What Foods To Avoid During Pregnancy – A Detailed List

foods to avoid during pregnancy

Updates: 07/3/2024

Pregnancy can make women much more susceptible to all infections and any illnesses that is reason why all expectant moms don’t want to get any risks for their baby with potentially harmful bacteria. During the long pregnancy there are a lot of things that can stress all the mothers out, including detailed list of 20 unhealthy foods to avoid during pregnancy. Unluckily, all advice mothers hear from family, friends, and even many strangers about what should and shouldn’t eat for a safe pregnancy can make you confuse.

Here is list of what foods to avoid during pregnancy because all of them can contain the high bacteria levels:

Detailed List Of What Foods To Avoid During Pregnancy

1. Unpasteurized Juice

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All moms should stay far away from the unpasteurized juice (like cider) which was sold at the farm stands; this kind of juice may not have a processing method, and undergone pasteurization which can kill toxins and bacteria.

Though today the majority of juice and milk sold in all stores were pasteurized, but some of them are still on shelves without undergone pasteurization, or read labels. All women should notice some unhealthy foods to avoid during pregnancy; they can choose healthy food for all pregnant women and their baby with well wash fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced product.

2. Some Varieties Of Fish 

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Fish can boast omega-3 – good fatty acids which can help the development of baby’s brain, and fish is also a good meal choice for all pregnant women. But some kind of fish must be shunned because of high levels of the methyl-mercury, the high level of pollutant that will harm the baby’s nervous system. These kinds contain swordfish, tilefish, and shark, or all big species that can live longer, and may accumulate more mercury in the flesh. All mothers want to avoid these kinds of fish totally during their childbearing years due to their body stores amount of mercury for up to 4 years. Before mothers want to eat their favorite raw bar as oysters or the local sushi joint, they should remember that uncooked and seared seafood is off-limits during long pregnancy, because the danger of ingesting parasites and bacteria along with the meal is too high. Therefore, all raw oysters, ceviches, clams, carpaccios, and fish tartars, along with some smoked stuff (like lox) are unhealthy foods to avoid during pregnancy, because they can harbor bacteria and illness-inducing parasites. Mother must make sure that any seafood mothers order is well cooked.

Moreover, almost kinds of fish can contain the traces of mercury; therefore, mother may want to limit all weekly consumption of the safer varieties. However, all mothers can enjoy 12 ounces a week of the lower-mercury fish as pollack, salmon, catfish, canned light tuna, and shrimp. Of these 12 ounces, only six should be from canned “white” albacore tuna, which tends to include more mercury than any kind of light tuna.

If you are pregnant, you should read a complete guide for healthy pregnancy named “Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy“.

3. High Levels Of Caffeine 

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A highly publicized 2024 study showed that all women who consumed about 200 mg of caffeine or more per day will get double the danger of miscarriage to women who drank in no caffeine. Moreover, the risk of stillbirth will be doubled in all women who took 8 cups of coffee each day or more compared with those who never drink coffee. In addition, the newborn babies whose mothers consumed about 500 mg of caffeine or more a day will have faster breathing rates, and heart rates. However, not all researches show a link between a higher risk of miscarriage and caffeine consumption. But the caffeine cannot be harmful in the moderate amounts. Therefore, all mother should take no more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day, roughly the total amount come from two or three cups of the coffee.

4. Nitrate-Rich Foods

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It’s smart for you to stay away from hot dogs and cured meats as sausage and bacon. These kinds of food can contain additives; nitrates that are unsafe foods to avoid during pregnancy because they can be possible links to diabetes and brain tumors. These unhealthy foods aren’t good nutritional choices for pregnant women and their babies. All pregnant women must take precautions when they eat bacon which contains sodium nitrate. According to the U.S. researches, high level of nitrates consumption during long pregnancy can lead to slow intrauterine growth, miscarriage, infant heart problems, even sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Furthermore, mothers who can consume the cured meats during the pregnancy and the time of breastfeeding will increase the child’s risk of the brain cancer. In some cases, adults can experience methemoglobinemia, which will lower the amount of oxygen in blood.

