Pregnancy is exciting, and we bet you couldn’t wait to meet your bundle of joy from the day you found out you were expecting. But sadly, there’s a downside to being with child too: unfortunately, you’ll have to forsake some delicious foods and drinks for the whole nine months too… Whoa!
For those of you not up-to-speed on the current foods to avoid during pregnancy, because lets face it they change every year, here’s an updated and current list for you:
Foods to avoid during pregnancy
Dairy
1. Mould ripened cheeses, such as brie, Camembert and other soft rind cheeses – If like me, you LOVE Brie, you might be disappointed. But don’t despair, there are lots of hard cheeses you can have instead.
2. Soft blue-veined cheeses, such as Stilton or Danish Blue – This particular forbidden food can become a pain if you are pregnant over Christmas and fancy a turkey, stilton and pickle sandwich like I did!
3. Make sure the milk you buy is pasteurised - Pasteurising milk gets rid of the nasty bacteria that can be found in unpasteurised milk. Good old Louis Pasteur, imagine where we’d be if he hadn't boiled milk in the 1800’s?
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Eggs
4. Not quite forbidden, but you do need to be careful with your eggs - Make sure they are cooked through properly, avoid homemade mayonnaise and anything containing raw eggs. And yes, unfortunately, that means no runny eggs and soldiers at brekkie-boo!
Meat & Fish
5. Pate – Pates can contain listeria (bacteria that can be harmful in pregnancies), so should be avoided. Pate is my personal favourite, and it was sorely missed through all of my pregnancies!
6. No more rare steaks! Meat should be cooked through with no trace of pink. Sorry if you like rare steaks, it’s well done all the way for the next nine months!
7. Liver – Liver is really rich in vitamin A, so it is to be avoided. Too much Vitamin A present in liver can harm baby (this was NOT a problem for me, liver..ugh! disgusting!)
8. Oily fish – Limit the amount of Oily fish you eat, this means 2 portions a week (salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines, herring etc) or four medium cans of tuna – (though in my opinion, four cans of tuna is quite a lot!)
9. Stay away from shark, swordfish and marlin – this due to the mercury content, but unless you live on a remote island you should be OK to avoid these in the supermarket!
10. Avoid raw shellfish – Don’t eat any raw shellfish. Cooked shellfish is generally OK, but most women still avoid it, as you can’t totally remove toxins by cooking shellfish.
Fruit & Veg
11. You can eat all fruit and veg, but make sure your wash it thoroughly to remove possible toxins left by the soil.
Drinks
12. The one that a lot of women find the hardest…alcohol. Now I’m not saying we’re a nations of alcoholics, but most of us do like a glass of wine at the weekend with our takeaway! As you’ll probably know, too much alcohol can seriously affect your baby’s foetal development, so you are advised to totally abstain. Time to get the Schloer out over the Christmas period, it worked for me!
13. Limit your caffeine – Go decaf with your tea and coffee, and try to drink water instead of too many fizzy drinks. Excessive caffeine has shown to increase low birth weight in babies.
Don’t panic! – There are lots of lovely foods you can eat while pregnant!
Make sure you have a diet rich in wholemeal bread, fortified cereals, fruit and veg. Starchy carbs such as potatoes, rice, pasta and noodles provide an important source of vitamins and fibre, protein like beans, pulses, nuts, lean meats,fish( see above) and dairy products like milk, hard cheese and yoghurts are essential to provide a balanced diet for you and baby.
Avoid high fat foods while pregnant, and make sure you snack on healthy nibbles like hummus and wholemeal pitta, dried apricots and prunes (added bonus: they’ll keep you regular) veg sticks, fresh fruit and so on.
Post pregnancy & Breastfeeding
After baby arrives you are free to re-introduce your forbidden foods! Yey!
If you are breastfeeding try to avoid drinking more than a little alcohol, as it can affect milk production and supply by limiting the hormones that trigger milk letdown.
Too much caffeine also reduces milk supply, but you can still have your morning cuppa, so don’t worry. Just don’t drink caffeine to excess.
We have some great post pregnancy blog posts such as 3 Best Smoothies for Pre, During & Post Pregnancy and 9 Uses of Coconut Oil for Mum and Baby That Actually Work
