromised digestion means the gut needs support, not a free-for-all.
But mothers are told "eat whatever you want postpartum." So they consume hard-to-digest proteins that require robust enzyme production, raw fibrous foods that demand strong digestive capacity, processed foods that create inflammatory responses, and cold foods that further suppress function. (YIKES!)
The compromised gut can't handle these demands. Food doesn't break down properly. Partially digested particles create problems. And this is where inflammation begins.
Mothers FEEL this. It shows up as gas, bloating, indigestion... things we call normal in postpartum.
When proteins don't break down fully without adequate enzymes, they remain partially digested and trigger immune responses. The beneficial bacteria that help digest food get depleted because they're constantly dealing with poorly processed food. This further impairs digestion and increases inflammation.
Then chronic inflammation from struggling to digest food eventually damages the gut barrier, allowing food particles into the bloodstream that should never leave the digestive tract. When these particles enter circulation, the immune system treats them as invaders. This creates systemic inflammation and what we recognize as food intolerances.
This cascade isn't inevitable postpartum biology. It's what happens when we ignore the gut's compromised state and load it with foods it can't properly process.
What Shows Up Clinically
When this inflammatory cascade occurs, mothers experience mood instability on top of gut issues including irritability, rage, anxiety, depression. This makes sense when you understand that 90% of serotonin is made in the gut. When the gut is inflamed, it can't produce adequate neurotransmitters.
They experience physical symptoms like joint pain, headaches, fatigue, brain fog, and skin issues... all manifestations of systemic inflammation from poor gut function. They stay depleted no matter what they eat because the inflamed, damaged gut lining can't absorb nutrients efficiently.
And they develop new "intolerances" to foods they've eaten their whole lives. Not because they're suddenly allergic, but because the damaged gut can't handle them anymore.
These aren't separate issues requiring different interventions. They're all downstream effects of ignoring the postpartum gut's compromised digestive capacity.
What Actually Helps
The postpartum gut needs foods that match its reduced capacity: warm, well-cooked foods where heat has pre-digested the food. Simple preparations with fewer ingredients and less complex combinations. Broths and stews where proteins are already partially broken down. Cooked vegetables that are softer and easier to digest with more bioavailable nutrients.
This isn't restriction. It's matching food to the gut's current capacity, preventing the inflammation that creates real problems.
Every traditional postpartum protocol worldwide emphasized easily digestible foods. Not because they lacked variety, but because they understood the gut's compromised state and knew overwhelming it created problems. Warm soups, slow-cooked stews, well-cooked grains, simple preparations. Foods that nourish without taxing.
Modern "eat whatever you want" advice ignores thousands of years of wisdom about supporting compromised digestion.
When we ignore postpartum digestive compromise, mothers develop chronic inflammation that shouldn't exist. Food intolerances appear that weren't there before pregnancy. Nutrient absorption stays impaired, depletion persists despite eating "enough," mood symptoms worsen, energy doesn't return, and healing is prolonged.
All preventable by simply matching food to the gut's temporary reduced capacity.
The solution isn't permanent food restriction. It's temporary strategic support while the gut's full digestive capacity returns. When digestion is properly supported with appropriate foods, inflammation doesn't develop, the gut barrier stays intact, and food intolerances don't appear.
Then, as digestive capacity restores over months, mothers can reintroduce more complex foods without reaction. But ignoring this reality by following "no restrictions" advice creates the cascade that leads to chronic problems that shouldn't exist.
--> One of the biggest challenges for moms? SNACKS. Here's a snack guide I made a long while ago that I know you'll love to share!
Stay fierce, stay rooted,
Maranda Bower
CEO & Founder of Postpartum University®
www.PostpartumU.com