5. Soft Cheeses 

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Soft cheeses as Brie, Gorgonzola, and Feta were potentially harmful because they will harbor listeria. The listeriosis is an illness caused by the harmful bacteria listeria. This illness will be passed to fetus, leading to the miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery.

If you are pregnant, you should read a complete guide for healthy pregnancy named “Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy“.

6. Cooked Deli Meats

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The deli meat must be cut of the diet because of the listeriosis concerns. But the cooked deli meat will be fine during the long pregnancy as long as all mothers should heat it first to kill all bacteria. If you would prefer to pass on deli meat, try other high-protein lunches like a veggie burger, a bean burrito, or chicken salad made with some leftover grilled chicken breast and low-fat mayo. That double turkey, onion, and salami with extra mustard may be tempting the pregnancy, but it is not a good option when you are carrying baby.

7. Fresh Produce

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Finally, veggies and fruits should be a good staple in all healthy diet, especially during long pregnancy, because all of them contain the high level of good fiber and vitamin. But take some commonsense precautions, such as you should wash the bagged lettuce to remove all possible traces of E. coli, and salmonella. In fact, all mothers should carefully wash all vegetables and fruits, even if they want to eat the skin of fruit. Otherwise you can drag all germs into flesh when cutting it.

But the best advice on what should eat during the 9 months? Don’t take the same good foods each day. You can diminish the danger of being exposed to anything harmful if you take a variety. Moreover, by varying the diet plan, you can deliver a good and healthy mix of the nutrients to the growing baby.

8. Raw Eggs

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Raw eggs and every food that includes the raw eggs must be cut off because of the potential exposure to the salmonella. Some homemade Caesar dressings, homemade ice cream, mayonnaise, or Hollandaise sauces, and custards can be made with the raw eggs. If these recipes are cooked at the point, these can reduce the exposure to the salmonella. Manufactured ice cream and eggnog are made with the pasteurized eggs which cannot increase the danger of the salmonella. Many women toss uncooked eggs into the morning smoothies but all pregnant women must avoid eating these uncooked eggs. In the uncooked form, the eggs can pose a high risk for the salmonella poisoning.

While all products may seem as commonsense to refrain from the raw eggs, women can find them in many places than some yummy bits of the batter that can stick to spatula. Therefore, unless thing will been made with the pasteurized eggs, cut off consuming products where rawness can run rampant such as: eggnog, raw batter or cookie dough, homemade ice cream, and mayonnaise. Skip the hollandaise sauce and Caesar dressings unless the mothers are certain they can be made with no raw eggs, and all women should make sure all of the breakfast omelets are well cooked. It will be the same with raw poultry and meats, all mothers do not want to get the chance of being exposed to the salmonella. If you want to be totally safe, you should make sure the eggs which you choose was kept well refrigerated. Do you wish having a baby boy or a baby girl? See these tricks to choose your baby’s gender here.

If you are pregnant, you should read a complete guide for healthy pregnancy named “Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy“.

9. Blue Cheese

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Blue cheese (as soft cheeses like Mexican-style cheese, Camembert cheeses, queso fresco and queso blanco) can cause to the foodborne illness. These great products (brie cheese and like feta cheese) are made with the unpasteurized milk which can be linked to the Listeriosis. The Listeriosis is a especially harmful and fatal infection that will lead to severe illness, miscarriage, and stillbirths. Instead, opt for the pasteurized cheeses like cottage and mozzarella cheese. There are several foods that all pregnant women must avoid eating. The products include certain kinds of sushi, unwashed vegetables, and alcohol. Listeria can have the ability to cross placenta and can infect all babies by leading to the infection or the blood poisoning, which are life-threatening. All mothers must avoid blue cheeses such as: Brie, Roquefort, Camembert, Feta, Mexican style, and Gorgonzola cheeses that contain queso fresco and queso blanco. All non-imported cheeses are made with pasteurized milk will be safe to eat.

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