What are the dietary taboos during pregnancy?

If we really want to list the dietary red lines that must not be touched, there are actually only three categories: undercooked meat and eggs, aquatic products, all alcoholic drinks, and unsterilized raw dairy products. These three categories are recognized by the academic community as having high risks. Undercooked food may carry Toxoplasma gondii and Listeria. Alcohol will directly affect fetal neurodevelopment. Raw dairy products also have the risk of pathogenic bacterial infection. In severe cases, they may induce miscarriage or fetal development abnormalities, so they must be strictly avoided. Most of the remaining "taboos" spread online are essentially issues of quantity and personal physique, and are not at all "cannot eat even one bite".

A while ago, I accompanied my cousin, who was pregnant with her first child, to the nutrition department for a prenatal check-up. She held a small notebook and wrote down a page full of what the old man called a "fasting list." Crabs, hawthorns, coffee, milk tea and even watermelon were all on it. The doctor laughed after reading it, saying that she was not pregnant at all, but that she was going to become a monk and practice meditation.

Let’s just talk about crabs and hawthorns, which are the most frequently asked questions. The advice of different doctors does vary. Some traditional Chinese medicine doctors will recommend that you try not to touch them when the fetus is unstable in the early stages of pregnancy. The cold will irritate the gastrointestinal tract or induce uterine contractions. However, most Western medicine doctors will say that as long as you are not allergic to these foods and have no history of habitual miscarriage, eating 1 or 2 pieces of freshly steamed crabs and occasionally nibbling a bunch of candied haws will not reach the dose that can affect the fetus. I have two friends. One of them ate half a hairy crab once a week when she was pregnant, and the other relied on sour hawthorn sticks to suppress nausea during severe pregnancy. Both of them gave birth to healthy babies. But if you usually have a weak spleen and stomach, have diarrhea after eating something cold, or have experienced discomfort after eating these before, then there is really no need to join in the fun.

There are also coffee and milk tea that young people are most concerned about. As long as the daily caffeine intake is controlled within 200mg, it is no problem, which is about the amount of a medium American cup. As long as the milk tea is made in a regular store and is not the concentrated strong tea base, drinking it once or twice a week to relieve fatigue is absolutely fine. It is better than holding back your mood.

As for those claims that eating rabbit meat will cause cleft lip and eating mutton will cause epilepsy, they are simply spread by the uneducated older generations. When my best friend was pregnant, she ate boiled mutton every now and then in the winter. The baby weighed more than 6 pounds after birth. Now he is two years old and can run and jump more quickly than other children of the same age.

In fact, the core of diet during pregnancy is not to worry about whether you can eat a certain thing, but not to eat hazelnuts. If the food is high in sugar and oil, even if it is "allowed to eat", it will easily lead to high blood sugar in pregnancy and overweight, which is not good. If you are really unsure about something, just take a bite and try it. If you don’t feel uncomfortable, you can eat it next time. If you feel uncomfortable, stop. There is no need to make yourself uncomfortable and dare not touch or eat that. A good mood during pregnancy is much more important than eating those two foods that you should avoid.