Snacks For Your Nightstand During The Newborn Nights

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Transcript

You’re listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast, episode number 15. This is a hot topic, my friend, or at least it should be, in my opinion. We’re talking about those newborn nights and specifically, keeping you, mama, fed during them. Keeping you from getting hungry (or should I say hangry, am I right?) during what often feels like years, but it’s really just one night. All those wake ups, all those feeding sessions.

So let’s talk about the snacks that should be on your nightstand during those newborn nights.

Hey, this is Laura Lima, holistic nutritionist and founder of New Mama Nation and host of The Love & Lettuce Podcast. I am here to help mamas know what to eat to give them energy and help them feel fantastic so they can better enjoy life with their littles. And remember, this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and does not replace medical advice from your healthcare provider, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, please consult your healthcare provider to find out what is right for you. With that said, let’s get to the show!

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I feel like when I give you a list of foods, whether it’s meals or snacks or whatever, sometimes I feel like it’s so simple, like maybe people are looking for something revolutionary. But really, it is simple; it should be.

Because it really does always come back to the basics, even if that may seem boring at times. But there are so many different combinations we can do with our food, so many different flavours and textures we can put together and experiment with… and I find that to be the fun part.

But sometimes when I’m giving you these lists, like the one I’m giving you today, it might seem a bit on the boring or repetitive side. I’ll let you be the judge of that, but these are the snacks that I personally keep on my nightstand. Even now when I’m past the newborn nights, because you never know when that hunger can come a knockin’, am I right? Or when the toddlers have wakeups of their own, mmhmm!

So, okay, with that intro, or more disclaimer, I guess, here is my list of snacks to have on your nightstand during those newborn nights. I don’t have all of these at once, obviously; I just usually have one at a time. What I’m looking for is something with a bit of protein, and ideally fat as well, because this will help to keep our blood sugar steady and actually satisfy us, vs. something high-carb that will just lead to more hunger as well as blood sugar swings. We definitely don’t want that when we’re already exhausted, and often at our wits’ end.

Snacks/Protein Bar

So the first snack on our list is a bar, a snack bar called the Larabar. My favourite flavour is peanut butter. Okay, actually my favourite flavour is peanut butter chocolate chip; it’s a toss between them, so I’ll do one or the other. I like to have both on hand at all times. And it’s just so easy, and so delicious. I mean, what else can I say? It gives you that hit of protein, fibre, a little bit of fat. And for me, it’s just enough for that middle-of-the-night hunger, or that middle-of-the-night like, even energy boost, that pick-me-up that we need.

So the next one, the next snack on our list, is also a snack bar, this one being rich in fats, which I love. It’s called Love Good Fats. And my favourite flavours are chocolate peanut butter (are you seeing a theme here of my favourites?), and chocolatey almond. Delicious.

The only thing with these bars is that they’re very crumbly, so they’re not the best to eat in bed, especially if crumbs in the bed are one of your worst nightmares, like mine. One thing I’ve found helpful is storing them in the fridge to harden the chocolate, but that won’t obviously help if it then sits on your nightstand for a few hours and goes right back to room temp. So another thing you can do (we’re talking expert over here, expert night snacker!), one thing that you can do is to bring a small Tupperware or bowl and keep that on your nightstand as well, and just eat the bar while holding the bowl underneath. Genius.

Nuts & Raisins

Alright, our next snack is a certain mixture of nuts that I love, which is almonds and walnuts and raisins. Yes, adding those raisins ups the flavour factor for me so much, and it adds that chewy texture that just brings the snack to life, in my opinion. You could do dark chocolate chips instead of the raisins, and you could also change the nut mixture, like, you do you!

Just make sure you do it. Because maybe you just want almonds or you want to add cashews or whatever; you do it. But just make sure that yeah, you do it. That’s the key, is that we have that snack on the nightstand; we have to have the snack at the ready, and that is what counts. And, making it healthy is even better.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Okay, our next snack is toasted pumpkin seeds. They are so good, and they are super easy to make. So I’d suggest buying raw pumpkin seeds and toasting them yourself.

What you do is put the seeds in a pan over medium-low heat, and you’re not adding oil in yet or anything at this point. So you’ve got the dry pumpkin seeds in the pan and you’re heating them up over medium to low heat.

Stir them around a bit every so often, and when you start to hear them pop, that means that they’re being toasted. So make sure at that point that you’re stirring them often because they can burn quickly.

Now, you’re going to keep letting them pop for a few minutes longer (because the toastier, the better, in my opinion), and then remove them from the heat. Add a splash of olive oil (and honestly, a splash is all you need, because otherwise I find they become greasy and you can taste the oil, and that’s not the point here. You just add a splash so that the salt, which we put on next, can stick to it.

Okay, so a splash of olive oil, and then a lot of sea salt. I also like adding, so instead of sea salt, I love something called Herbamare; it’s a mix of sea salt with herbs, and it is so delicious. So salty, so good.

