Between baseball practice, soccer games, pool days, and busy summer schedules, it feels like my boys are constantly on the go and asking for snacks. And as a mom and dietitian, I completely get it!
Active kids need fuel to properly nourish their growing bodies. Whether they’re sprinting across a soccer field, diving into the pool all afternoon, or running nonstop at the park with friends, their bodies are using A LOT of energy. That’s why I always try to keep quick, nourishing snacks on hand that provide a combination of carbohydrates for sustained energy, along with ingredients that help keep them satisfied.
One snack staple I always keep stocked in my kitchen are Natural Delights Medjool Dates! We absolutely love dates in our home because they’re naturally sweet, convenient, and packed with nutrients that active kids need.
Choosing to breastfeed your baby is a commitment like no other. Being a mom requires so much energy and stamina, and breastfeeding only increases these demands. But with the incredible benefits that breastfeeding delivers, including providing antibodies to your baby, lower risk of asthma, type 1 diabetes, obesity and even sudden infant death syndrome, all of that effort certainly pays off. And mom gets benefits too in the form of lower risk for breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
Keeping a steady supply of milk can have its challenges, especially if you return to work and need to balance pumping with a hectic schedule. Fueling yourself properly can take a backseat to deadlines and emails from the boss.
Snacks are important for nursing moms to be able to get the nutrients they need to keep their energy up and convert calories into nutritious milk for their babies. But you might be wondering whether there are certain foods you can eat to improve your milk supply. It turns out that naturally sweet dates are an excellent food for boosting milk supply.
A study done in 2021 found that breastfeeding moms who were given 10 dates each day were able to increase their milk supply by 11% in two weeks. Even more promising, the milk supply of the subjects increased even more to 23% from baseline to week 4. On top of that, the quality of the milk was significantly higher than that of the control group who were not given dates. If that’s not a sign to go snack on dates, I don’t know what is!
Other foods are often touted as galactogogues (foods that increase milk supply) for their ability to increase breast milk supply, but there’s no scientific evidence to support the claims. Still, there’s no harm in including foods like oats, nuts, beans and lentils, fenugreek and Brewer’s yeast which are often suggested to help boost supply. Every woman is unique and various foods may have a different effect on you than they do on your best friend.
Some of our favorite recipes are those that were handed down, because their list of ingredients and instructions tell a story and connect generations. Think: a recipe handwritten on an index card or a quick tip jotted in the margins of an old cookbook.
Mother's Day is all about celebrating the cherished females in our lives, and what better way to show appreciation than to whip up a recipe that's been tested in the kitchens of our foremothers? Here, we put together the snacks, desserts, breakfasts, and meals that were kitchen staples in generations past. And all of them include dates, of course, so they transport us to kitchens filled with the warm, caramel-sweet smell of Medjools being chopped, stirred, and folded into something unforgettable.
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