Welcome to the Postpartum University podcast where we support you and your provider in understanding the science, the art, and the sacredness of healing after birth. I’m Maranda Bower, your host, your Postpartum Nutrition Specialist and homesteading mom with four wild kids. It’s time to get you the holistic whole body healing that works.
Hello, welcome my friends to such an incredible episode where I am truly not going to hold back. I am gonna be calling it out like it is. And so I hope you join me in this incredible conversation. And I know that you’re probably going to be feeling the exact same way that I am. I know for a fact that so many of you are feeling the struggle. So I’m just gonna say it, the healthcare system, and I’m like doing air quotes here, a healthcare system doesn’t really care about postpartum health. Seven out of every 10 women are prescribed prescription medications and pregnancy. More than 30% of women in postpartum are diagnosed with a mental health disorder. And that rate is rising exponentially.
Providers are not talking about nutrition and smoothies and salads are one of the most promoted foods in postpartum and they’re some of the worst foods that you could ever ingest after having a baby. Then we gotta talk about the autoimmune disease risk, rising, and… at an exponential rate, 28% of women are at a risk of developing an autoimmune disease after a childbirth and increased risk. Women and babies are suffering immensely from childhood illnesses. Like the list and list can go on. And when we talk about thyroid disorders, how long does it take for a woman to be diagnosed with one? And I of seven years. And one in seven women will be diagnosed with one. So, you know, so many issues are occurring in our worlds, and we need to have these conversations, and we’re not doing it.
Evidence supports traditional medicine and female intuition regarding postpartum health, but there’s this male bias in our healthcare system that ignores those facts. in favor of money. And I told you, I’m gonna call it out like it is. I have seen so many counselors and therapists and family practitioners and pediatricians and doulas use a quote that’s similar to this. It’s out of my scope of practice, so I have no choice but to ignore it. And I’m sure you have heard the exact same. I’m actually, I get messages all the time from it. And I know it. I know it for a fact. I know that this is happening. You know it’s happening. And the question is, why is it happening? What is going on here?
Postpartum University exists to give moms that underground information that they not only need, but that they deserve. And to also to provide professionals with the evidence based information. that they need to fully support the moms who not only trust them, right? Professionals, moms need to trust you, but their lives also depend on you. That’s where we’re at. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in postpartum. Why are we not talking about this? And, you know, I talk a lot about nutrition.
We have the certification program. I have a lot of trainings on nutrition. And the reason I’m talking about nutrition is, you know, And the reason I’m talking about nutrition is, you know, I’m talking about nutrition. And the reason I’m talking about nutrition is, you know, And the reason I’m talking about nutrition is, you know, why is because it’s so easy to see the discrepancies. It’s so easy to call it out like it is. Nutrition isn’t what you think it is. Instead, we’re being told what is healthy is mainly based upon two really important things, politics and where the money is.
The system is not going to teach you how to eat. or to be healthy or how to heal your body. I can’t even tell you how many nutritionists are leaving the field or speaking up about their education being flawed. It’s because it’s based on outdated information and studies that are promoted by those who benefit from its results, okay? So people who are the ultra well. wealthy, who are controlling the supply of food.
It’s so easy to see, especially when you’re reading studies, and looking at who is benefiting from these. Who is this being paid for by? Start looking at those and it’s so easy to see where our attention is and what is not accurate. And as a result of this, you know, our society has become lost in the sea of misinformation. We’ve got diets and fans that are simply failing so many women and women are feeling like they’re drowning in it. And these are like the the quick fixes that we are so desperately looking for, but none of it. addresses the root cause, and it creates a spiral effect where we come back to it, requesting more of it over and over and over again, and that’s our healthcare system.
That’s the way in which it makes money is to have us be repeating customers, and that’s exactly what’s happening in our nutritional world as well. They’re all very much interrelated. They’re all tied together. And science and nutrition… I will tell you, is so limited with ethics and the scientific world and all that it takes to require to create a study, which is money and the understanding of its significance, which it’s not being done because there is a male bias who doesn’t understand the significance of the postpartum period. It makes it completely impossible to study or to understand the female body, let alone the female body and postpartum.
And so what we know about things like nutrition and postpartum in the years after birth, it’s almost non-existent unless it relates to breast milk and cows. I will tell you there’s so many studies related to postpartum cows. It’s absolutely amazing. But it’s not applicable to… our human friends. It’s not applicable. We can’t use that information. We should stop, really. It’s not applicable. So I wanna say that I’m calling out the system. That is what I’m doing here. I’m letting you know that postpartum university is all about finding the truth.
