20 Foods Pregnant Women Should Avoid
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You may know some of the biggest offenders when it comes to foods pregnant women can’t eat. Sushi and jello shots are obviously off limits. But do you know all of the foods that an expectant mother should stay away from? New research comes out every year showing how some ingredients (including natural ones) can harm a growing fetus. So the list of no-no foods for pregnant women may be different than it was when your best friend Karen was expecting three years ago. It’s certainly not fair that you need to skip some of these foods (since you already have to stay away from wine night with the girls!) but, you can just make a Costco run after your delivery and stock up on them. Or you can make your partner eat them so you can watch…whatever floats your boat. Here are 20 foods pregnant women should avoid.
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Unwashed vegetables
Everyone should wash their produce, but pregnant women really should since dirty fruit can contain harmful pesticides, as well as the listeria bacteria which can harm a fetus.
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Raw shellfish
Raw shellfish is risky enough for non-pregnant women. But this stuff can carry algae-related infections that won’t even cook away if you boil or steam them. While your system might be strong enough to fight those off, your baby’s isn’t.
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Eggs sunny side up
Undercooked or runny eggs can carry salmonella, which is already very dangerous for fully grown adults, and extremely dangerous for developing fetuses.
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Artificial sweetener
Artificial sweetener cannot be filtered by the placenta, so they go straight to your baby. Studies are still out on the effects of giving artificial sugar to a baby, but we know it’s not great for adults.
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Cured meats
Cured meats like bacon and sausage contain nitrate. High amounts of nitrate can lead to fetal abnormalities. Besides, these are very high in fat, which you may not see while you’re pregnant, but will sit stubbornly on your tummy after delivery.
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Too much caffeine
Pregnant women who consume a lot of caffeine are at a higher risk for stillbirths, fetal deaths, and low birth weight. Plus it’s a diuretic, and as a pregnant woman, you pee enough as it is.
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Mysterious juice
Once juice leaves its fruit, it becomes vulnerable to all sorts of bacteria. Buying bottled juice out of the refrigerator at a grocery store should be okay, but avoid open-air kiosks selling juice in plastic cups at malls and fairs. The juice may have left the fruit hours ago.
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Cookie dough
Cookie dough and cookie dough ice cream are some favorite items among pregnant women, but cookie dough contains uncooked egg, which we already know is trouble.
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Salad bars
You don’t eat an entire salad bar, but you eat the foods sitting inside of it, and these could have been sitting out for hours. For salad bar veggies to be safe for consumption, they must always be under 40 degrees and switched every two hours. A lot of salad bars don’t maintain these conditions, which can lead to bacteria like E. Coli, Salmonella, and Listeria.
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High-mercury fish
You already knew high-mercury fish could damage a baby’s nervous system, but let’s just have a refresher on what high-mercury fish it. Shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel and canned albacore tuna are all off limits.
