Forbidden foods in pregnancy

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN’T EAT WHILE PREGNANT

The simple list you need to know is this:

Unpasteurized dairy
Molded or soft cheeses – unless they are heated up to 70 degrees (or to simplify bubbling or steaming hot point)
Raw and undercooked meat
Raw fish and shellfish
Undercooked eggs
High mercury fish – swordfish, tuna, mackerel, marlin, shark, tilefish
Smoked fish
Liver, paté (even vegetarian) and meat spreads
Energy drinks
Cold cuts, cured meats, deli meat, and hot dogs – unless cooked to steaming hot
Unwashed fruits and vegetables
Raw sprouts
Unpasteurized fruit juice
Alcohol
More than 200mg of caffeine
Licorice (mainly roots) and ginger (shots and supplements)
Sugar over 20g a day (I personally think no one follows this one)

Charcuterie boards will become much poorer

Why can’t I eat these?

The main problem with these foods are:

Listeria – is a bacteria that can cause an infection in you called listeriosis that can lead to problems for the fetus like paralysis, blindness, seizures and kidney, heart and brain deformities, but also miscarriage, premature delivery or stillbirth. This bacteria dies with heat that’s why you can consume cheeses like roquefort and brie when cooked. Foods that are a risk for this are – all unpasteurized dairy, soft and moulded cheeses, smoked and raw fish, pate made from fish, meat or vegetables, raw meat and even the surface of fruits and vegetables.

Smoked salmon toast with undercooked poached eggs is definitly a no no

Toxoplasmosis – this infection is caused by parasites in foods like raw meat, vegetables and fruits that have had contact with soil, and cat poop. This can lead to eye and brain damage in babies at birth or blindness and intellectual disabilities developed later in life, and even miscarriage in early pregnancy.
Salmonella – Although not very harmful for the baby, you can get food poisoning symptoms (read below on problems with food poisoning) and also put increase the risk of other complications like meningitis, reactive arthritis and bacteremia (blood poisoning). The bacteria is usually associated to raw eggs, but can also be present in raw fish, meat and milk, raw sprouts and unwashed fruits and vegetables.

Be aware that mousses and other dessert creams may contain raw eggs

Mercury – Large fish contain large quantities of mercury. There is no known safe level of exposure to mercury, but large amounts can be toxic to your nervous and immune systems and kidneys. Fetus can have serious development problems even with small amounts.

If you decide to have sushi, still remember that it’s not recommended to have tuna sushi or other high mercury fishes.

Vitamin A – liver products contain large amounts of vitamin A which can be harmful to the baby causing congenital malformations and miscarriage.
Food poisoning – can be caused by bacteria like Listeria, E. Coli or salmonella, parasites, viruses like norovirus and some chemicals. While your body can fight these, your babies immune system isn’t strong enough yet. But also the simple simptoms like dehydration and fever can be dangerous for the baby. Food poisoning is especially harmful for the baby during the first trimester, because the contractions from vomiting and diarrhoea can cause miscarriages, premature birth or stillbirth
Excess caffeine – Excess caffeine during pregnancy can lead to restricted fetal growth and low birth weight. These increase the risks of infant death and chronical diseases.
Alcohol – causes fetal alcohol syndrome wich involves facial deformities, heart defects and intellectual disability. Since it is not possible to create studies with pregnant woman, no level of alcohol has been proven to be safe.
Licorice – the glycyrrhizic acid in the root is an endocrine-disrupting substance. These can be associated with fetal growth retardation, thyroid dysfunction, and neurological disorders
Ginger – excess ginger in animal experiments has lead to higher risks of miscarriage

Coffee is necessary to survive life!! Maybe have it now with more milk or keep just your waking up expresso

Controversy

Well although these are the main guidelines, the truth is some countries have different guidelines according to their habits and food health. For example, in Norway it is said to be ok to eat liver pate and raw eggs. They even advise eating the liver pate for the iron content. While the eggs are pausterized and subjected to processes that almost completely eliminate salmonella.

