What do you not eat in pg?

[strawberry]

Just wondering how strict you are about diet in pg. Also for those non-UK mners, what different advice do you get. Don't want a massive discussion on alcohol intake! Also will take liver pate and soft/blue cheese as a given (do our friends in France stick to this?)

Do you eat...
unpasteurised hard cheese (eg parmesan)
Undercooked steak
Pre-cooked chicken/turkey
partially cooked eggs
Shellfish
Calamari
shop bought sandwiches
Any others?

For the record, I have eaten most of these during pg.

Tried to avoid fresh mayonnaise (wasn't difficult as it all seems to come out of a jar) and peanuts because of allergies.

strawberry - I eat all the things on your list, though have kind of gone off fish including shellfish. Would eat it if I fancied it though. Pinkish steak was bizarrely one thing I managed to eat when throwing up left right and centre. And unpasteurised hard cheese is absolutely fine - there are lots of myths about this, but it really is officially ok in pregnancy.

Am a bit more blase 2nd time round I must confess - I wouldn't have done the rare meat last time round!

Oh yes - I'm strict about the peanut thing too - but then I have a walnut and pecan allergy, so am predisposed and a bit paranoid in this direction. Could murder some peanut butter to be honest!

Strangely I am more strict this time which I think is because of a mc prior to this pg. Good to know I can indulge in parmesan without worrying!

Hi Strawberry .. from what I have read and been told, the food to avoid are those which may have bacteria lurking in them , thus partially cooked eggs (salmonella), pre-cooked meats and unpasteurised milk products are to be avoided . It is a precautionary step to take , especially in the 1st 3 months as that is when you are most likely to MC.

By the way, there is a great book called "Healthy Eating for Pregnancy " by Amanda Grant that would answer all your questions .

Hope that helps !

Definitely more blase 4th time around. I've eaten all on the list this time. Plus a bit of camenbert in France, late 2nd trimester, just couldnt resist it when the cheese platter came at the end of the meal and they didnt hold back in offering it to an obviously pg person. Parma ham (toxopl risk), californian sushi, smoked salmon, rare steak.... it has to be bleeding, but also organic and from a reputable butcher. A nibble of pate de fois gras here and there as it was rife in the region of our french holiday in the summer. I eat prawns weekly, I'm addicted to crayfish and rocket sandwiches. But have had mega guilt trips over all of it at some point worrying if I've harmed the baby. I'm just too weak to resist.

I wouldn't worry about it too much - just use your discretion and watch out for sell-by dates! Might be a bit careful about shellfish, and stuff with raw eggs in it! There is supposed to be something about pre-packed salads but if you wash them I can't see the problem! I must admit that I don't actually like most of the things that you're not supposed to eat, ie, pate and blue cheese etc. but otherwise I pretty much ate what I fancied (after I'd stopped feeling sick all the time) and I didn't totally give up alcohol either!

Hi its not recommended to eat the following during pregnancy;
undercooked meat( toxoplasmosis risk)
brie, camenbert etc( listeria)
ready prepared salads( listeria)
shellfish( listeria)
more than 2 portions of tuna( mercury)
liver( too much vit a)
brussels pate( listeria)
undercooked chicken( listeria)
pre/partly cooked chicken is best avoided too, dont eat ready cooked, chilled chicken, but if you eat partly cooked chicken heat it well.
cook chill meals (listeria) again you can eat them really if you make sure its thouroughly heated.
ready prepared coleslaw has been found to contain listeria,goats cheese, milk etc can contain listeria
continental meats, salami etc.unless heated well.
parmasan is safe to eat,
as is cottage cheese, all processed cheeses etc and normal english cheese
cooked not smoked salmon is fine
havent heard anything regarding shop bought sandwiches, so assumw they are fine
mozzarella IS ok to eat contrary to popular scare mongering!
eggs should be cooked until solid
having said this I ate all the off linits things when 1st preg 14 years ago, was told to eat liver till it came out of my ears!!! and ate lightly boiled eggs, gardened without gloves etc and my dd was born a healthy 8lbs 9 oz! however they seem to find a anew thing to frighten you with each year and by the time I had my 4th baby in july this year I hardly dare eat anything!!I was even told that soft whip ice cream was off limits so spent the summer watching my kids and dh eating them instead! Dont worry if you have already eaten those "wrong " things most people do before they relise they are pregnant, just be sensible and enjoy your pregnancy

For those worried, but dying for undercooked eggs , my mw told me that many commercially available eggs are from salmonella vaccinated chickes (these eggs are supposed to me marked with soemthing on it... can't remember because don't like soft eggs...), and those are safe.

Also, for my delight, you can eat all the brie and camembert in the world if it is from pasteurized milk. Some might say they are not as good, but at least I don't droll while Dh's has it...

