Pregnancy food

Mildred22

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of help about all the different foods you can and can’t have while pregnant currently 8weeks6days and I’m just sooo confused, there is so much can and can’ts online, I don’t no what’s ok!! I no unpasteurised cheeses are a no go and mould ripened cheeses, but all the info on unpasteurised comes up for the USA and not Ireland, like feta and goats cheese in Ireland seems ok but then google says no, Also what about deli meats like ham from a deli? Am I better buying in a packet from the supermarket? Can I get a ham a cheese toastie from my local sandwich pLace? Sorry if this seems like a lot I’m just soo confused and opinions are so mixed!! Also on read meat like steak does that always have to be cooked well well done?
Thanks and sorry if this has been posted before I couldn’t find it!

lazygal

I never modified my diet at all, apart from alcohol consumption.
EU food safety standards are far higher than the US.

If you want cold meats, have them. If you want a cheese toastie, have them.
I wouldn't worry too much.

I recommend reading Expecting Better for a data based approach to what's 'safe' during pregnancy. Eye opening for sure.

macrubicon

myChild.ie from the HSE is a great resource... Here is their link for what not to eat -

https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/child-health/lifestyle-changes-and-things-to-avoid-during-pregnancy/food-and-drinks-to-avoid-in-pregnancy.html

jelly&icecream

Booze, sushi and unpasteurised cheese. Unpasteurised cheese isn't something you're likely to pick up by accident in the supermarket. It should be clearly labelled. More likely something you'd get on a cheese trolley in a fancy restaurant.

Ham is fine.

Loveinapril

Please don't Google. It will scare the bejaysus out of you. Use info from the HSE or NHS. Listeria is a huge concern for Google but the risks of you catching it from an ice cream or milkshake is minute. I think raw fish, pate and unpasturised cheese are the main things to avoid. Please don't worry yourself too much. It will be a long 40 weeks!

Minier81

I found the nhs guidance very pragmatic for diet in pregnancy. The hse guidance felt vague and seemed to ere on the side of best avoid this, which was not always necessary. The nhs website was also more detailed.

https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

GingerLily

It's up to you how strict you want to be, but you'd be better off focusing on eating good food rather than just avoiding food that might be slightly higher risk.

If in doubt, freshly cooked food tends to be lower risk than raw food, might help if your out / grabbing something.


The Hollestic App (from Holles Street) might help you with good meal choices.

Bambinoonboard

Hi Mildred, I was in the same boat for the first few weeks when I found out. I wondered about the deli ham situation too. Apparently, cheeses such as feta/goats cheese etc. - it is usually labelled clearly. The funny thing is , I usually love all cheeses, but have an absolute aversion to soft cheese at the minute. I feel a little queasy even typing this.... Yuck!

I'll be avoiding what I can as it's not affecting me in doing so otherwise and makes no difference, at the moment anyways.

My latest craving has been chicken salad sandwiches!!!! Who knows what next. It was Mexican and pickled onion last week!!!

Mildred22

Thanks everyone, yes I’ve found goats cheese that pasteurised and feta but funnily enough I had parmasan from Tesco in my hand yesterday presuming hard cheeses are ok, I read the back and it was unpasteurised.. a little bit devistated as I really love loads of parmasan on my pasta , I’m going to have to check other shops! I’ve had no craving yet ☺️🀞ðŸ»

Bambinoonboard wrote: »

Hi Mildred, I was in the same boat for the first few weeks when I found out. I wondered about the deli ham situation too. Apparently, cheeses such as feta/goats cheese etc. - it is usually labelled clearly. The funny thing is , I usually love all cheeses, but have an absolute aversion to soft cheese at the minute. I feel a little queasy even typing this.... Yuck!

I'll be avoiding what I can as it's not affecting me in doing so otherwise and makes no difference, at the moment anyways.

My latest craving has been chicken salad sandwiches!!!! Who knows what next. It was Mexican and pickled onion last week!!!

Laugh_a_minute

Mildred22 wrote: »

Thanks everyone, yes I’ve found goats cheese that pasteurised and feta but funnily enough I had parmasan from Tesco in my hand yesterday presuming hard cheeses are ok, I read the back and it was unpasteurised.. a little bit devistated as I really love loads of parmasan on my pasta , I’m going to have to check other shops! I’ve had no craving yet ☺️🀞ðŸ»

I think parmesan is OK (even though its unpasteurised) given that hard cheeses have such a low water content level, so it's more difficult for harmful bacteria to grow.

