Diet Donts during pregnancy

Diet don'ts

~ Pregnant women are prone to acidity; avoid greasy, spicy foods as these alleviate acidity.
~ Try not to eat foods with strong smells (like garlic, onions, etc), to avoid nausea.
~ Avoid processed foods like pickles, papads, ketchups, jams, jellies, chocolates, chips and farsans.
~ Unless you are making it at home, avoid Chinese food. Most restaurants add ajinomoto or monosodium glutamate to their food. This is high in sodium content; too much sodium can lead to hypertension or high blood pressure.
~ Avoid outside food, especially non-vegetarian food like prawns, liver or any raw/ undercooked meats and eggs.
~ Don't lie down immediately after eating; go for a moderately paced walk instead. Try to have your food at least one hour before bedtime.
~ Avoid excess use of table salt.
~ Don't have too much caffeine; it suppresses the appetite. When had with or immediately after meals, it hinders the absorption of vitamins.
~ Avoid fasting during pregnancy as this causes a rapid fall of plasma glucose as compared to its fall in women who are not pregnant. Fasting increases body fat metabolism in the mother and, instead of glucose, the foetus is obliged to utilise ketones to get energy.
Ketones are produced when the body breaks down fat instead of carbohydrates to derive energy. This adversely affects foetal metabolism and development and lowers the foetus' IQ.
Don't diet when you are pregnant.
~ It would be a good idea to have an early breakfast.
~ Drinking alcohol is harmful. Alcohol may produce spontaneous abortion. A small dose may depress the foetus' breathing activity.
Heavy drinking during pregnancy is recognised as a major cause of mental retardation in the foetus. Though the facial malformation reduces with time, the small skull, short stature and low weight problems persist.
~ Smoke may harm the foetus due to exposure to nicotine, carbon monoxide or cyanide.

Smoking during pregnancy can increase the risk of spontaneous abortion. It also lowers the child's birth weight and raises the risk of prenatal mortality.
If a non-smoking mother is exposed to smoke during pregnancy, it can reduce the birth weight of the newborn.
Nicotine has been detected in the breast milk of mothers who smoke. In fact, children of mothers who smoke before and after conception have a higher risk of developing leukaemia or lymphoma.
Mothers who stopped smoking before pregnancy or soon after its onset gave birth to babies with an improved birth weight as compared to those mothers who continued to smoke through their pregnancy.

~ Avoid eating undercooked meat; it is a known source of toxoplasmosis, an infection that can seriously harm the foetus.

A balanced, nutritious diet will ensure the quality and quantity of your milk without depleting your body, paving the way for a healthy postpartum/ lactation period.

Dear Vidya

Thanks for the dos and donts of diet during pregnancy. But i have one more question is it advisiable to have cheese (chadder or low fate cheese) during pregnancy. My pregnancy is confirmed but waiting for weeks as i dint u/s 2 weeks back it was below 6 weeks so they have asked me to repeat nov 1st week,

Originally Posted by Sumaticg

Dear Vidya

Thanks for the dos and donts of diet during pregnancy. But i have one more question is it advisiable to have cheese (chadder or low fate cheese) during pregnancy. My pregnancy is confirmed but waiting for weeks as i dint u/s 2 weeks back it was below 6 weeks so they have asked me to repeat nov 1st week,

Dear Sumati,

Cheese is an important source of protein and calcium for pregnant women but certain kinds do need to be avoided. Pregnant women are advised not to eat soft, mould-ripened cheeses, such as brie or camembert, and blue-veined cheeses, such as danish blue and stilton. This is because these cheeses are more inclined to allow growth of bacteria, such as listeria, which can harm your unborn child.


Cheeses which are SAFE to eat in pregnancy

Hard cheeses:
austrian smoked, Babybel, caerphilly, cheddar, cheshire, derby, double gloucester, edam, emmental, english goat's cheddar, feta (if bought in the UK), gouda, gruyere, halloumi, havarti, jarlsberg, lancashire, mozzarella, orkney, paneer, parmesan, pecorino (hard), provolone, red leicester.

Soft and processed cheeses:
Boursin, cottage cheese, cheese spread, cream cheese, mascarpone, philadelphia, quark, ricotta.

Yoghurts, fromage frais, soured cream and creme fraiche -- any variety, including natural, flavoured and biologically active -- are all safe to eat.

Cheeses to AVOID in pregnancy

Mould-ripened soft cheeses:
brie, blue brie, cambozola, camembert, chaumes, pont L'eveque, prince jean, tallegio. vacherin-fribourgeois, weichkaese.

Blue-veined cheeses:
bavarian blue, bergader, bleu d'Auvergne, blue shropshire, cabrales, Danish blue, dolcelatte, doppelrhamstuge, eldel pilz, gorgonzola, manchego, romano, roncal, roquefort, stilton, tommes, wensleydale (blue).

Soft unpasteurised goat and sheep's cheeses:
chabichou, pyramide, torta del cesar.