Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's Ask a Nutritionist podcast brought to you by

nutritional weight and wellness. My name is Leah Kleintrode and I'm a registered and licensed

dietitian and we're thrilled to be

celebrating 20 years on air discussing the connection between what you eat and how you feel

while sharing practical real-life solutions for healthier living through balanced nutrition.

Thank you for your support and listenership over the years, and if you're enjoying the show, please let us know by

leaving a rating or a review on your favorite podcast platform. Providing feedback helps others

find these important real food messages. So on today's show, I will be answering a question that

we received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners. This listener asks,

what advice can you give to new moms who are battling sleepless nights, low energy, breastfeeding,

working a full-time job, and trying to live a healthy life at the same time? It's hard to eat well

or sleep well through these times in addition to

losing those extra baby pounds. We'd love to hear more about this. All right. So I wanted to pick

this question because this one absolutely hits home for me. I have a five and a half year old and I have a

two year old at home. So those days of extreme sleep

deprivation, constantly thinking about your boobs, breastfeeding hunger, losing all your

pregnancy hair, trying to operate at even 60% capacity at your job. Those days are still very fresh

in my mind. And I think I just want to offer some validation

that these early postpartum months and even early postpartum years can be a really tough season.

And it's okay. And it's very common to feel exhausted and in survival mode for a long time.

And even when we want to prioritize all the things that we know are good for our health,

balanced eating and exercising, sleeping eight hours a night, drinking 80 ounces of water a day,

...