Food - which "rules" do you stick to and why?

[DollyP]

Am newly pregnant with DB2 and am just pondering what I can and can't eat (before the sickness kicks in!) When I was pregnant with DD, I avoided booze, shellfish, rare steak, smelly cheese and raw egg, but ate smoked salmon and the odd bit of jamon (it was Spain and everyone else was....)

Which rules do you follow and which do you ignore? On what basis? Am very interested as am craving a nice rare steak but am worried as it's on most avoid lists...

TIA

i've been desperate for camambert and gorgonzola since getting pg this time. i have been restrained and only had them cooked. tried a sip of wine but it tasted like meths.

no artificial sweetners.

that goes for my non-pregnant life, too.

Didn't know you were pregnant Mazzystar! Congratulations, when are you due?

that's me rumbled then, mrs darcy. its still a secret in real life. end jan/beginning of feb, i have my scan on tuesday.

ooh congrats mazzystar

I ate everything but stayed off the booze mostly

have just noticed that i've mis-spelled camembert. have to point that out as i donm;t want you all thinking i'm an oik.

I accidentally ate prawns on fri night at a chinese and STRESSED all night and the next day but as it is a risk because of the food poisening have decided everything is prob ok. I am normally such a rules person and just forgot I was preg while chatting when out for the evening. Felt really guilty but I guess the world didn't end!! Will be super careful now though incase I have had my one chance!!

I've eaten everything you're not supposed to (not gone out of my way to do so, but not refused when offered sushi/soft cheese etc,) but limited booze to 2 half lagers a week or occasional glass of champagne when on offer. All this food advice is pretty recent, isn't followed in many other countries e.g. France, Japan, and I don't like feeling 'nannied' by the health lobby, we poor pregnant women get enough pressure! I mean, has anyone EVER met anyone that got sick from eating camenbert (as

Having said that, you should make a choice that's right for you, and not take any risks if you don't feel you want to..

Prawns aren't usually on the high-risk list dragonhart so long as they're hot and cooked. Having said that I've broken most of the rules at one time or another this pregnancy. If I'm going to break a 'rule' though I do try to do it with food I've prepared from scratch myself and know I've stored it properly, or in a nice restaurant rather than one where I'm not sure how much food hygiene there is, or how much hand-washing after toilet-going happens, for instance. Must admit I am wary of a lot of deli counters.

I watched someone on the deli counter at a major supermarket yesterday run her hands through her greasy hair after cutting someone's ham (ungloved) and then proceed to serve the next customer... . Was saved from having to say something as the next bloke went ballistic.

First one I toed the line.

Second one, I was somewhat restrained during the first 3 months, now in my last trimester, throwing caution to the wind.

I don't limit caffeine. Eat on an occasional basis, soft cheeses (ooooo Camembert, blue cheese), ate tuna once, have had pate, eat steaks medium, once even having a few slivers of raw beef Korean-style. Ate a little raw sushi - yummmmmm. Sip a little wine (don't like drinking much so no hardship there). Deli-meats galore. Even have had milk slightly out-of-date and licked raw egg off my fingers whilst cooking. No limit on cooked seafood.

So apart from limiting intake on the raw food area, I am pretty much eating what I normally eat

I coudn't eat a well done steak if you paid me - not even a cooked all the way through one!
I avoided pate, I hate soft cheeses anyway so that wasn't too much of a chore, I ate prawns, tuna occasionally. I had one coffee a day and the occasional glass of wine with soda. Found that Becks did a non-alcoholic lager so I had that instead

I had both mussels and lobster last week. Mussels because I was a friend's house and thought it rude not to. Lobster, just because I really fancied the spaghetti with lobster while out. I guiltily checked up afterwards and because they were both cooked (and well cooked) I think it was fine (though probably still a bit of an unnecessary risk).
As for booze, I don't even want to begin to confess for fear of being called a child abuser. It's all so emotive but I am guided by common sense. I think it's very unlikely food is going to cause any problems, I think it's just that we avoid them so that if, god forbid, we did have any problems at least we'd feel blameless.
Chocolate is absolutely fine though, hurrah.
PP

I guess it also depends on your experiences of food poisoning. I'm a lot less cautious than my friend, who did get bad food poisoning from a BBQ party when pregnant, along with her dh (hospitalised). Thankfully baby was OK, though.

