During pregnancy, special precautions are taken with food, as different foods can affect your baby’s development and pregnancy health.
In addition to toxic substances such as alcohol and excess sugar, foods such as raw fish and poorly washed fruits and vegetables should be avoided, as they can be contaminated with microorganisms that affect the baby.
Below is a list of foods to avoid at this stage of life
Raw fish such as sushi and rare meats should be avoided, as they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria, which can lead to miscarriage and preterm birth, or diseases such as cysticercosis, which can affect the nervous system and affect brain function.
Raw and undercooked eggs should be avoided, as they may contain salmonella bacteria, which can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever and death.
That’s why it’s also important to avoid eating homemade desserts, sauces and spices that use raw eggs in the recipe, such as homemade mayonnaise and Caesar sauce.
Unpasteurized milk, such as milk directly from farms or farms, should be avoided as it contains a large amount of bacteria that cause intestinal infections, diarrhea and discomfort.
For example, pasteurized milk or UHT milk, which is treated at high temperatures to eliminate microorganisms that may be present in food, should always be consumed.
Pasty cheeses such as brie, camembert, gorgonzola and danish blue, contain a lot of water and can have the bacteria listeria, which can cause headaches, tremors, seizures and meningitis, also affecting the baby’s nervous system and, in the most severe cases, causing death.
Poorly washed fruits and vegetables are sources of contamination with toxoplasmosis disease, which can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, malformations and death of the baby.
For example, all vegetables should be washed thoroughly before eating and crudités should not be eaten outside the home. See symptoms and how to prevent toxoplasmosis.
Fish such as tuna, mackerel, swordfish, common sting and grouper should be avoided during pregnancy because they contain high levels of mercury, a metal that can interfere with the proper development of the fetal nervous system.
Fish such as sardine, trout, herring, hake, mackerel and farmed tuna should therefore be preferred because they are safer for the health of the pregnant woman and the baby.
Some studies show that excess caffeine can lead to miscarriages, so pregnant women are advised to consume a maximum of 300 mg of caffeine a day, which equates to 2 or 3 cups of coffee.
To avoid excess caffeine, pregnant women should also avoid foods that contain this substance, such as cola, green tea, black tea and matte. See the full list of teas to avoid during pregnancy.
Although most sweeteners are safe for health, pregnant women should avoid artificial sweeteners such as cyclamate and aspartame, preferring natural sweeteners made from sucralose or stevia, which are safe for the baby, even in large quantities.
Alcoholic beverages should be avoided because alcohol builds up in the body of the fetus, which does not have the ability to remove this substance from the body, which can lead to premature birth, stunted growth and heart defects.
See if you have low weight and how much you should increase during pregnancy by doing the test on our calculator.