Mildred22

[oh thanks that’s good to know, as far as I’m aware Lidl’s Parmesan is pasteurised so I might stick with that anyways,

quote="Laugh_a_minute;116730948"]I think parmesan is OK (even though its unpasteurised) given that hard cheeses have such a low water content level, so it's more difficult for harmful bacteria to grow.[/quote]

Laugh_a_minute

Mildred22 wrote: »

[oh thanks that’s good to know, as far as I’m aware Lidl’s Parmesan is pasteurised so I might stick with that anyways,

quote="Laugh_a_minute;116730948"]I think parmesan is OK (even though its unpasteurised) given that hard cheeses have such a low water content level, so it's more difficult for harmful bacteria to grow.

[/quote]

Yea I think that's fair enough - thanks for the Lidl tip!

Mildred22

I’m not 100% sure about lidl but form what I’ve read online!

Laugh_a_minute wrote: »

Yea I think that's fair enough - thanks for the Lidl tip![/quote]

Neyite

It's a bit daunting all right!
The way I saw it was: Some foods are more liable to give you food poisoning. Food poisoning will likely make you feel crap at the time, doubly crap if you are already nauseous or exhausted due to pregnancy. The vast majority of food poisoning don't affect the baby, but there are a couple that do, which is what you've to avoid.

The vast majority of the foods in the 'risky' bracket are produced under strict conditions, packaged and stored properly and you could go though your entire life eating them and never encounter a bad one.

Deli foods are often mentioned because not all Deli's are stringent about temperatures or freshness of what's laid out. As well as that, the uncovered nature of the food can sometimes mean that containments could get in, either from utensils or gloves or foreign objects getting in.

Making sure that raw food stays chilled, and that cooked food is cooked fully though (anything upwards of 75 deg C) before eating will mostly cover you. I ate everything apart from unpasteurised cheese, shellfish and alcohol. The rest I just ensured that it was fresh, properly stored, properly prepared and properly cooked.

Mildred22

Thanks for that, my dr said shellfish is ok as long as it’s fully cooked.. I havnt had any yet except for prawns once as it’s very mixed on shellfish, it really is daunting. I’m just trying my hardest.. really struggling with steak and red meat I hate well done meat and I seem to want meat all the time, it’s worth it in the end but just would of never thought about a medium steak 😅

Neyite wrote: »

It's a bit daunting all right!
The way I saw it was: Some foods are more liable to give you food poisoning. Food poisoning will likely make you feel crap at the time, doubly crap if you are already nauseous or exhausted due to pregnancy. The vast majority of food poisoning don't affect the baby, but there are a couple that do, which is what you've to avoid.

The vast majority of the foods in the 'risky' bracket are produced under strict conditions, packaged and stored properly and you could go though your entire life eating them and never encounter a bad one.

Deli foods are often mentioned because not all Deli's are stringent about temperatures or freshness of what's laid out. As well as that, the uncovered nature of the food can sometimes mean that containments could get in, either from utensils or gloves or foreign objects getting in.

Making sure that raw food stays chilled, and that cooked food is cooked fully though (anything upwards of 75 deg C) before eating will mostly cover you. I ate everything apart from unpasteurised cheese, shellfish and alcohol. The rest I just ensured that it was fresh, properly stored, properly prepared and properly cooked.

Neyite

The only reason shellfish is on a list is that it can contain high levels of mercury, or other toxins from their environment as well as potential for food poisoning.

A bit like liver is not recommended due to the high levels of Vitamin A. And yet, 40 odd years ago they recommended liver to pregnant women because it's a rich iron source!



It's best to avoid the main culprits but if you accidentally have something that's unpasteurised, it's not a reason to worry unless you feel unwell after eating something - and if that's the case.



I had a basket of all the 'forbidden' stuff waiting for me in the fridge when I came back from the hospital, and had a rare steak dinner cooked for me. Best gift ever :pac:

buffin

I don't want to recommend going against medical advice, but I eat steak not completely well done.

