food menu
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Postnatal confinement period refers to a traditionally Chinese practice where new mothers observe various routines fairly diverse from regular daytoday living for a period ranging from one week to before the baby first month celebration.
These routine primarily include following a special confinement food menu tailored to help accelerate the new mothers recovery from her weakened condition post childbirth. This special diet is made up of confinement foods targeted towards specific functions like dispelling wind from the body quelling heatiness boosting blood circulation revitalizing strength etc.
The mainstay of confinement food comprises common ingredients found in any regular Chinese diet; ginger egg sesame oil black vinegar Chinese rice wine pepper chicken fish and pork.
Other ingredients of confinement food include fairly general herbal provisions like Chinese wolfberry (Gou Qi) angelica (Dang Gui) red dates dried longans to not so commonly consumed items like Encommiae Bark (Du Zhong) and Polygonum (He Shou Wu). Apart from harnessing healing benefits from food numerous practices are abided to as reinforcements and preventive measures against the possible onset of ailments commonly associated with post delivery aftermaths eg. postnatal hair loss back aches rheumatism premature ageing etc.
In essence the list of practices are meant to shield the body from excessive exposure to elements like wind and damp air both of which are believed to be main culprits responsible for causing bodily aches and pains migraines as well as rheumatism.
A basic list of confinement Donts to avoid wind from chilling the body would include:
1. Do not shower or wash your hair.
2. Do not sleep in front of the fan or air conditioning unit or have direct contact with cold constantly blowing wind.
3. Do not drink cold or chilled drinks.
4. Do not consume excessively cooling foods (like kang kong cucumber Brinjal Chinese pears barley etc.
To minimise weakening the body practise simple Donts like:
5. Do not lift heavy objects or overexert the body excessively.
6. Do not engage in strenuous/ high impact exercises.
Realistically some Donts mentioned above may appear difficult to follow through. To overcome them adopt these recommendations:
1. If you must shower use hot water and take extra care to dry yourself thoroughly before stepping out of the bathroom. Try not to wash your hair for at least one week. Alternatively use herbal dry shampoos to clean your hair.
2. Sleep in a cool and dry room; if you must use airconditioning keep it at fan mode not lower than 26C.
3. Drink warm water; ideally consume red dates tea brewed with dried longan or Chinese wolfberry (Gou Qi).
4. Eat a nutritious diet comprising confinement foods tailored to dispel wind revitalize internal strength and boost blood circulation.
5. Safeguard your womb/csection wound; avoid lifting heavy loads. If you need to carry your baby make sure you attempt to do so while seated.
6. If you must exercise stick to light exercises like walking or mild stretching only after 2 weeks; taking care not injure your csection wound.
Lastly it is important to note that the fundamental key to a smooth and complete recovery from the exertions of childbirth is to take a holistic approach during the confinement period by having ample rest eating a nutritious diet of quality confinement food and pragmatically adopting the routines outlined in this article.
Find out more about confinement food delivery in Singapore please see confinement food Singapore.
. Tags: blood circulation preventive measures special diet excessive exposure
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_930637_61.html