Pregnancy dietary taboos

There are only three categories of foods that must be absolutely avoided during pregnancy - undercooked animal ingredients, unpasteurized dairy products, and any alcoholic beverages. The rest of the so-called "can't eats" are mostly based on individual differences, traditional experience or suggestions from different academic systems. There is no unified standard answer. There is no need to be frightened just because you take a bite of a so-called "taboo food".

I met a little girl who was 11 weeks pregnant in the clinic before. Her husband, a Japanese chef, secretly brought her a freshly cut Arctic clam sashimi. He said it was clean and no problem. However, she had vomiting and diarrhea that night after eating it. When she came to the emergency room, her face was pale. Fortunately, the sample showed no listeria infection, otherwise she might not be able to survive. Don’t think that fresh raw food is fine. Sashimi, raw pickled fish, soft-boiled eggs, medium-rare steaks, and even uncooked hot pot meat slices may contain bad things such as Toxoplasma gondii and Listeria. For ordinary people, it may only cause diarrhea for a few days. For pregnant mothers, the risk of teratogenesis and miscarriage after infection can increase several times. This is the red line that we should really keep an eye on. There are also fresh milk from rural areas, unpasteurized handmade cheese sold in supermarkets, confinement wine, fermented glutinous rice balls, and alcoholic beverages. Don’t touch them even if they say “the alcohol evaporates after cooking.” Even a little alcohol intake may affect the neurological development of the fetus. This is required by all obstetric guidelines around the world and is non-negotiable.

After talking about these things that must be avoided, many people may want to ask, is it true that eating crabs, hawthorns, and longans will cause miscarriage? This is actually the difference between different cognitive systems. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, these are either cold in nature or have blood-activating effects. Pregnant mothers with weak spleen and stomach and a history of threatened abortion may indeed increase the risk of eating them. However, from the perspective of modern Western medicine, as long as the ingredients are clean and not allergic to them, normal consumption cannot reach the dose of "activating blood circulation" or "causing abortion". When my best friend was 16 weeks pregnant, she was so greedy that she ate three steamed hairy crabs by herself. She felt nothing but a bit full. ； But there was also a pregnant mother who had been trying to preserve her fetus. After eating two bunches of candied haws, she had brown secretions that day. She was so frightened that she had to stay in the hospital for a week. To put it bluntly, this matter varies from person to person, and there is no standard answer. If you have a weak foundation and have had a history of miscarriage before, then try to avoid it. If you are usually in good health, there is really no psychological burden on you to take a bite to satisfy your craving.

What young people are now more concerned about is whether "junk food" such as coffee, milk tea, hot pot, and snail noodles should be completely banned? I have seen too many pregnant mothers struggle for two or three hours just to take a sip of milk tea. It is really unnecessary. The current recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is that it is completely safe to consume no more than 200mg of caffeine per day during pregnancy, which is about the amount of a medium cup of regular American coffee. If you do not have pregnancy-induced hypertension and do not suffer from insomnia, drinking half a cup of coffee or a cup of milk tea with 30% sugar every day will really have no effect. A pregnant mother I managed before had to eat snail rice noodles twice a week during the entire pregnancy. Every time she ate, she walked around the neighborhood twice to control her blood sugar. Finally, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy weighing 7 pounds at full term without any problems. Of course, if you have high blood sugar or high uric acid, you must avoid high-sugar milk tea and hot pot with heavy oil and salt. Again, there is nothing that you absolutely cannot eat, only what is suitable for you or not.

I have been in the obstetrics department for almost ten years. I have seen too many pregnant mothers come to the emergency room crying because they took a bite of hawthorn. I have also seen pregnant mothers who did not avoid anything give birth to healthy babies. In fact, pregnancy is really not about going to jail. The core of diet is always safe, balanced, and comfortable for yourself. Compared with remembering a long list of messy taboos, maintaining a happy mood and regular prenatal check-ups are more important than anything else. If you're really hungry, just take a few bites. As long as you don't touch the three absolute taboos, pay attention to clean ingredients and don't eat too much, there's really no big problem~