So either one; you could do sea salt or you could do Herbamare, and you’re going to put a lot on… more than you think is enough. Because hey, salt is good for us! We need it; we need it for a healthy body. And of course it makes this snack even more delicious.

So you’re going to stir all of that around, give them a taste, and add more salt as necessary. That’s it! Store them in a container, ideally in the fridge so they last even longer. And now you have them ready for your overnight snack.

I love adding these to my mixture of nuts and raisins, because it has that salty flavour, and it is so good. But you can also just have them on their own, right from the bowl or right from the container. And as a side note, adding them to a salad is absolutely delicious… it’s actually one of my favourite salad add-ins. It’s got great protein, great fat and fibre and crunch and it’s just so good.

Banana & Nuts

Alright, on to our next snack, a banana and nuts. Yeah, you could just have the banana, but I find that I get hungry soon after because it wasn’t enough protein or fat to truly satisfy me and keep my blood sugar steady. So when I have a banana, I always like to make sure that I have it with a handful or two of nuts or seeds. So it could be a mixture, it could be just almonds, it could be your toasted pumpkin seeds… you get the idea.

Almond Butter… Straight From The Jar

Okay, on to our last snack. Are you ready for this? You bring the almond butter jar, and you bring a spoon. You leave both on your nightstand, and when the hunger strikes, you dig in. Yes, it’s ideal to keep your almond butter in the fridge of course. But honestly, I’ve never found an issue when I leave it out overnight, or like for one night or, you know, two nights in a row or whatever, and put it in the fridge during the day. I have never found an issue with it. So, I put it back in the fridge in the morning and it always seems to be fine.

I love this snack because it’s so easy, it’s straight from the jar, and it’s a delicious mix of protein, fat and fibre. All the things that we need to make truly healthy and satisfying snacks.

Extra Tips for Snacks

So my final tip for you is, and I’ve said this in today’s episode already, but is to make sure that you always have one of these snacks on hand, meaning you have them ready to go in your house… but you also have it on the nightstand because nothing’s worse than you’ve just gotten the baby back to bed, and now you have to trudge downstairs. It’s the last thing you want to do. You’re cold, you’re like, I just want to get into bed! I don’t want to wake the baby! Like, that’s the worst thing I can imagine; the baby just fell back asleep. Oh, so I’ll just stay in bed and not risk making the noise… and I’ll be hungry and angry and annoyed. No, thanks!

So have those snacks on your nightstand. Again, these things seem so simple, but if you don’t do them, well, they don’t get done. And then you don’t have that snack ready. So do the thing, put the snack on your nightstand. Huge tip.

Now here is one last tip for you. Have so much water also on your nightstand. Because you know what, on a normal day (meaning it’s not a day when we’re getting up with our kids to either give them a bottle or give them a boob), it’s just a normal day, we get thirsty at night. When we sleep, we get dehydrated. That’s why in the morning, we have to drink so much water, whether or not you feel thirsty (I know I do for sure).

But we have to drink so much water to rehydrate our bodies, especially because we’ve been detoxifying at night and cleansing, and now we want to flush that out. So especially when you are waking up so often, and especially if you’re breastfeeding, because my girl you are just getting rid, not getting rid of, I mean, it’s obviously in the best way possible, you’re giving it to your baby… but your body is getting rid of so much water, so much hydration, and without you replenishing that, you will be so thirsty.

And even if you’re someone who doesn’t feel thirsty, your body is dehydrated, 100%, if you don’t drink enough to replenish. So that is all I will say about that. But just make sure, in addition to that snack that you have on the nightstand, you must have lots of water. And I’m talking, like, bring up your reusable container. Maybe that’s like two cups worth, maybe that’s three cups worth. Make sure it’s full every night, and I would also bring a backup glass of water. Or maybe your bottle is your backup and your glass is what you drink, whatever doesn’t matter, but always have extra on hand.

Okay, I truly hope that you’ve gotten some tips out of this podcast episode and that you’ve gotten inspired to try this for yourself. Again, these snacks seems so simple, and even the idea of having snacks on your nightstand seems so simple. But if you know you know, you know? When you need them, they need to be there. And so I hope that you’ve gotten something from this episode today.

Now what is your favourite nightstand stack? Wow, nightstand snack. Try saying that five times (or even once, if you’re me). So what is your favourite one? If this is something that you already currently do, I want to know; I would love to hear about it. You can send me a DM on Instagram @lauraannlima. I’d love to hear.

So I will talk to you there and I will also talk to you on the next episode. Have an amazing day mama. Bye! And don’t forget to get your free copy of my New Mama Energy Guide. Just go to bit.ly/newmamas for instant access. Thanks for listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast. To find out how to work with me and for more great info, check out newmamanation.com. This is Laura! Until next time, love and lettuce.