What is really safe??

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[Ella_Hopeful]

I'm very into healthy eating and I also think you're overthinking it a bit - but that's okay - I overthink things too! Feel free to ignore anything that seems to extreme because I'm into my healthy eating

You can't have under cooked eggs/meat/fish, or lots of tuna and other high mercury fish. I heard deli meats etc. are fine if you heat them thoroughly like you said, although many have additives that are really unhealthy. No alcohol. No lox or other smoked fish. Should avoid pates. No unpasteurized milks or cheeses. Wash fruit and veg well before eating. Caffeine you can have if you are used to it, but best to limit it.

You want to mainly focus on getting a lot of healthy protein and fat. Vegetables are great for vitamins, but they are mainly water and not going to help you grow a baby! Avocados, nuts, seeds are all excellent. Yogurt is great.

Yes cut down on sugar if you want but that's for general health, not just pregnancy - you can add some honey or pure maple syrup or another natural sweetener if you need something sweet.

And of course allow treats, with all the cravings that come with pregnancy it would be horrible not to! Pizza at 2am? You bet!

For drinks - maybe very dilute fruit juice if you really need something else? Or some kind of caffeine free herbal tea?

I like to try and stick to whole grains or gluten free - but I still keep up my carbs - they are essential during pregnancy if you want to maintain strength and energy - lots of sweet potatoes and potatoes, rice, that kind of thing.

OH, and sex is totally fine, as much as you want, it can even be good for you and baby - releases lots of relaxation hormones. SO if you want it, go for it!!! Don't limit it!

Hope this helps.

 

[IchigoMewMew]

Hi Congratulations! It's good to be healthy during pregnancy ( and in general!) but it's probably not a good idea to be so super strict especially in first tri if you get nausea you need to go along with it. I also found my taste buds changed as well, everything was sweet! my digestive system slowed right down i actually ended up with a vegetable aversion I could only handle the thought of eating easily digested stuff. I mainly ate salt and vinegar crisps, bread, potato and pizza hut nachos! And I sucked on huge amounts of boiled mints to stop me dry heaving at work and whilst driving. Drinks wise if you find water boring you can add some fruit juice or cordial. Maybe get one of those bottles with a fresh fruit infuser? I only drank lemon and mango cordial in first tri then went off it when I stopped feeling sick! as the PP said sex is fine unless a doctor has said otherwise, you just might not feel like it til 2nd tri!

 

[Sander]

I've lived off of flavoured carbonated waters this pregnancy. They're sold by all kinds of brands at most grocery stores - zero calories, no sugar, no anything, just water and natural flavouring. They have flavours like lemon, lime, cherry, orange, peach etc. Satisfies the craving for pop, and is guilt free.

But for the most part, babies are resilient. I once heard as long as you avoid the major no-no's (unpasterized anything, raw fish, alcohol, smoking etc), you should be fine

 

[dinidani]

Your being far to strict and extremely judgemental to thoose who havent got the same life choices ive had three extremely different pregnancy i was at normal weight before during and after i ate anything and everything and yes that means deli meat straight from the fridge at the moment im on a complet different pregnancy where im over weight but marginly normal weight but ive lost weight so far this baby is tbe most text book baby minus my curtent craveing for italian salami i can eat a whole packet in a sitting i was told by an extremely good midwive that if your craving something good or bad its what you should focus on its your bodies way of telling you it needs something if like ds3 it was a red bull aslong as i kept to a strict provision and not obsesively drink it and only when my body craved my children have turned out fine i stoped smoking before trying for ds1 and not drunk in any pregnancy apart from the odd guineses in ds1 pregnancy my rion levels where wack and it seemed to balance it but start to relax and injoy your pregnancy the rules arent always in place to be followed due to ever pregnancy is deifferent

 

[Ella_Hopeful]

Your being far to strict and extremely judgemental to thoose who havent got the same life choices ive had three extremely different pregnancy i was at normal weight before during and after i ate anything and everything and yes that means deli meat straight from the fridge at the moment im on a complet different pregnancy where im over weight but marginly normal weight but ive lost weight so far this baby is tbe most text book baby minus my curtent craveing for italian salami i can eat a whole packet in a sitting i was told by an extremely good midwive that if your craving something good or bad its what you should focus on its your bodies way of telling you it needs something if like ds3 it was a red bull aslong as i kept to a strict provision and not obsesively drink it and only when my body craved my children have turned out fine i stoped smoking before trying for ds1 and not drunk in any pregnancy apart from the odd guineses in ds1 pregnancy my rion levels where wack and it seemed to balance it but start to relax and injoy your pregnancy the rules arent always in place to be followed due to ever pregnancy is deifferent

The safety rules are of course in place to be followed! When someone craves alcohol or raw eggs they should never eat them because they could actually endanger the life of the baby!

Healthy eating is a choice though - no one said it was a rule.

If you choose not to eat healthily that's okay, but it's also okay for someone to want to give themselves and their baby the nutritionally healthiest start possible, and ask advice about it.

 

[jenniferannex]

You can actually eat runny eggs now, as long as they’re lion stamped you’re fine to eat them. If you’re in the UK you will find this on the NHS website. My midwife told me yesterday. Obviously if there is no lion stamp on the eggs you can’t eat them runny.

I wouldn’t worry too much, just follow the guidelines and listen to what your body needs. I craved cheese very early on, I ate the cheese I was allowed to eat. But I listened to my body as I see it as a way of it saying it needed calcium.

