For example, a 350 calorie meal without grains:

5 oz chicken breast = 150 cal
1/2 sweet potato = 100 cal
1/3 Avocado = 50 cal
1.5 Cups Broccoli = 50 cal

If you want a 350 cal meal with grains, a 1/2 cup of brown rice is 100 cal, so what are you going to cut so that you can eat your rice? Now expound this to a 2,200 calorie diet. How many vegetable/fruit calories are you going substitute out so that you can still include grains in your diet? Then compare the nutrient density of vegetables/fruits compared to whole grains, now you recognize how many nutrients you are throwing away because you can’t get off grains.

Lectins – Found in grains, bad for your body. They are actually mild poisons, the plants natural defense of trying not to be eaten. Causes inflammation and retards your GI tracts ability to repair itself.

Gluten – Found in grains, bad for your body. Causes inflammation in the GI tract and leaky gut.

Quinoa is ok except for the carb punch that it packs relative to vegetables and the presence of lectins, but it is more nutritionally dense than other grains.

Grains are about as nutrient dense as ice cream, you would be nutritionally better off if you had a green leaf salad with a meat protein source and ice cream for desert compared to a sandwich with no desert.

Also, farm raised fish is gross (just do a google image search on that topic), olive oil isn’t very heat tolerant (real butter or coconut oil on low heat is better), but baked apples with coconut milk sounds really good.

After doing a little more snooping on the subject, I read that for those not ready to actually jog, beginning with brisk ‘fitness’ walking for about 10-30 minutes, and then jogging in short intervals for about 30 minutes (depending on one’s overall fitness) would be a great place to start the postpartum exercise program or routine. “Many women who try to resume jogging too early will experience the sensation that their bodies are looser (which it is) or that they have to work harder just to do any easy jog, or that they have lost a lot of strength (this is functional and temporary). This is because ligament laxity greatly reduces efficiency in movement.” (http://en.allexperts.com/q/ObGyn-Pregnancy-issues-1007/2009/3/postpartum-jogging.htm)
Thus, if ligaments aren’t strong enough to bear the increased strain, knee cartilage and the cartilage the covers the ends of your thigh and shin bones can bear the brunt of the impact.

So, the long and short of it is to consider cross training during this time with ‘fitness’ walking (with appropriate shoes), biking on a well-fitted bike (including saddle, pedals, and handle bars), and swimming (which is fantastic for full body exercise without impact).

Historically, mealtime (in one way or another), has been one way to incorporate and teach ritual, culture, and cooking techniques. I grew up in a Jewish family in New York and I remember my grandmother, mother, and aunts literally taking over the kitchen at Thanksgiving and Passover: stuffing the turkey, making the giblets, preparing the gefilte fish. Not to mention taking down the fine china, wrapped in special, dust proof protective cases that the children were not allowed to touch. While I didn’t have a hand in preparing the holiday meals, I do remember watching and listening to the conversations related to meal planning and cooking, including oven temperature, how to properly slice the meat, the placement of the cooked dishes on the dining room table, and of course, the proper way to set the table, salad forks and all. Eventually, these holiday rituals made sense to me and I learned somewhat, why we used certain foods and how we prepared them.

I think that with or without kids, adults can ‘use’ meal time to their advantage by taking part in group meals – sharing in the shopping, preparation, etc. That’s what I like about ‘potlucks’, so popular in Boulder… each person makes their own dish (or based on a theme) that comes with their own personal intention, if you will.

And to echo off dr. dean’s comment. I unfortunately had a tapeworm this year from sushi. It caused a great deal of pain and many issues. If I had that when I was pregnant I would have been in big trouble.
I think because of the economy the fishmongers are getting cheaper fish and I think that is a problem. just my 2 cents.

Time and again I’ve seen pre- and post- natal moms with young children and husbands lacking in the basics (protein, carbs and fats), as well as vitamins, minerals and antioxidants because they just don’t have the time or energy to prepare sufficient meals for themselves.

Probably the best way to solve this problem is to find foods that are safe for prenatal and nursing moms and are easy to prepare for young children. Barring any food sensitivities or digestive difficulties, nutrient dense foods like non-glutenous grains (such as quinoa, millet and rice), beans (chickpeas, pinto and lentils), veggies (specifically dark green leafies), fruits (including berries and summer fruits, like peaches, apricots and melons), nuts/seeds (almonds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame & sunflower seeds), sea vegetables, which very high in minerals (dulse, hiziki, arame, wakame), dairy products (yogurt, some cheeses, goat milk products), and fish/poultry (fresh, wild-caught salmon, and organic, free-range chicken and eggs) all contain above average levels of one or more key nutrients (protein, calcium, iron, folic acid, Vitamins A and C), AND they can also be used to feed the rest of the family.

Some suggestions:
1. With recipes like Potato, Cauliflower and Dulse Soup, extra cauliflower pieces can be steamed and pureed with a pinch of dulse for babies 6 months and up.
2. Cooked grains like quinoa can be either pureed with water or breast milk and served as cereal or even served as is with pureed cooked carrots for lunch/dinner.
3. Pumpkin seeds can also be toasted and ground into a fine powder and stirred into cereal or pureed vegetables.
4. To add fiber and as a nutritious egg replacer, grind 2 Tablespoons of flaxseeds into a fine meal, add 6 Tb. boiling water and let set for 15 minutes, then whisk with a fork. This will replace 2 eggs in a recipe.
5. Make squash-corn muffins to go with a soup and reserve some of the pureed squash for baby. Squash or backed sweet potato can also be pureed with cooked brown rice.

Omega 3 fat supplements can also safely be added to baby food. In addition to mom adding flaxseed oil to her own food, I’ve seen many babies grow accustomed to the flavor at a young age by receiving it through breast milk or even mixed into foods. The same goes for fish oils, which baby can also receive via breast milk or directly.