Foods A Pregnant Woman Should Stay Away From

A pregnant woman has to watch what she eats because some foods might make her sick to her stomach. However, there are foods that a pregnant woman has to stay away from because they can cause harm to herself or the baby she is carrying. Knowing what foods an expectant mother should avoid is going to make her pregnancy a lot safer and easier for her and her baby.

Stay Away From Mercury:

Mercury can cause a baby’s central nervous system to not develop properly. The food that have a lot of mercury in them is seafood. Fish like shark, swordfish, and mackerel contain a lot of mercury.

The seafood that has very little mercury, which is considered safe for a pregnant woman to eat, is shrimp, crab, salmon, tilapia, cod, catfish, and tuna.

Stay Away From Raw Seafood:

Some women may love to eat raw oysters on the half shell. However, a pregnant woman who loves raw oysters has to wait until her baby is born before she can eat them again.

Raw shellfish can contain bacteria or viruses that can make an expectant woman very sick.

Stay Away From Undercooked Meat:

A pregnant woman is more susceptible to becoming sick over anything she eats. Rare steak can be a delicacy, but an undercooked steak can really make an expectant mother sick.

A steak needs to be cooked well done until after the baby is born.

Stay Away From Undercooked Eggs:

An egg cooked for only three minutes is what some women have for breakfast. However, cooking an egg for three minutes is not enough to thoroughly cook it, which means there may be bacteria in the white or yolk.

Raw eggs can give a pregnant woman food poisoning, and should be avoided until after the baby is born.

Avoid Soft Cheeses:

Soft cheeses like Brie, Feta, Blue Cheese, and Camembert are all made with milk. However, soft cheeses can be made with milk that has not been pasteurized.

Unpasteurized dairy products can contain bacteria that can make a woman sick. Soft cheeses should be avoided unless there the packaging is clearly marked that the cheese is made with pasteurized milk.

Stay Away From Raw Vegetables:

Some women love to eat a salad with alfalfa sprouts, clover, and radishes, but those raw vegetables can actually contain harmful bacteria.

Avoid Excess Caffeine:

Coffee and soda contain a lot of caffeine, which is something a pregnant woman should avoid. Caffeine can cause the mother’s blood pressure to rise, and also make the baby’s heart beat faster.

A pregnant woman can drink one to two cups of coffee or tea a day. Studies have shown that too much caffeine can cause a woman to miscarry or cause birth defects to the baby. If a woman wants more coffee, than she can enjoy a cup of decaffeinated coffee, or a cup of decaffeinated tea.

A woman has to be careful of the foods she eats because it is not just her health she needs to worry about, but the health of her baby as well.

A woman has to eat for two, but she has to make sure she is eating foods that will not make her sick or cause harm to her baby.

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