I am shameful to say, I have much less careful this second time around... my husband and all call bump "pobrecito" (i.e. poor little guy...)for this reason... But hey, some say that's what make second children better! (yes, my DH and I are the younger siblings..)

Lua You are referring to lion marked eggs, and you are right that if they have the lion stamp the eggs have been veccinated against salmonella.Its still recommended to cook them until the whites are solid though , although, I must confess that such was my passion for boiled( dippy) eggs in preg that I did leave the yolk soft..

However must add that I was told that even beie and camenbert from pasterized milk was not safe as it was a mould ripened cheese which means that the crust on the top can contain listeria regardless; confusing!

link to a wonderful page produced by sheffield uni about which cheeses are safe/not safe to eat in PG

www.shef.ac.uk/pregnancy_nutrition/nutrition.php?kf_id=g

(sorry I can't do links )

I've been eating everythiing on your list apart from shellfish (although, I did in fact have some prawns a few weeks ago as we were in France and the only other starters available were pate or smoked salmon which I am avoiding). I did have a few chocolate peanuts early in pregnancy before I suddenly remembered that I wasn't supposed to be eating them!

I thought smoked salmon was supposed to be good for you if you limit oily fish to once a week. Please tell me it's ok, I've got some in the fridge at home!

LittleB= my mw said it was fine in moderation, but then back tracked saying its raw fish. But I ate a whole side of smoked salmon during ds2 pg over Xmas and he's always been a v healthy babe.. and might I say bright. Fish oils are good for brains!!

Thanks Honeybunny, I think I will risk it and eat a bit, surely smoking is cooking in a way?
My doctor told me not to worry about things like cold cooked meat, chicken sandwiches etc. He said other than listeriosis and salmonella (from mould ripened cheese and raw eggs), 'normal' food poisoning i.e. like e-coli whih you'd get from cooked meat, doesn't do you any harm in pregnancy as long as you don't get dehydrated. It is also very rare - I know I've only had it once in my life. My midwife said that shellfish is ok as long as you know it is really fresh. Didn't know about the salmon though.

Hi there all. You're looking at Ms Paranoid here so I don't eat anything on the list (not really hard as I am veggie!). I eat lots of eggs but hard-boil them (I prefer the soft-boiled too but am too much of a worrywart). I avoid any cheeses even vaguely associated with listeria, although I have eaten gorgonzola on pizza a couple of times (cooked through (until brown/bubbling) is OK cos it kills the listeria).
Spacecadet, the issue with shop-bought sandwiches is that you didn't prepare them yourself and so 'don't know where they've been', so to speak, so there might (although probably won't) be listeria or salmonella contamination there from lax hygiene or too-long storage.

Salmon is one of the best oil fish sources there is. Tuna (fresh, not tinned) is another. I think Mackeral might be an oily fish too. I'm really into the tri omega fish oils for brain development. I even take a supplement. It says not to on the bottle, but I think they are just covering themselves.

Got to have a brainy baby

As for the rest of the list, I eat it all. Didn't first time round. But, this time I think most of the warnings are rather paranoid.

I think the problem with store prepared sandwiches/salads is that they are prepared many hours before you eat them, hence lots of time for bacteria to grow. This didn't even occur to me until someone mentioned it yesterday. And I eat already prepared sandwiches everyday from the cafeteria at work.... oops. A bit late to worry now that the first trimester has just passed.

I ate everything on the list except shellfish, I never eat shellfish anyway.

I couldn't live for 9 months without a nice rare steak! I figured that nothing bad could get into the middle of the steak so as long as the outside was cooked I would be alright.

i'm eating everything this time. i'm being careful when eating out -- the only times i or anyone i know has had food poisioning, it has been from restaurant meat/shellfish. but at home, if i'm cooking it myself, i'll eat whatever.

i have to admit that with my last preg i didnt eat anything that wasnt prepared with my bare hands, as far as shop bought sanwiches are concerned berolina, i personal;ly didnt touch them but didnt want to unduly worry anyone!!im afriaid as far as food was concerened i had a bit of a miserable pregnancy avoiding just about everything!oily fish is good for you and your baby but i was definately told not eat to eat smoked salmon but normal cooked salmon was fine.

I'm 23 weeks and I can't eat chinese,curry,chicken,anything greesy.which is a real bummer because they used to be my faves.even thinking about them makes me queesy.

I have eaten pre-cooked chicken from your list strawberry.
I avoid runny eggs, certain cheeses, pate, liver and anything with raw egg but think that's about it.
(That's things i've changed though, anything else that's not allowed i don't eat anyway.

i eat pre-cooked chicken - from tescos for eg...and shop bought sandwiches
or homemade mayo with raw eggs (do eat hellmans etc though)

dont eat the rest of the stuff on the list

can i eat scampi?