 

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[MindUtopia]

Seriously, don't stress about all of this, like others have said. Most of us are quite relaxed about what we eat and lifestyle choices (within reason), and the vast majority have healthy pregnancies. I expect you aren't in the UK, but I would look for the guidance on food where you live. Here we eat runny eggs (our eggs are safe), we can eat most cheese, there's no restrictions on nuts (why would there be?) or yogurts. Stay away from anything unpastuerised that should be (dairy, etc., mould ripened or veined cheeses especially), liver products (high in vitamin a), anything that has been stored or manufactured under questionable conditions (meat that has been left unrefrigerated for a day, etc.). Don't smoke, do drugs, and if you do drink, do it only occasionally and in moderation, and don't spend time around secondhand smoke. Don't do anything your body tells you that you shouldn't (high intensity exercises, etc. if it makes you feel unwell). Take folic acid/a good quality prenatal vitamin. That really is it. You don't need to stress about it and being more stressed won't lead to a healthier pregnancy.

Personally though, I've never been strict about diet in any of my pregnancies. I generally eat what I want as long as it's relatively healthy. I don't eat much sugar or processed or junk foods. On occasion, but not regularly. But I do eat all pasteurised mould ripened and veined cheeses, I have cold meats, I've had small amounts of liver pate on occasion (not enough to be any notable intake of vitamin a, like two crackers worth). I eat runny eggs (but they're fine now anyway) and I eat rare steak when I know where it's come from/how it's been cooked. I've even had a few small glasses of prosseco throughout both my pregnancies (not often, maybe like 4 times, and not more than one). That doesn't mean you have to do any of that, but it does mean it's relatively safe for most people in moderation. The risks of food borne illness are actually largely not in the foods we're told to avoid in pregnancy. Recent listeria outbreaks have been largely in fruit and veg (commercially grown bean sprouts, salad leaves and melon, etc.), so you truly can't avoid it unless you stop eating. Just be relaxed about it but mindful and don't stress too much.

I've had two healthy, low risk pregnancies that way and I'm nearly 40. Congrats on your pregnancy.

 

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[Scout]

When I was pregnant with daughter, my OB told me no alcohol and to cut back on caffeine (I was drinking several cokes a day), not too much tuna and nothing unpasteurized. He said anything else was okay in moderation, and that's what I did. Do be sure to go ahead and start prenatal vitamins if you haven't.

You may find that your taste buds change too or that you get specific cravings you weren't expecting. I wasn't much of a meat eater at all, and all I craved was meat.

I don't have any advice for drinks. It was so hard but I gave up cokes completely (had basically lived on them before) bc I was so scared of any caffeine. I had already had 3 miscarriages and 2 chemical pregnancies when I was younger, and daughter was a surprise when I was over 40, so I was really paranoid about doing anything that might possibly cause a loss. So I get it! I drank juices, but mostly water, as much as I hated it LOL

Good luck to you. I'm sure you'll do the best you can for your baby and will be a great mom.

 

[mel28nicole]

Propel and Sparkling ice (carbonated water) are yummy choices to drink. I followed a low carb diet prior to getting pregnant and that’s what I looked to. I also recommend an infuser for fruits and veggies in your water. I haven’t been following low carb so far as my taste buds have been all over the place and so,etimes snacking on crackers just hits the spot. Congrats on your pregnancy and happy and healthy 9 months!

 

[dinidani]

Im all for healthy eating as long as your eating with ds3 i craved anything deep fried so was having take out 3 times a day but with this baby we have found im hardley eating anything im not sure if you getting a booking pack in usa but here in the uk we get a pack of pros and cons obviusly every child develops differently like ds3 loved milk cheese whilst in the womb came out lactos intollerant so now dosent eat sweets or chocolate mainly chocolate but i was a strict my children arent eating nothing but home cooked meals but now there 5,4,2 they dont eat anything you cook for them they used to eat everything from quava to fish and everything inbetween so its strange how they choose not to eat it now i remeber when i was little i never would eat anything but as a adult i eat a relatively balanced diet anf i think thats a main thing ive never had a strange craving like coal or nothing but some do and it fasinates me deffinatly start prenatals as they carry most of the important vitamins

 

[lilmisscaviar]

Everyone seems to have good responses but I wanted to add that in pregnancy protein and iron are VERY important. Although you're not used to eating it, and that's ok to want to keep to vegetarian/vegan meals for the most part, you really should be adding some kind of meat to your diet. Nuts and chicken are good for protein, but they aren't chock full of iron like beef, unless you eat a ton of nuts. A lot of people who don't eat enough meat become anemic and need iron supplements... unless you're ok with taking iron tablets? Prenatals have iron in them but most of them also include calcium, so you don't always get the amount of iron out of them shown on the label since calcium hinders iron absorbtion. My suggestion would be to take a prenatal without iron in it and take an iron supplement. I had to in previous pregnancies because I too don't eat a ton of meat but I will warn you that they can make you a bit sick, especially if you end up later on with morning sickness or take them on an empty stomach.

Basically from what you wrote that is my only concern. Otherwise your diet seems very good. I'm also conscious of what I eat and try to limit myself as much as possible to organic and locally grown. I'm a big tea drinker, which does have some caffeine in it, but I also get migraine headaches quite frequently so my doctor said that it was ok to continue to drink tea to fight off the headaches, just not to drink more than 200 mg of caffeine a day.

 

[navywag]

My only advice is to try not to stress about it too much, stress is probably more damaging to your baby than a fast food Mel now and again,
Flavoured waters are good to drink if you want a variety of flavours, you can make your own by just putting fresh fruit etc in plain water,
Meals loaded with vegetables are great, just try and make sure you get some carbs in there, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice etc, eat chicken and eggs, and if you find your carving something(, my first pregnancy was ice cream) look into what could be causing it, I found eating a healthier way to get more calcium and the craving for ice cream lowered considerably x

 

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