"Coffee, Pate, Brie, Runny eggs, smoking, red wine.....I am always curious as to what pregnant French women survive on..."
Erm stereotype much? Sorry but like MsChanandler these threads annoy me.
So for once and for all, in France pregnant women are very careful about what they eat and drink. It is totally acceptable to ask for a well-done steak if you are pregnant. In fact you have a lovely little conversation with the waiters about how frustrating it is to have to eat meat like that!
I get my blood tested every month to check I haven't got toxoplasmos. At the hospital there are signs up saying zero alcohol in pregnancy.
A colleague of mine recently outed her pregnancy by giving up cigarettes and changing to decaf. We politely waited 'til she annonced it at 3.5 months, but then everyone confessed they'd already guessed!
Whenever I go to a party, the hosts have provided lots of soft drinks for me. No one expects me to drink even half a glass of champagne.
I live in France and have no trouble whatsoever finding enough food to eat! Even if French women normally eat some Brie and pate they don't eat lots of it as it's invariably very fattening food. So cutting out unpasturised cheese, cured meats and pate (and rillettes for the PP) is not hard.
From what I've seen on French forums, the only frustration is around Christmas when it's traditional to eat foie gras and they can't. But apart from that, it's totally accepted that you change your eating and drinking habits when pregnant.