Healing After Birth: Nutrition, Hormones & Resilience

Healing After Birth: Nutrition, Hormones & Resilience

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February 08, 2025•4 min read

Postpartum recovery is often misunderstood. Many women struggle with fatigue, brain fog, and hormone imbalances long after giving birth, only to be told their symptoms are “normal” or “just part of motherhood.” But what if there’s more to the story?

Dr. Brandy Cummings, a clinical nutrition expert and founder of Resilient Motherhood, shares a holistic approach to healing after birth. She reveals how nutrition, hormone balance, and nervous system regulation play a crucial role in postpartum recovery, helping women regain their vitality and feel like themselves again.



The Link Between Nutrition & Postpartum Recovery

Your body goes through immense changes during pregnancy and childbirth. Nutrients are depleted, hormones shift, and your body needs intentional support to restore balance. Unfortunately, many postpartum symptoms are dismissed or misdiagnosed, leaving mothers without the help they need.

Why Postpartum Symptoms Get Overlooked

Many new moms experience symptoms like:

  • Persistent fatigue

  • Brain fog

  • Hair loss

  • Joint pain

  • Anxiety or mood swings

  • Digestive issues (bloating, constipation, or diarrhea)

These aren’t just “new mom struggles”—they’re signs that your body needs support. Dr. Brandy explains how factors like gut health, toxin exposure, and nervous system dysregulation can contribute to these ongoing issues.

Thyroid & Hormone Balance After Birth

Your thyroid plays a major role in postpartum recovery, but many doctors only run basic thyroid tests that don’t tell the full story. A sluggish thyroid can lead to low energy, weight gain, and brain fog, but the root cause often lies deeper.

Dr. Brandy highlights how the liver plays a key role in thyroid hormone conversion, and when it’s overburdened with detoxing pregnancy hormones and environmental toxins, thyroid function suffers. Supporting the liver can make a significant difference in postpartum hormone balance.

The Nervous System’s Role in Healing

Chronic stress is one of the biggest roadblocks to postpartum recovery. When your body is stuck in "fight or flight" mode, healing slows down. Symptoms of nervous system dysregulation include:

  • Chronic fatigue

  • Poor digestion

  • Frequent colds or infections

  • Anxiety or panic attacks

To reset the nervous system, Dr. Brandy recommends breathwork, vagus nerve stimulation, and mindfulness practices to shift the body into a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state, allowing it to heal properly.

Environmental Toxins & Postpartum Health

Many women unknowingly struggle with toxin overload from mold, heavy metals, and chemicals in their environment. These toxins burden the liver, disrupt hormones, and contribute to inflammation. Dr. Brandy shares simple ways to reduce toxin exposure and support natural detoxification, such as:

  • Choosing organic, whole foods

  • Using non-toxic personal care products

  • Filtering drinking and shower water

  • Getting proper sunlight exposure to regulate circadian rhythms

The RESILIENT Framework for Postpartum Recovery

Dr. Brandy introduces the RESILIENT framework—a step-by-step guide to postpartum healing:

  • R - Reconnection to self, body, and purpose

  • E - Environmental detox and toxin reduction

  • S - Sleep & stress management

  • I - Inflammation & infections support

  • L - Lab testing for deeper insight

  • I - Improved digestion & gut health

  • E - Energy & mitochondrial support

  • N - Nervous system regulation

  • T - Toxin drainage & detox pathways

This framework helps women address postpartum symptoms holistically and get to the root of ongoing health struggles.

 

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Dr. Brandy Cummings is a clinical nutritionist and founder of Resilient Motherhood. After overcoming severe health challenges, including mold illness and pregnancy loss, she dedicated her career to helping women heal through personalized nutrition, environmental detox, and functional medicine approaches.

Resources:

Website: https://www.resilientmotherhood.health/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/resilientmotherhood.health/

 

 

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Medical Disclaimer:

By listening to the Health Youniversity podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition for yourself or others. Consult your healthcare provider for any medical issues you may have. This entire disclaimer also pertains to any guests or contributors to any Health Youniversity podcast.

 

I am a women’s health expert with a specialty in working with women and couples navigating fertility challenges for more than 20 years. I look forward to helping you realize your dream of family. I’m also a mother, a sister, a friend. I live in beautiful Northern California, where the nature of Mt. Tamalpais, the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay are my backyard. Traditional Chinese Medicine discovered me in 1978, when I was struggling with digestive complaints that flummoxed medical doctors. It wasn’t until I received my first acupuncture treatment and herbal prescription that I connected my medical condition to grief over loss of a loved one; that the stress of holding in such huge emotions was literally tying me up in knots, and I was finally able to heal. Discovering the powerful links between the physical, the mental, the emotional, the spiritual, and the environmental shifted my understanding of health and wellness forever. For more than 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of learning and implementing Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine to understand the root causes of health conditions and realize optimal health and well-being. I am a strong believer in the importance of health education, for knowledge is power when you have the tools for effective self care.

Dr. Susan Fox

I am a women’s health expert with a specialty in working with women and couples navigating fertility challenges for more than 20 years. I look forward to helping you realize your dream of family. I’m also a mother, a sister, a friend. I live in beautiful Northern California, where the nature of Mt. Tamalpais, the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay are my backyard. Traditional Chinese Medicine discovered me in 1978, when I was struggling with digestive complaints that flummoxed medical doctors. It wasn’t until I received my first acupuncture treatment and herbal prescription that I connected my medical condition to grief over loss of a loved one; that the stress of holding in such huge emotions was literally tying me up in knots, and I was finally able to heal. Discovering the powerful links between the physical, the mental, the emotional, the spiritual, and the environmental shifted my understanding of health and wellness forever. For more than 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of learning and implementing Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine to understand the root causes of health conditions and realize optimal health and well-being. I am a strong believer in the importance of health education, for knowledge is power when you have the tools for effective self care.

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