This blog post was written by Erin Borchard, a Summer 2026 Aaliyah in Action Emerging Leader

During this time of grief, your body is carrying so much. Alongside the emotional pain, your body is also experiencing physical changes and healing. One of the first things grief can affect is your appetite. Eating, cooking, or even deciding what to eat may feel overwhelming or unimportant. This is a completely understandable response to such a significant loss.

Nourishing your body is not about eating perfectly, it is an act of gentle self-care. Food can help meet your body’s basic needs, support healing, and provide energy during a time when even simple tasks may feel difficult.

The ideas below are meant to make caring for yourself feel a little easier. These simple strategies and food suggestions can help nourish your body while reducing the number of decisions you have to make during a time when there is already so much that you are going through. 

How Grief Can Affect Your Body and Change Your Eating Habits 

In the days and weeks after experiencing baby loss, your body responds with intense stress by releasing higher levels of stress hormones, including cortisol. This increased stress can lead your body to alter digestive functioning and hunger signaling. These changes can affect digestion, hunger cues, and your relationship with food- because of this, a change in appetite is a common effect of bereavement. If eating feels different right now, you are not alone. You may notice: 

• Loss of appetite 
• Skipping meals 
• Leaning toward fast food options  
• Increased eating 
• Changes in motivation to eat 

You may be also experiencing lack of sleep which is another thing that can cause change in your eating habits.

During this time, your body’s needs may look different from day to day. The goal is not “perfection” but rather to nourish yourself the best you can while your body and heart are carrying the weight of your loss.

Your Body is Healing 

Sometimes bringing it back to the basics can be a good way to help your body heal. Trying to keep a diet that includes whole foods, protein, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats can positively affect our mood and emotions. But more importantly, during this time, the main focus is to make sure you’re eating something rather than nothing.

Some ways that can help make eating easier could be eating comfort meals, whether that be warm soup, mac and cheese, or just your all time favorite dish, having these types of foods available can make eating more satisfying and maybe even more relaxing.

Another thing you could try to help make sure you are getting enough to eat at the end of the day would be to focus on eating smaller, more frequent meals, rather than 3 big meals during the day. This way you don’t have to carry extra stress in planning and cooking big meals, and it can be less overwhelming to put together smaller meals or snacks.

Another couple of good options if your appetite is just not there would be smoothies or soups as these can provide a lot of calories without feeling like you are eating so much. 

When Cooking Feels Impossible 

Of course there are gonna be times where the ideas listed above still won’t work and cooking and eating will still feel like an impossible task. In these instances, here are a few food ideas that can be more convenient, require little to no preparation, and still offers nutritious value: 

Breakfast

• Greek yogurt cups 
• Hard boiled eggs 
• Fruit 
• Instant oatmeal 
• Toast with peanut butter,  jam, or etc.

Lunch and Dinners

• Rotisserie chicken 
• Microwavable dinners
  • Some good brands include ‘Healthy Choice,” “Lean Cuisine,” etc. 
• Canned soup
• Bagged salad 
• Microwavable rice 
• Frozen, steam-in-bag, vegetables 

Snacks

• Cottage cheese 
• Mixed nuts 
• Baby carrots or snap peas 
• Other easy to eat vegetables like celery, mini cucumbers or bell pepper strips
• Hummus
• Trail mix 

In case you are up for a little bit of preparation, or want ideas of how  to combine these ingredients for a bigger meal, here are some quick and easy recipes: 

Greek Chicken Wraps

• Rotisserie chicken, or whatever type of chicken you like
• Hummus
• Vegetables (ex. tomatoes and cucumbers)
• Tortilla

Rotisserie Chicken Rice Bowls

• Rotisserie chicken
• Microwavable rice
• Steam-in-bag vegetables

Add favorite sauce on top (ex. Teriyaki, Barbecue, Buffalo, Salsa, Soy Sauce)

Black Bean Quesadilla 

• Tortilla
• Cheese
• Canned beans 
• Frozen vegetables
• Could add beef or chicken 

Here’s a link that has recipes that come together in 10 min or less: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipes-for-when-you-dont-have-time-to-cook-11835373 

Foods That May Support Restful Sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep may be difficult during this time. Grief can affect both the quality and quantity of your sleep. As mentioned earlier, this disrupted sleep can affect your hunger and change your appetite. 

While no food can guarantee better sleep, some foods contain nutrients that help support your body’s natural sleep cycle. Below are some options that you could try throughout the day that may support more restful sleep.

Sleep Promoting Foods Include

Healthy Fats

• Nuts and seeds or nut/seed butter
• Avocado 

Fruits and Veggies

• Tart cherries or cherry juice
• Bananas 
• Leafy greens 

Proteins

• Oily fish 
• Poultry 
• Eggs
• Chickpeas
• Yougurt 

Other Ingredients

• Honey 
• Cinnamon 

Grief changes so much, including the way you care for yourself. Some days, eating may feel manageable. Other days, even taking a few bites or sipping a smoothie may feel like more than enough. Both are okay.

Be gentle with yourself. Celebrate the small moments of self-care, whether that is eating a snack, drinking a glass of water, accepting a meal from someone who cares about you, or simply giving yourself permission to do what feels manageable today.

You do not have to have it all figured out. One meal, one snack, and one day at a time is enough.

This blog post was written by Erin Borchard, a Summer 2026 Aaliyah in Action Emerging Leader

Erin is a recent graduate from Concordia College- Moorhead, with a nutrition/dietetics degree. She is passionate about using the power of food and nourishment to help people going through one of life’s most difficult times, grief. Through this knowledge and guidance, she hopes to help loved ones of people going though grief to understand little ways they can help that might end up making a meaningful difference.