Foods to Avoid During Pregnancy
What food should I avoid in pregnancy?
You should eat a balanced and healthy diet during pregnancy. However, there are certain foods that you should avoid during pregnancy as listed below:
- Raw meat e.g sushi, seafood or uncooked beef and poultry as it may be contaminated by unwanted bacteria.
- Raw egg e.g coleslaw, some homemade ice-cream or cream, Caesar dressing, mayonnaise and Hollandaise sauce to avoid contamination with bacteria known as salmonella.
- Raw shellfish e.g oysters, clam and mussels
- Unwashed vegetables and fruits: Make sure you thoroughly clean your vegetables prior to eating it as it may be contaminated by toxoplasmosis.
- Certain soft and blue vein cheese e.g feta, brie, stilton, camembert, Roquefort, Gorgonzola as they may contain a harmful bacteria listeriosis. The soft cheese are safe to eat if they clearly state that they are made from pasteurized milk. You could safely eat hard cheese such as cheddar, cottage cheese and processed cheese
- Pate (refrigerated pate or meat spread) as it may contain listeriosis. You could safely eat canned pate or shell-safe pate.
- Deli meat as it may be contaminated with listeriosis. If you still want to eat the deli meat make sure that it is reheated until it is steaming.
- Fish containing high mercury as it could affect the baby’s developing brain. For e.g shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. Canned tuna should only be eaten in moderation.
- Smoked seafood as it may be contaminated by listeriosis. Canned or shell-safe smoked seafood is ok to be eaten.
- Caffeine: Avoid caffeine altogether during first trimester and later on try to limit intake to 200mg/day which is equal to 2 mugs of instant coffee / tea, 5 cans of regular cola and four (50g) of plain bar chocolate.
- Smoking is not only bad for you but also your developing baby. Stop smoking altogether.
- Alcohol. There is no amount of alcohol that could be safely taken during pregnancy. So, avoid alcohol in pregnancy.
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