On a general note, a study from 2013 also says that canned or shelf-stable patés and meat spreads can be eaten by pregnant women – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3593057/

Some countries are a bit more relaxed in some of these rules, saying you can eat sushi if it comes from a good restaurant with hygiene practices, or have a glass of wine with your food once in a while. A good source to understand some of the guidelines and why some may not need to be applied with so much stricteness is Emily Oster Expecting better book. She will give you the proper scientific information you need to make your decisions on what risk you want to take while pregnant.

Tips and tricks to not give up on life just yet

So you think live is over and you’ll have to spend 9 months (plus some possible breastfeeding restrictions) until you live again. I get it…it sounds hard. But listen, here’s what you can do.

If you are dreading you can not have a romantic charcuterie board, with cheeses and chouriços and a glass of wine for the forseable future, don’t. What you need to do is…choose your cheeses well, hard cheeses, cheeses made with pausteurized milk and heated up – doesn’t a melted brie in the oven with some minced garlic and a drizzle of olive oil sounds amazing? For the cold cuts try my party recipe – cut small cubes of chouriço and slice some mushrooms. Fried them together in a pan with a minced garlic clove. It’s a winner at every gathering. Pan fry some of your favorite salamis and cold cuts, just don’t forget to eat them fast.

Melted cheese and some alcohol free wine and you won’t even remember food restrictions

For the wine. We are lucky ladies, nowadays there are so many alcohol free options for beers, wines and cocktails. Beer tastes the same with or without alcohol, for the wine you need to try a few to find a good one. But from my experience a very chilled alcohol free white wine tastes great. There are versions of gin, vodka and other drinks without alcohol..so no more missing out on your G&T.

Altough you shouldn’t exagerate in things like coffee and sweets, you can still get you fix daily. I guess you can see it as a new healthy habit you can keep post pregnancy.

For sushi…well that’s really up to you. Although most of us have never or rarely been sick after eating sushi, it’s up to you to acess what risks you are willing to take. But you can always eat veggie sushi or fried sushi, and calm those cravings.

For this you definitly need to wait 9 months

Maybe one of the hardest is the undercooked meat. It’s good for you to eat some red meat for the iron content, but who really likes a well cooked steak? I just gave up on meat restaurants while pregnant and the times I go I just put my mind on some juicy ribs or hot chicken wings. No point in crying for what I can’t have.

Interesting details

Norwegian authorities advise you to be carefull with radioactivity from the Chernobyl accident in 1986. I know, most of us don’t usually concern ourselves with radioactive accidents in other countries from years ago but apparently we should. In Norway, parts of Buskerud, Oppland, Trøndelag and southern parts of Nordland received the most radioactive fallout, so, when consuming game meat, freshwater fish, mushrooms and berries from these areas one should consider the levels of radioactivity, never exceeding, for pregnant woman 40,000 becquerels per day per year. Tables with different quantities of becquerels per substance can be found in https://www.matportalen.no/matvaregrupper/tema/fjorfe_og_kjott/mat_forurenset_med_radioaktivitet. But also, apparently if you boil the meat in small pieces in large amounts of water you can reduce the radioactivity in 60%, while salting and marinating also reduce the levels.

Be aware from where your reindeer meat comes from XD

Freezing does not kill bacteria. But it will kill parasites in raw fish for example. Although this needs to be done with internal temperatures on the fish ranging from -10ºC to -35º for 15h to 3-4 days, depending on the parasite –– so probably only for commercially frozen fish and not with your home freezer. Source – https://www.fsai.ie/faq/fish_parasites.html
Once you’ve had toxoplasmosis you cannot catch it again. If it’s not standard in your country (like it isn’t in Norway, but is in Portugal) ask your doctor to be tested so you can be a bit more relaxed.
You apparently can eat canned tuna, as long as you don’t go over 1 to 2 cans per week, because the fishes used are small and therefore have much lower amounts of mercury.