What to avoid eating while pregnant

There are some foods you avoid eating while pregnant due to their possible health risk. Today I wanted to share with you the reasons why we should avoid them.

During both my pregnancies I was quite careful about my diet and what foods I did or did not eat. In hindsight, I probably should have been more concerned about my chocolate and ice-cream cravings, although a lot of my energy was focused on what I shouldn’t be eating due to Listeriosis.

Some of the common foods in a pregnancy diet which should be avoided include soft or semi-soft cheeses; deli meats; soft or undercooked eggs, meats and fish; pate; prepared salads (mixed like coleslaw or plain lettuce); cooked and chilled chicken; soft serve ice cream and raw fish.

Foods you should avoid eating while pregnant and why

These recommendations for pregnant women are due to the risk that these items could be loaded with harmful bacteria such as Salmonella or Listeria. The scary one here for pregnant women is Listeria.

Listeria

Listeria is most commonly found in deli meats, soft and semi-soft cheeses and other deli-style products. This is because Listeria thrives in a moist, high salt, low-temperature environment which is typical of deli display cabinets. In a non-pregnant person, Listeria poisoning results in mild flu-like symptoms, cramping, headaches etc but in a pregnant lady, it can result in miscarriage. In Australia, the statistic of overall Listeria food poisoning in pregnant women is about 1 in 25 000 pregnancies.

Salmonella

Salmonella is commonly found in eggs, chicken and even soft-serve ice-cream. With Salmonella poisoning, although it would be incredibly uncomfortable and could result in dehydration, there is no known harmful effects on your baby. During pregnancy, your immune system is suppressed so you are more susceptible to the effects of food poisoning, but the effects should not be of detriment to the baby (unless very severe)

Today’s food environment and supply is different

People often said to me, “Well my mother ate everything when she was pregnant with me”.  Or you might even hear your pesky mother in law say this. The problem with this statement is if your mother in law or mother is anywhere near my mother’s age (mid-60s), she would have rarely eaten out in comparison to the frequency today. And foods like salami, fetta, raw salmon sashimi, were not staple menu items in every Australian restaurant or home even.

The fact is, these days we have such great access to varied foods from many cultures and from many different sources. Unfortunately, you cannot always trust the person you are buying from, and no matter how strict they are with their hygiene, if their supply is infected, it is difficult for them to provide a safe meal.

The supply chain and logistics of food mileage is also a new arena to deal with in food safety. Working in international companies, the highest risk of food movement was temperature abuse. Temperature abuse is a key indicator for potential food spoilage and microbiological growth.

Key tips

The most important thing to do is practice basic food safety and hygiene, like you should really be doing day to day. My golden rules are:

1)     Wash your hands

2)     Wash your produce (even items prewashed in the bag)

3)     Avoid cross-contamination of cooked and raw products

4)     Cook until steaming

5)     Use leftovers the next day but only reheat once

6)     Never keep cooked or chilled food out of the fridge for more than 1 hour and store below 4 degrees Celcius (check your fridge)

If you follow these rules you can eat your fetta, your eggs and your salami. Just cook it!!! Those precooked chickens from the supermarket, so easy!! Just reheat it. Most bacteria are killed at about 10 seconds at 75 degrees Celcius (that is not the temperature of the oven, but the temperature at the core of the food item). So cook cook cook.

I absolutely adore fetta and it was very hard for me to avoid it completely so it was a little bit of a staple on a low-fat pizza. Cooked. Delicious and safe.

Written by Nutritionist Mandy Dos Santos

Disclaimer:

Always speak to your doctor before changing your diet,taking any supplements or undertaking any exercise program in pregnancy. The information on this site is for reference only and is not medical advice and should not be treated as such, and is not intended in any way as a substitute for professional medical advice.

Our plans promote a healthy weight gain in pregnancy to benefit the mother & baby and you can read more on this here 

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