No More Excuses. For Pregnant Women & Mums

Pregnancy Foods to Avoid:

Pate & soft or blue cheeses such as brie, camembert, stilton, boursin & soft goats or sheep’s cheeses can be infected with listeria, as can soft whip ice creams & unpasteurised milk (parmesan & gruyere are also unpasteurised but the risk is so minor they’re ok).

Go for hard pasteurised cheeses such as cheddar or, goat cheddar or cottage cheese.

Raw eggs & poultry can harbour salmonella – make sure both are cooked thoroughly (solid yolk in eggs) & don’t buy pre-cooked chicken or foods with raw eggs such as fresh mayonnaise or chocolate mousse. Homemade cakes may contain raw eggs in the icing. Avoid dips that may have been made using raw eggs (mayonnaise-based).

Poultry should be thoroughly cooked & ideally organic to avoid the hormones & steroids (& it’ll taste better!). Limit or cut out sausages & bacon due to high salt content & additives / nitrites (but no particular pregnancy-related dangers), & stuffing is fine – try to avoid over-processed shop bought varieties though.

Liver is often warned against in pregnancy due to its high vitamin A content. However you do need vitamin A, just not too much – so limit to once a week & make sure its organic, as non organic will be contaminated with growth hormones, antibiotics & steroids (as the liver is where all these nasties are stored). If you eat liver when pregnant, make sure your supplements (which you should be taking!) don’t have any retinol (animal source vitamin A), but only beta-carotene (the vegetable source). Avoid cod liver oil as this has very high levels of retinol.

Avoid raw meats. Some countries advise also avoiding cured meats, such as Parma ham or salami. The main concerns with these are listeriosis and toxoplasmosis – both of which are rare in the UK. Listeriosis is very rare as it only affects one pregnancy in every 25,000 and toxoplasmosis is estimated to affect one in 500 pregnancies per year, so the risks to you and your baby are very low. Toxoplasmosis is an illness caused by a parasite sometimes found in raw meat or cured meats… it’s only a problem if contracted for the first time (many of us unknowingly have immunity) during the first trimester.

What About Peanuts?  You only need to avoid peanuts during pregnancy if you have a family history of allergy, eczema or asthma.

Go For: Other nuts – almonds, walnuts, brazils, etc are all great sources of essential fats & minerals. Avoid packets of salted or dry roasted though!

What About Seafood such as prawns and smoked salmon? What should you watch for?

Smoked salmon – again a fear of listeria, but the risk is negligible. Most fish and shellfish are safe to eat in pregnancy, provided that they are properly cooked.

Some types of sushi (ie the cooked kind!) are fine to eat while you’re pregnant. Raw shellfish or sushi can cause serious food poisoning due to parasites such as tapeworms, which, if they grow large enough, could rob your body of nutrients needed for your growing baby. Freezing and cooking kills the parasites (many Japanese restaurants use pre-frozen fish for this reason – check if you’re eating out).

Avoid shark, swordfish & marlin (due to mercury levels) & limit tuna to once a week.

Go For: All fruit & veg are fine – choose organic wherever possible to avoid pesticides, & eat as local & fresh & raw as possible – air-miles, storing, chopping & cooking all reduce nutrients.

Basically keep your food as ‘clean’ fresh & additive / pesticide free as possible! (This applies to everyone, not just pregnant women!)

All fruits contain essential vitamins, minerals & fibre. Limit dried fruit & fruit juices due to high sugar content though, & because they may make you feel nauseous.

Citrus fruit may make nausea or morning sickness worse – avoid if you’re feeling delicate.

For early pregnancy or if you’re still experiencing nausea or morning sickness… a big roast dinner may turn your stomach! Stick to small portions – & some fresh air will help – don’t stay indoors around all the cooking smells.

In later pregnancy, where heartburn may be a problem, avoid big meals, rich, fatty foods, spicy dishes, chocolate and citrus fruit. Try to avoid smokers (assuming you’re not smoking yourself; and if you are – stop!).

Drinks: Enjoy a cold ginger beer or tonic water with lime as refreshing, nausea-busting party alternatives. Enjoy plenty of water, diluted fruit juices or herbal teas.

Alcohol: honestly? There is no safe limit… sorry! I won’t claim to have been a complete martyr on this one myself even, but the fact is that any amount of alcohol (or caffeine for that matter) does cross the placenta & affect your baby.

Decaffeinated coffee can actually be even more toxic due to the chemicals used to remove the caffeine, but you could look out for organic coffee decaffeinated using the ‘Swiss water process’ – Taylors coffee uses this method.

Eat well & enjoy your pregnancy… it’ll be over all too soon!

Actually I don’t believe there is ever a right time to diet, but that’s a different post…!

Eating for pregnancy, you should not be restricting calories, but rather thinking more carefully about the quality of those calories. This is the time to shift your focus away from weight loss or your dress size & onto eating, exercising (& resting!) for health, vitality, strength & energy.

For both of you!

If you have been taking good care of yourself (eating right & exercising), but still feel that you’ve gained more than you need to – relax & keep up the good work! The extra weight gain might just be what your body needs to support your pregnancy (remember – the weight gain charts are just guidelines!).

If you focus on staying active & eating healthily & you don’t take your pregnancy for granted (i.e. don’t use pregnancy as a ticket to eat everything) -your weight gain during pregnancy & your weight loss afterwards will not be an issue.

Don’t kid yourself! The foods that make you fat when you’re not pregnant are the same foods that will cause unnecessary fat gain when you are pregnant!

There is no magic clause that says that the foods you eat whilst pregnant somehow don’t count! In fact they’re more important than ever, so make sure they’re good foods…

Extra EMPTY calories don’t produce “baby fat”, they produce “fat fat” & that fat won’t magically disappear when you have your baby, because your baby wasn’t the cause of that fat in the first place.

Realistically we all do (I did!) eat a bit more, treat ourselves a bit more & pat our belly with an ‘well I am eating for two’ whilst tucking into something we shouldn’t, more than once during pregnancy. This is completely normal & helps get us through those months when we’re feeling enormous & indulgent & happy… So give yourself a break, & find a healthy balance – you don’t have to eat mung beans every day, but you shouldn’t eat chips every day either.

Don’t use pregnancy as an excuse to slump on the sofa & eat junk food for nine months – you’ll just make yourself miserable & won’t be doing the best for your baby. You’re also likely to suffer from a whole list of pregnancy-related discomforts such as back ache, nausea, constipation, varicose veins, fatigue & head aches (not withstanding of course massive weight gain!).

Exercise & good food may not guarantee you none of these unpleasantries, but it sure as heck minimises the likelihood of you getting all of them!