I only do it at home when getting a steak from a really reputable butchers and I still cook it more than I would prefer, but it's definitely still pink probably medium/medium well. For me that's minimal risk and I do ensure that the centre of it is piping hot when taking it off the pan so I figure that's enough to kill anything bad.

For me the guidelines are about foods more likely to give food poisoning and once handled properly there's minimal risk.

I also eat soft ice cream cones but only from a very busy shop that has a great reputation, so I feel pretty safe with them.

Gatica

Medical advice is just that, recommendations for the safest approach. When was the last time you had food poisoning? :rolleyes: when were you sick from eating undercooked eggs or reheated meal?

There were only a couple of things I felt were important during pregnancy, avoiding catching something which may not get detected (e.g. toxoplasmosis from undercooked meat, or listeria from unpasteurised soft cheeses and delicatessen) and lower risks from mercury and vitamin A.

• e.g. the advice for sushi is for freshly made sushi which is more likely to contain harmful bacteria/parasites, but the shop-packaged stuff is actually ok.
• The same for deli meats, if it's freshly cut, it's usually ok, but you'd wanna avoid slices of ham that had been sitting there all day (I erred on the side of caution and just bought pre-packed stuff), toasted/grilled cheesy toasty is perfectly fine as it's well heated.
• Hard cheeses are fine, soft-cheeses like brie or blue cheese, best to avoid. Cheeses made from unpasteurised milk best to avoid, though hard-cheese is probably less risky than soft-cheese. I had some unpasteurised hard sheep's cheese from Spain, which was stored in oil, and thought it seemed low-risk.
• Shell-fish can gather mercury, but I think a couple of times throughout the 9 month pregnancy isn't gonna have a huge impact. I love seafood, and when we were away on holidays or for special nights out, I did have prawns and even a small glass of wine... In the whole, it didn't seem like a huge deal.
• oh, and eggs. The risk from shop-bought eggs is very low (the NHS even has updated their advice on this) so I continued having soft-boiled/poached eggs for breakfast.

The same with exercise, continue what you were doing before with some modification for strain, care for overstretching, adjusting for a growing bump and watch your heart-rate. I got SPD, so was limited enough, but up to then, I kept up a moderate pace in spinning and yoga with some mods.

LegacyUser

I hardly follow all that at all. Things like liver, that are actually bad for the baby I avoid, but foods that they just vaguely say could give you food poisoning, I still eat. I've even eaten sushi and I didn't die. To be honest I don't know anyone who's ever gotten food poisoning, except from a bad pint. As someone else said, these rules were made up in america where food safety seems more lax than here.

Bambinoonboard

I'm finding my appetite is back to 'normal'. I'm 9w+5 and for the past while most of my symptoms have disappeared, apart from becoming easily full and craving take away. I have until the end of the week to wait for my next scan. Hoping all is okay. I'm keeping fairly relaxed day to day but it is at the back of my mind constantly. Just need a little offload to relieve my anxiety and concern about it this morning.

Mildred22

Bambinoonboard wrote: »

I'm finding my appetite is back to 'normal'. I'm 9w+5 and for the past while most of my symptoms have disappeared, apart from becoming easily full and craving take away. I have until the end of the week to wait for my next scan. Hoping all is okay. I'm keeping fairly relaxed day to day but it is at the back of my mind constantly. Just need a little offload to relieve my anxiety and concern about it this morning.

I had a moment at 9weeks that I felt pretty good, now nearly 11weeks I am only sick maybe one day a week! Funnily enough havnt had any real food aversions, gone off coffee and actually I cudnt stomach my curry last week but I think that was the smell of the curry powder cuz I used a different one last night and was fine! I really wanted yogurt so I got some Tesco low fat strawberry yogurts and every time I eat them I’m sick so there gone 😂 weird times!

Bambinoonboard

Hi Mildred, its been for the past - what feels like few weeks.. It is reassuring to hear though and from reading online I see it can be totally normal to have no symptoms past certain weeks. That's coincidental - I had many aversions but most have disappeared apart from Thai curry and the smell of meat which is off putting . I am eating it once again.

Mildred22

Mine came and went so much even the tiredness there was a stage where I was so tired everyday and then I just kinda stopped feeling so tired! I had a scan on Friday and all was good so it was defo reassuring

Bambinoonboard

Good for you Mildred. Hopefully this is all it is. That said I do feel more bloated the past week.