I do get worried as live in central asia and me, DH and everyone we know have had plenty of severe food poisoning, and that's why I'm particularly blase about soft cheese etc when I'm back in Europe on hols.. I think to a certain extent your nose is sharper when preg and hopefully protects you from things that are a potential danger (e.g. runny eggs just smell horrible to me).

Agree that nasty deli counters/microwave meals/barbeques etc can actually pose a lot more of a risk than people think. I even hate it when they take the money and handle food at the same time (cos money is actually quite dirty).

2labs don't be too confident of nice restaurants, having worked in M stared ones I can say even the best chefs commis chefs/chefs de partie can be minging!! I won't go into details or you'd never eat out again

Wow, I think reading these posts I've been really "good" (or gullible!). Ate goats cheese and saucisson in France (when in France...also thought that because cheese was pasteurised it would be OK, but then saw in book that goat and sheep products are out) but have avoided my fave cambezola and miss it! Eat feta fairly regularly, but usually cook it. Other than that, one mouthful of beer (not much of a drinker anyway!) and that's about it. Dammit, why was I sucked in!!

I eat on a regular basis - goats cheese, feta etc - didnt realise they were a problem? I have just eaten a smoked salmon sandwich and eat S Salmon all the time. I dont eat well cooked steak, but whilst pg I do have it medium rather than rare. Last night I had some particularly smelly Brie de Meaux from a French market - I eat all this stuff normally so have carried on but within reason! I figure - they eat it in France and its not far away!!

The first time I was pure as the driven snow, but I had hyperemesis so had an appalling diet (when I ate at all) cos I couldn't keep down fruit or vegetables.

This time I'm more chilled: cut down on the booze (cut it out entirely for first trimester) and caffeine; otherwise, I avoid shellfish (except prawns) and raw egg, but I eat the odd bit of soft or blue cheese or pate. However I'm just generally more careful about sources and best before dates etc.
Read in the Sunday Times yesterday that you're not meant to eat bagged salads - ffs!

The only time in my life I have had food poisoning, it was from rice in a Thai restaurant!

booge - urg no please don't tell me. Maybe if I can't see it it can't hurt me. I read Kitchen Confidential ages ago and have had to try to forget everything in it.

I thought Feta was OK?

Last time I was really strict but that seems so dreary this time round! I'm veggie and not keen on seafood so a lot of stuff i just don't want to eat. I've stopped drinking caffeine because I've gone off it (most unusual for me), try not to eat too much oily fish or drink too much alcohol (still had 2 glasses of wine last night though). I'm still eating soft cheese and soft eggs but haven't told my scary midwife that.

I kind of figure that eating the wrong stuff repeatedly over a long period of time increases the risk of causing a problem but having something forbidden occasionally is probably OK.

prof - as i understand pasteurised feta is ok, so that's most of the stuff you can get in this country. please correct me if i'm wrong.

I'm a veggie and really struggling with the rules when eating out. Went for a pub lunch today and could not eat any of the sandwiches or baguettes because they were either meat, brie or goats cheese. Mind you did give in the other week and had a prawn and avocado sarnie, but have since gone of prawns, which I usually love.

Think I am probably being a bit paranoid about it all, but it does seem that the list of what you can and can't eat changes according to who you talk to. All I feel like eating at the moment are avocados and pasta. Oh and chocolate. Trying to be good though!

I normally eat fish but no meat; have cut down on the tuna (used to eat it daily) to once a week, but still happily eating shellfish, smoked salmon, all fish really. Have cut out the soft cheeses and goat's cheese too. I'd be happy to have a couple of drinks but have gone right off it, which is a bit of a shame! Smell of beer makes me pukey now.

1st time round i stuck to the rules on food, but had the occasional glass of red wine.

now pregnant for 2nd time (6 weeks) and at 4 weeks before finding out that i was pregnant i went on a hen weekend to barcelona and drank more vodka than i have in years. so hopefully the poor little thing is ok.

this time round i plan to be good on the food again, but add cooked seafood to my list of do's and no doubt i will have the occasional glass of wine again if i am out for a meal or at a wedding etc.