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Being pregnant, I have to avoid and lessen my intake of certain foods. I’ve been super paranoid with eating ever since I found out I was pregnant. I’ve just been looking up foods I can’t eat and what I can. Every time I go to a restaurant I have to make sure that what I’m eating is safe for the baby. It’s not necessarily what is safe for me, it’s what is safe for the baby.
Many of you know the standard list of what not to eat: raw foods, anything unpasteurized, anything alcoholic. They say not to eat soft cheeses but it’s just those that are not pasteurized. Some websites list foods into different categories of should not eat, maybe and safe. There is this pretty good list here: Parents. Some foods have been converted from not safe to safe. One example is soft cheese. If the milk is pasteurized then it is safe to eat. Many restaurants should have safe cheeses to eat but just to be safe, you can ask them if their cheeses are pasteurized. Also, as I have noticed in many places I have eaten at, they don’t necessarily cook their red meats all the way through when you ask them to. You always have to check before you eat it. More often than not the meat you get will not be how you want it. This is very frustrating because I’m already hungry to begin with and now the food is not cooked all the way through. I guess I’m not as assertive as I should be. One time it arrived red. Seriously!?!?!? Either the waiter didn’t tell them or the cook is just incompetent or just plain uncooperative.
Same goes with eggs. Eggs have to be well done and not runny for it to be safe to eat. I had to send my eggs back in a couple of places because they were too runny. Maybe I should have said I was pregnant…but then again, I don’t think that would have made a difference.
And there’s the thing with canned foods. Canned foods contain BPA levels that aren’t safe for the baby. I’ve been trying to avoid eating canned foods and also cooked foods that contain canned items. Maybe I’m freaking out too much canned foods. My sister ate canned foods when she was pregnant and her two children are fine.
The thing with these foods is that you have to eat in moderation. My mom said that when she was pregnant with my sister and me she only had to think about eating healthy and not any of the other things we have to worry about now. She still ate seafood and canned goods and my sister and I turned out healthy. I still worry about the foods I am eating.
Besides all the foods you are trying to avoid you also have to watch what you eat. There is a certain amount of weight that you should gain when pregnant. This website describes weight gain for different types of people: What to Expect. I was at a normal BMI before I got pregnant so I’m suppose to gain about 25-35 pounds. Some people think that you should eat for two and some people literally do because they don’t know until their doctor tells them not to. It just so hard to not eat a lot of food. I feel hungry more often now than before. Right now I am about 7-8 pounds over what I am suppose to gain. At my first appointment my doctor told me that I had to cut down on carbohydrates. That meant not eating rice!! I have tried to limit my rice intake but I’m not going to stop eating it. My doctor said to eat more protein because protein builds cells. I’ve been trying to eat a lot more meat because the baby needs the protein.
I’m sure in the future there will be more foods on the list of what to avoid. And it’s difficult to actually find approved foods to eat in the store. There was one post online that said that tofu and soy products were a little bit of a grey area when it comes to safety. I myself still drink soy milk and eat tofu. It’s very frustrating at times when you see these “do not eat” lists. Here’s one of those lists: 11 Foods to Avoid. In my own diet, I will not be cutting out rice. I did try to stop eating canned foods. How about you? What do you think of this? What foods did you try to avoid when you were pregnant?
Update [1/30/16]: I found out recently that there are cans that say “BPA free.” My mom was opening a can of sardines the other day and noticed that it stated that it was BPA free on the label. So there are canned foods out there that are safe to eat, you just have to look for them. Here is a link to just some of the brands that package their food in BPA free cans: BPA Free Canned Food Brands.
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