And we will say the things that are hard. We are going to say the things. that nobody else is wanting to say, that nobody else feels safe and which to say. I get this all the time. Thanks so much for speaking the truth. I wish I could. And it’s sad that we are currently living in a world and I know, I know that this is going to make so many people upset, but we live in this world where it’s not okay to offend somebody or it’s going to be upsetting and it’s going to be triggering for so many people. But the truth is the truth. And it needs to be spoken. I recently passed the PSI exam, I am a certified perinatal mental health specialist.
Super exciting, wonderful process. And I’m very proud of myself for going through that process as as anyone should be. I am disappointed that I feel like there was so much that was left out of the conversation. I did a training for a postpartum university members called understanding the limitations and use of science and motherhood. And some of the biggest limitations is money and male bias.
And the male bias being so critical in this conversation, and one that is often missed immensely. And I’m going to give you an example. The DSM-5, which is the diagnostic manual for mental health disorders, is written by 11 men and two women. And they believe that generalized anxiety disorder and OCD have no perinatal onset. It’s not considered a diagnosable condition. And I truly believe that this is because these men have no idea what’s going on. Actually, postpartum depression wasn’t even an official diagnosis in the DSM-5 until 1994. Like, where in the world are we mentally? I know so many women were still struggling with depression and anxiety and you’re telling me it wasn’t even an official diagnosis until 1994. That’s mind-boggling to me. This is the male bias.
And if you’re interested in learning more about this male bias, there’s a book called Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez and she talks so much about how this is greatly affecting the studies of women, how this is impacting the lives of women across the world, and how we are truly failing women, especially in healthcare, but also beyond that. And so this needs to be addressed, and we need to have these conversations we need to start asking more. And this is a call out to start asking for better research, to start understanding that science is not everything and that there is so much more that needs to be done. And so we need to address this. We need to have this conversation and know that when it comes to maternal mental health or maternal physical health, we need to have a whole story. Not just the facts that benefit the persons or organizations that are making the money. And I hope you are reading between the lines when I say that statement. I want to be very, very clear and that we need to do more.
Is this episode resonating with you? We certainly hope so. If you are loving this content, please take a moment to give this podcast a review. It truly means the world to me and my team. Thanks so much.
So I’m going to tell you what I’m going to be clear about. Two things. If you want to nourish your body and heal deeply and postpartum, you’re going to have to do a lot more research. You’re going to have to look really hard at who’s presenting the information and what their bias is, as well as what the information is behind it. Because what I’m seeing over and over and what we’re being taught is not accurate, it’s not the full story, it’s half the story. And so if you’re looking at this, and again I’m talking specifically about nutrition because it’s just so easy to call it out, but you can apply this to maternal sleep, you can apply this to returning back to work, you can apply this to breastfeeding, you can apply this to pelvic floor issues and incontinence and so many things, hair loss, like all the things especially related to postpartum and even beyond, women’s healthcare in general is kind of a joke.
So looking at all of these, you’re going to have to go deep, you’re going to have to look at the big story, you’re going to have to look at the outliers who… Who’s saying something different? That’s usually where you’re going to find the answers and why they’re saying that. Really ask yourself, why are these people saying something different? I fully encourage you to look at postpartum university and what we’re saying, but also understanding why we’re saying it, the history behind it. Why is it important? Why am I going against the grain and subjecting myself to a lot of hate mail? This, this is so necessary and such a great part of this. And the other thing that I really want to say is that if you are struggling, understand that you are not broken. The system is broken. As a matter of fact, the system is rigged. It is meant to keep you broken. And it’s not you that needs fixing. It’s the system that needs fixing. And so keep researching, keep looking for the answers.
And if you are a provider and you know exactly what I’m talking about, you’ve listened to this episode and you resonate with it deeply, know that you have a voice in this and it’s okay to be the outlier. It’s okay to say something different and to get the hate mail. That doesn’t mean that you’re doing something wrong. Actually, I strongly believe that it means that you’re doing something right. And look at how many women and families are going to benefit from you standing out and standing up for what is right, standing up for the truth. It takes courage. But once you do it and you realize how absolutely rewarding it is. So stand by me if you if you need a leg up, or feel free to branch out on your own to like whatever it is, just speak the truth, let people know what it is that is real and true. And let’s start addressing the root cause of postpartum mental and physical health ailments. Let’s get to the root of these. and let’s actually start talking about how you can prevent it and heal from it. Because without that, we’re gonna keep spinning around in circles, telling half stories, the rising rates of depression and anxiety and autoimmune disorders are going to continue and we are never going to get anywhere.
And that’s gonna be so, so exciting. sad to see, especially when our children become adults and they have babies themselves. We’re ending a generational trauma. We’re ending a generational gap. And it starts here right now in telling the truth.
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