Nutrition Optimization and Community Upliftment for Postpartum Recovery

This study will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a postpartum dietary intervention for Black women with obesity and a recent pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The investigators will recruit women through Medicaid insurance plans (Priority Partners), clinical obstetric practice (Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, Women's Health Center), perinatal community-based organizations (MOM Cares and Bloom Collective), and home-visiting locations (The Family Tree of Maryland)-all of which can verify clinical outcomes for participants.

At 37 weeks gestation, participants are contacted by the study team for consent, baseline data collection (baseline visit 1), and randomization 1:1 to receive the intervention vs. usual care (which begins in the first postpartum week). 3-7 days after randomization, the remainder of baseline visit information (baseline visit 2) is collected including information for the prepared MTF vendor (Moveable Feast Baltimore)

The intervention group will initially receive prepared MTF (low carbohydrate, and low-fat meals, which have been shown to improve glycemia in people with prediabetes) delivered by Moveable Feast (MFeast) (10 meals weekly; Tailored Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) delivered by dieticians from MFeast via monthly phone calls and focused on two high yield topics only: ↓sugar-sweetened beverages and ↑ fruit and vegetable consumption; Lactation nutritional snack bundles to boost milk supply + structural support for breastfeeding/ pumping via lactation consultants and pumping supply subsidization; culturally-adapted seasoning bundles; and dependent meal boxes for children in the household (i.e., will include 10 developmentally appropriate snack and small meal bundles, for up to 24 weeks. At postpartum week 8, participants will be offered a transition from prepared medically tailored meals to Instacart fresh food delivery (medically tailored via study team-crafted virtual grocery store) for 16 more weeks.

Those assigned to the "MFeast Usual Care" group will receive prepared MTF delivered by MFeast and as-needed MNT from 1 to 24 weeks postpartum.

Inclusion criteria

• Age ≥18 years
• Self-identify as Black or African American
• Low-income (defined as eligible for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits)
• Speak English as a primary language
• Identify as a primary meal planner/preparer
• Gestational diabetes
• Gestational age >37 weeks
• Have a BMI > 30 (calculated based on chart review of height and weight measurement)
• Willing to take part in the intervention and data collection procedures through online surveys

Exclusion criteria

• Mothers who have social support i.e. have family members preparing meals for the mother
• Mothers who are unlikely to be at the primary residence in the postpartum period
• Mothers with very specific dietary needs, i.e, food allergies, picky eaters, vegetarian / vegan
• Mothers whose birth outcome is a stillborn
• Mothers who have serious mental illness